I'm looking for an affordable (1999-2001) truck to pull a Take 3 car hauler (3/4 cars / ~7000#) with an average of 3 vehicles about 150,000 miles/yr. Been looking at the Dually 3500's, but not sure if a 3500 can handle the load for that many miles. Should I go with 4x4 and manual tranny? Any advice on gears or other options?

Any help is appreciated. Pictures of a fully loaded 3/4 car hauler and 3500 would be great as well so I can see how much lower the truck will sit.

 

I don't know where you'd be hauling but DOT in most states will jump on a 1 ton pulling 3 or 4 cars in a heartbeat . The gvwr for a 3500 dually is 23,000 lbs. - 16,000 lb. towing capacity . That's for a new one . An older one will be less . There are several car haulers at www.hotshothauling.com , most using freightliner M2's .

 

The dually would do it just fine. Absolutely stay away from auto trannys. 4x4 is a nice option, I sometimes drop down into low range when I'm backing into a complicated situation.

 

Thanks for the help so far. I'm getting conflicting info, though. Can I get a third opinion? I want to be legal when I make a $15K investment this weekend.

 

Read the threads at www.hotshothauling.com and pm the car haulers . You'll get lots of good advice there .

 

You can license the truck and be legal to haul 3/4 cars but the Dodge 1 ton isn't designed to handle that much weight for long. I had a 53' 3/4 car wedge and only ever hauled 3 cars and that was very hard on a 1 ton. Smaller trailer with 2 cars! no problem, the extra 2-3 tons was just too much. I'd get a bigger truck for the long haul.