I have a 2013 with the same body from Classy and I love it. It has most of the same things he went over here. I pull a 40 foot Teton and it's like it's not even there. I also have a 2000, 3500. Trust me the 13 is a lot more truck!
I 'm a Ford guy, but that is a very practical truck. I love the fifth wheel hitch and the extra fuel tank. For full time RV'ers, I think this is worth the 100K. If you can afford it, a Luxe 5th wheel would be a good combination.
Yep. The tugboat I work on has over 40k hours on it and that’s about 2.4 million miles lol I doubt any of these trucks could make it that long without a lot of maintenance
Watching these videos always makes me want to get a full size & heavy duty truck. Borrowed my dad's F-150 crew cab for a afternoon and satisfied the craving. After not driving a truck in years it's easy to forget how big these things are.
Andre, always keep a minimum of 5psi in the bags. Keeps them inflated so they don't collapse, which can cause the bags to fail long term. Also helps the ride.
@@willvaughan5734 I have not heard of anyone having IFS problems on the GMC/Chevy 3500's unless they lift them and run bigger tires. I am not lifting a dually...
The 8.3l doesn't offer anything that the 6.7l ho offers. Youre talking about 80s tech vs modern tech. Just dumb. And the modern aisin trans is actually really reliable. Its made to compete with allison in the foreign market.
Nice!! I just restored a 2014 Ram 5500 4x4 rollback wrecker and love it. It turned out really good, and as far as mechanically, it was amazing how well everything held up after 350k miles. Interior, not so much.... But it's like new now!
100k? I really like my 9L and Eaton for that price!!! I like the extended maintenance intervals, better and longer lasting brakes, better control, etc from mine!
The Tradesman trim level of the 5500 is $56,168 here in Bismarck. If you don’t need the custom order bed and all the leather interior etc. It’s actually really affordable. Lol
The commercial applications are detuned for the sake of mileage. A big selling point is 250,000 mile rebuild intervals. In most applications a 5 year lease tends to end up exactly there, 250k miles with a straight truck (which would have the 6.7) and 500k miles with a semi. We had 33k GVWR 6.7's with 240hp but they ran flawlessly for their entire lease.
I agree. Engineers have already figured out how to tow 50,000 lb trailers safely for 1 million miles. Why make a fancy pickup do that. It won’t be as good as a semi anyway.
This has a proper back seat (+doors), no clearance issues, can perform a U-turn in most scenarios, likely superior fuel economy, and may have simpler registration & inspection in some states.
Just because it has a cab from a pickup doesn't mean it's a pickup. Everything underneath is all class 5 medium duty. You'll even need a CDL just to max the thing out.
Im curious why the previous owner got rid of the truck with so few miles. Was it wrecked? Or flooded? Unfortunately it costs so much money to buy a nice workhorse. What does that truck weigh? Thank you.
Love the video. BUT!!! If there is one very important thing that is constantly overlooked is turning radius. I understand with so many combinations of of crew cab, 1/2 3/4 ton combinations between all of the manufacturers, but with so many trucks trying to out do each other l think TFL needs to separate ford from Chevy from dodge in every way. Especially when it comes to towing!
@@jeepanimal2943 You can get a regular cab, but the 5500 is just a chassis cab truck so you can put your own 8 foot bed on it. Manual... the way of the dodo bird.
Mr M true, my 3500 Max Tow package can do pretty much everything the 4500-5500 can, but I would like the wide track front axle that only comes in the 4500-5500.
We have a 2019 Chevy 5500 4x4, 2020 ram 5500 4x4 and a 6.7 f450 4x4 at work. The Ford and Ram turn like a car, the Chevy needs the whole pasture to turn around in.
Wow! $100,000 is getting up there with Day Cab kind of money. #WesternHaulers out of Fort Worth, Tx makes my favorite conversion hauler. Very Plush and comfortable. Thanks for sharing, awesome video!
This truck will be your avg American family hauler in 5 years. Perfect for those demanding home depot runs on Sunday morning or pulling the massive 16' aluminum boat to the local pond.
Ruins it for the rest of us that actually use these trucks for what they were designed for. Diesel used to be cheaper than gas. Demand goes up, price goes up. Well said Sir!
Not 1 way ANDRA ,, but three ways to tell that this truck is larger than a DODGE 3500 1 ton without looking @ the badges on the hood are ,,,,, 1 - 10 lug wheels 2 - 19.5 Continental tires 3 - The wide track front end Same as the Ford F450 / F550 It would have been nice if when you put your foot down (petal to the metal) that you were @ a complete standstill while holding the brakes and lite up those duals to show us weather this truck has a positive locking rear end or is it peg leg. Liked Subscribed & Shared.
@@richardshippful I think you are on the right track. All about emissions and longevity. Often times these are sold as fleet vehicles employee driven. Not so worried about having lots of power. I've had the opportunity to drive one, no comparison to power on the 3500.
Douglass also makes custom beds for this truck that can carry 6000+ lb triple-slide campers. The advantage the RAM 5500 has over Ford/GM is that you can still get a V8 gas hemi if you want - that means supercharger and cat back exhaust options alongside a 2nd factory fuel tank. Add the limited trim and you really have one of the most unique trucks out there. Definitely worth the $100K.
Wow, it’s actually got a column shifter and not that silly rotary shifter that “lesser” Rams have... there’s something honest and refreshing about a good old column shifter, it’s nice to feel the truck going into gear instead of just trusting solenoids to do the job. I wish Ram would bring back the “Power Ram” badging for their 4x4’s, too. I always thought that was an awesome name for them.
At some point people just need to realize if your getting 7mpg then you are better off with a single axle semi or something of that nature. They pull better and will last twice as long with the same fuel economy.....
