I'm looking at buying an F650 to make an RV hauler out of. I have to have a crew cab, or at minimum, a super cab. Automatic transmission is also a necessity, because I simply don't want to be fighting a clutch while I'm backing my 5th wheel into the place I park it at home. I've found several rollbacks for reasonable prices, as well a former fire truck. I DO NOT know what type of truck the fire truck was, and how much of its life it was a fire truck. It has 215k on it, and has air brakes. It's an Allison 6-speed automatic, and has a 5.57 rearend ratio.

Now, I know I'm not going to get great fuel mileage regardless, but this former fire truck has 10R22.5 tires vs 245/70R19.5 on most rollbacks I've found. It seems like most of the rollbacks are high3/low 4 gear ratios. The 245/70R19.5s are 33" tall, the 10r22.5s are 40.5"tall. How close will the final drive ratios be to each other, and does anybody have any advice on what I should be looking for if I'm thinking wrong?

My CURRENT 5th wheel is 32' long, and around 11k, but I eventually want to get a larger toy hauler more in the 40+' range, and 18k-20k gross. Is the gearing I'm looking for what I need to be looking for?

I should also add that any truck I buy will be either a Caterpillar or a Cummins.

 

I have a 2007 F750 I use for towing my gooseneck. I would skip buying any used rollbacks as they are notoriously trashed. Also avoid all the used pro loader package trucks. The fire truck sounds like a good setup, what axles are in the fire truck? The mileage seems very high for a fire truck. I will say stay away from the Cummins powered units, unless you like going very slowww. The C7 cat is however 3x more expensive to repair than the Cummins. I net about 7.3mpg running 33k combined. Mine was a utility truck with a 53' altec boom. Paid 85k for the whole truck in 2009 with 34k on it. Sold the boom and body to a local used equipment place for 25k. Then I proceeded to shorten the frame rails and add a 9' CM aluminum bed.

 

The fire truck is a 2002 F650, Cat 3126E, Allison 6-speed, air brakes, and is either 230" or 260" wheelbase. The guy that has it bought it, and a few other trucks at the same time. He bought it with the intention of doing the same thing, but wound up using a Freightliner fl70 that he bought at the same time. It has a Rockwell 17144 with 5.57 gear. He says the motor is a Cummins, but the VIN says otherwise. Before I drive 3 hours to look at it, I'll be sure he sends me pictures under the hood.

 

Have you checked insurance and registration and what license your state requires

 

No special license or registration in Tennessee for non-commercial. I called my insurance company (Progressive) and they said it would be commercial insurance to cover it, I don't remember the "full coverage" price, but liability only was $331/yr.

 

Sounds great.

Ny needs class A or B license and insurance was 400 a month the first time I called and no you can’t operate a commercial vehicle for personal use the second time I called.

 

Holy moley! I'm thinking full coverage was around $100/month when I called. I told progressive what my intentions were with the truck and they quoted me as such. The fact that it's a medium duty truck triggered the commercial insurance, regardless of its use. Luckily Tennessee doesn't have any restrictions on using a medium duty truck outside of commercial use, so the tags and such are just like a regular passenger vehicle. Apparently there's a loophole that you can register them somehow as an rv as well and bypass a lot of red tape. I'm not at all sure how to do that, or if it's even a real possibility.

 

I nearly bought this a couple of months back, 6.7 Cummins & Allison transmission, in the UK we have a "loophole" that allows this to be registered as a motorhome (must have somewhere to sleep, a means of cooking & somewhere to sit & eat), I decided that it was just too much truck for my needs so I passed on the deal.

 

I think the loophole is the same for me. I found one with a regular cab that had a sleeper as well. I have to have a crew cab due to family.

 

That looks like it would make a nice hot shot vehicle.

 

you know what tickles me? Usually we have folks coming in asking whether their F150 can haul that 45ft rig. But that's the other end of the spectrum. A lot of truck for a 31ft but I take you have your eyes set on something bigger.

In NC, all depends on GCWR - be over 26k lbs and it's a new license (non commercial) for you.

 

Yeah, it's definitely overkill, but the safety factor is my main concern. The stress of being blown around by wind and trucks will be history, to a point anyway.

As it turns out though, a buddy of mine told me he has two GMC TopKick 6500s, as well as a diesel pusher he wants to give me to make a truck out of. GIVE me. Looks like I'll be in a GMC rather than a 650...