Poll: Which Truck?

[goddessfarmer]

Assumption: Both will do the farm job.

Truck A: Dodge Dakota Club Cab - $25,506, 6850lb rated tow capacity, utterly useless back seat that will be removed for easy accumulation of crap, seats 2 (or 3 in a pinch) nearly identical to my dearly beloved 12 yo Dakota which goes everywhere on the farm.

Truck B: Dodge Ram 1500 regular cab - $21,274, 7500lb rated tow capacity, seats 3, 3" too tall to fit in barn cellar, 10" shorter front to back (good thing), better turn radius, more bed space, less tool space in cab.


[Poll #924307]

Comments

Good thing I'm tall...

[chocorua.livejournal.com]

If I hadn't stood next to the Ram, Goddessfarmer might have not faced the height issue squarely. And she did so, measuring the beam in the upper barn bay today and discovering that the Ram is 1.5" too high for it, too. So it looks like the Dakota.

One of my little voices is still whispering "automatics don't stand up to abuse as well as manuals". The old one (stick) appears to have a tow capacity in the 5500 lb. range. The '07 stick has a 5200 lb. rating, the auto with the same engine is rated for 7100 lb. But how much of that applies to 70 MPH uphill fully loaded on the Interstate (2 horses in the stock trailer is well under that), and how much to our normal full-load use, hauling unbraked hay wagons at 30 MPH or less? Sure, a 3.92 rear end is good for torque, but so is 4wd low-range.

Re: Good thing I'm tall...

[johngnassi.livejournal.com]

Is an automatic actually under consideration? What would be the advantage? I could see some advantage to a continuously variable transmission if it were well designed, if that's available.

Re: Good thing I'm tall...

[goddessfarmer.livejournal.com]

CVT is well understood technology and frequently applied to farm tractors in the 5 - 65 HP range. While I prefer the manual, the almost 2000lb lower tow rating kinda puts the lid on that. If I really had to have a manual it would be in a Ram 2500, which is WAY Bigger than we need and not under consideration.