If that’s all you’re doing sure, but this is a smaller footprint, can be driven to the store, used to take the kids to soccer or simply relaxed in while you’re on a job site with all the interior features.
If you buy a single axle semi you better have deep pockets, you have to take those to truckstop repair facilities, and I think those charge around $400 an hour just for labor alone. That is way over my budget.
LOL When it is lowered it nearly gave Andre a heart attack. Good experience educator. ;). IF I had a need and had the $ I would have 100 gallons of fuel on such a vehicle as well. Nice to have the range.
Andre, all engines are rated using an engine dyno so this engine doesn't just have a lower rating because it's engine dyno'd but because it actually is less powerful so that the engine is less stressed and will last longer for commercial applications.
no gray interior; tilt work welder type bed w/2 side boxes & 3" receiver hitch; Needs a 2nd turbo slow as a snail; 2nd alternator battery bank for truck hybrid idle & launch system. Then w/decent added 5th wheel hitch it would b worth buying "new" around/just under $100k Plus rear seat extended 1ft folds down into bed/bench w/60/40 split. U can take out 60% of bench or 40% extra storage or med vs large dog passenger, instead of person.
I have requested through comments for just this truck the RAM 5500 to be compared to the FORD 550 THE CHEVROLET 5500 / GMC 5500 for quite sometime now !!! Loaded up to the MAX up the IKE ! Heads up side by side challenge 0 to 60 the quarter mile and top end speed ! Not to mention comparisons between the CHEVROLET 6500 FORD F 600 / 650 And The CHEVROLET 4500 / GMC 4500 FORD F 450 DODGE 4500 This would separate the boys from the men !! But I did enjoy THIS VIDEO. Liked Subscribed & Shared
Andre.... would like to see both Ram and Ford come out with a 5500 pickup with standard 8 foot box and tailgate. The hall and tow specs would need to be better than a 3500 to make those models compelling.
A standard pickup box would just get in the way for anyone who actually needed a 5500 or f550. A flat bed or custom bed like this one is way more versatile and convenient when using a truck as a truck
The people at Utility BodyWorks (Luxe) tell us that the version supplied to Transwest has lots of the "usual" detail features "deleted", one presumes for cost reasons (?). I think that Andrea at FLT might be advised to visit The RV Factory - Utility Bodywerks (aka Luxe Trucks) at 3504 Henke Street, in Elkhart, IN 46516 to see what can be (& usually is) specified with these hauler-beds. Utility BW using kits from Kelderman (from Oskaloosa, Iowa), often install Heavy Duty Air-Suspensions & Utility Bumper-Assemblies, that make for really Robust but Smooth 550s.
Is it worth it? That’s a really good question, I mean people pay that type of money for sports cars that can only have two people in them at one time. You can potentially have your immediate family in this rig with you and pull your travel trailer too, and drive anywhere in North America on just the fuel you have on the truck(well maybe drop the trailer and you can go anywhere). It would definitely be an investment for sure. If I had the money to buy it I’d for sure put it to work and enjoy it every second I had. But if you can afford an $100k truck you can afford a lot more toys to go with it like big boats, fifth wheel travel trailers etc etc. shoot you can even hotshot on the side too for bigger than average loads.
thanks, great for maybe the horse trailers, but I just kept trying to find something to do it all, there isn't anything. so a truck like this for farm loads, and the Kenworth for the equipment.
Can anyone answer a question for me? Why do diesels still have EGRs on them when they now have the DEF system on them? They both are there to eliminate NOx but the EGR is not good for the longevity of the motor. Seems like if you get rid of the EGR you still get the same result of H2O/N and eliminate all the negative of the EGR systems.
Holy cow is that the worst place to put the DEF fill pipe. That stuff stinks, so that box is toast for storage. It’s also too low. You’ll have to take everything out to fill it. Otherwise a nice truck.
*4 88 andre I believe As nice looking as this truck is, if I had to pull serious weight, or a long fifth wheel I would want a freightliner sport chassis M2 112 from Transwest
This truck is actually less than 60,000$ really I work for the county and we have one that’s a 4 door also the county gets tax free and no bullshit add ons but ours has a toolbox bed no gooseneck and no fancy shit, but it is badass pulling excavator and the engine breaking is freaking awesome seriously I want one.
A goal of mine is to invest in a chassis cab Ram 3500 and turn it into an off-road mobile office. Seeing videos like this just fuels the fire so much more. If it was a manual omg 🤤
Need to see the back seat in they need to build something where it folds down into a bed since most of us people that used trucks like this haull over the road in sleep in our truck.
Its nice and all, but I would get a slightly used HDT Truck. Will give me space for a cooler, seat with table, port a potty, and a bed for a nap and not have to leave the cab. Plus better braking.
I love the Ram 5500, but paying over $100k for a truck, that is mainly used for towing, unless you live where a lot of towing is done, like where I live, we are known for RV manufacturing, and I would love to see a Ram 5500 towing a huge RV, but I think it would just be better to buy like a Chevy Silverado 3500 Dually, or a Ford F-150 3500 or just the regular Ram 3500. I do love the air suspension and the air bag 5th wheel, but I’m guessing the 5500 is super wide, and also, as Andre said, a really long truck, and that would just be too much anxiety for me, and with a long load, would scare me to death. This is just my opinion on the truck, I’m a Chevy/GMC guy, but I’m starting to like the Ram as well. Thank you for showing this awesome truck TFL!
@Peter Angles Yes, I actually do. I live in between Middlebury and Goshen. Are you from around there as well, or just know of Jayco and the RV industry in Elkhart?
