Nan

Looks great!! Nan Wallace

John, thank you so much for the information and the pictures. I would like to see all of the pictures you have. My dogs weigh 45 and 55#s so about 100# in all. I weight about 120# so with the dogs about 220# all totaled. That would be it unless once in a while a grandson wanted to go, but two of them are boys with pickups and the other one drives a 25 year old BMW that he is very proud of because he paid for it himself (he is 16 years old). Very interested in your platform and rig to keep them out of the front seat. I have fashioned something similar in the Kia. I also will be looking at the ramp you use because I cannot pick the dogs up and put them in the truck. I used to have a folding ramp that was a PITA to use for loading my Greyhounds and when they died I threw it away. Removing the seats is a very good idea because I never haul anyone in the back of the old Kia..I just lay the seats down. I do not own any stuff like a canoe, dirt bike or for that matter a regular bike or much of anything else. I would probably carry a generator, light weight (PVC pipe) dog beds, dog food, small grill and a lawn chair. Thank you so much for all of the information and for agreeing that Ken's truck looks like it will do the job. I was confused about the three numbers that he was posting, but you said it would work if I was careful about the weight. Nan

Ken, yes I can open it. I was the dumb one.

Ken, nope I cannot open it. I have a Mac and I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

Ken, please help me read this last sheet that you highlighted. It says the GCWR is 16,000 lbs. According to what I understand the GCWR means Gross Combined Weight Rating or Maximum weight of the tow vehicle, the towed object and all passengers and cargo inside each. So, wouldn't that mean all would be good? Remember, I know nothing so need to have everything explained to me.

John, You are so right. I have never driven any truck and that includes a Tundra. So, I am not in the production line up for an Oliver yet. I think if I can get the truck this fall and the Oliver closer to December I will have time to get used to the truck. And you are so right about driving in Tennessee with a trailer. Maybe I should have not even thought about owning an Oliver. But, at my age I am throwing caution to the wind. I do not intend to sit here in my very comfortable house until I go home to Jesus. I met the owner of the truck at the Rally a few weeks ago and I believe he is selling me a really good truck. Considering I am driving a 2007 Kia Sportage with 318,000 miles on it, most anything would look good to me. LOL I tried the car dealer route and got sick of that very quickly. So, when Ken Richardson offered me his truck I felt like that was the answer I was looking for.

Paula, I am not in line yet, but Anita said maybe in October or December. I cannot buy Ken's truck until he gets his new one, so even if the Oliver is ready to be picked up I will not be able to get it. This is very stressful for me since I have never even driven a pickup truck, much less pulled anything behind one. But, almost everyone at the Rally said I could learn..I am counting on that!

Ok, everyone. I am going to buy Ken's truck and I finally put a down payment on the Oliver II yesterday. I want to thank everyone for all of your advice over the last few months. This is a big step for me. Nan Wallace

Ken, I am very interested in your truck. I do not know how to e-mail you personally. My cell number is nine one tw0 five zero seven four six three five. Thanks for thinking about me. Nan Wallace

John, I was at the repair shop with the Kia when you last wrote. He sent me some pictures of the F150 on my phone and if I knew how to send them to you, I would. But I don't. Anyway in the conversation with him this morning he said he had towed his camper with it 4 times and it towed beautifully. He said it was a 2015 Lariat and he was the only owner. I will ask him about the paperwork and the extended warranty when I talk to him. He said nothing was wrong with the truck and I have a gut feeling I can believe him. Thanks for trying to help me.

Alternator went out in the Kia or I would be on my way to look at a F150 with towing package. It just turned 80,000 miles - he said this was road miles as he travels back and forth from Guyton, Ga. to Atlanta for work. He said it tows up to 11,000 lbs. He wants $31,500 for it. That is all the info I have and will go look at it when the Kia is repaired. Oh, this is not from a dealer, but from someone a good friend of mine goes to church with. I forgot to ask what year it was, but he said he has pulled his 32' camper with it and had no problems..

A dealer tried to sell me this today: 2019 Silverado LTZ 6.2 engine. 12,500 lbs. Max Tow, Max Trailering Package. Lane keep assistance. He wanted $60,123. I told him to keep looking and that I was going to look some more in Savannah. He said he had spent many hours looking for this vehicle and that he could get me others brought to his lot, but I would have to agree to take one of them before he would do that. Negative. That is why I could not do what John Davies said-to get 4 of them lined up and try them all. Guess I will continue looking in and around Savannah, Georgia. Thanks for listening me whine.

Sherry, I have not ordered yet, but will get a II. I live outside of Savannah, but am thinking about going to Baxley and look around at Woody Folsom. They have all makes and models on their lots and that makes sense to me rather than running from dealer to dealer. I will be using the back seat area for two rather large dogs. Thanks for posting information to me. Nan

Thanks, John. No, so far I have not driven any..just dropped by Carmax 2 times and looked through their trucks. I found a couple I sort of liked, but am still looking. Thinking about going to Woody Folsom in Baxley, Ga. and checking them out. They have ALL of the different trucks there. Chevy, Ford, GMC and Toyota in one lot..beats running from dealer to dealer.

Thank you so much for the information. I appreciate the time you all took to write this for me. Nan

The 2016 Ford F150 has a rear view camera and that is about all I see for towing and it is $33,000. It does have a bed cover and liner which I think is nice and plenty of room in the crew cab for the dogs. There is a 2013 Ford F150 Platinum with 48K miles on it for the same price with "flex fuel" (what is that?) that has parking sensors but I do not see a rear view camera listed. Both of these are at Carmax. I have started with them because they do not swarm you like regular dealerships do. And I wonder how I am to know what are the right gears?

But, I forgot to say, I know a whole lot more than I did when I started this journey thanks to you great people on this forum.

I am looking at a couple of towing vehicles and would like a question answered please. 2016 GMC Sierra 1500 Towing Capacity (Max) there are two numbers 2000/10,800 lbs. What does the first number mean? The saleslady did not know. Payload is 1770 lbs. This one has 420 horsepower @5600rps with 305 torque & 3900 rpm. This truck has 39,000 miles on it. Next would be a 2016 Ford F150 XLT and the towing capacity (Max) us 1500/11,600 lbs . Pay load for truck is 2100 lbs. 385 horsepower @5750 rpms and 387 torque at @3850 rpms. This truck has 42,000 miles on it. If anyone met me at the Rally you know I am clueless about this towing stuff. Thank you for any information. Nan Wallace

Thank you so much John for taking the time to explain this to me. Nan

Thanks Bill. I looked at 3 trucks the other day at Car Max and they all three had a tow hitch listed. Like I said the salesman said that meant they all had tow packages. It is much harder trying to find a tow truck than it is deciding on an Oliver. Thanks again.

Question: When the dealer says "tow hitch" does he mean "tow package"? I asked him and he said yes, but not sure I believe him. Thanks

Is it too late to order one for my daughter? She is trying to get her vacation days approved. She would probably wear an X-large. Thanks. Nan Wallace

Mine are Galgos I adopted from Spain. Since they are in the sighthound family, I would never be able to release them from a leash. My vision is me being tethered to them 24/7.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I do have a good financial planner and one that I trust (even though he works for WF). He has advised me to get a loan for the Oliver and not take it from savings. He said it would cost me $30,000 in taxes next year and $9,000 the year after..a snowball effect. It makes me sick when I think I saved all of those years to pay a hospital bill or some whacko thing like that. I am 72 years old and in no way am I thinking about going back to work. I volunteer at Kairos Prison Ministry and am a caregiver for Hospice in Savannah..and love both. If I had it to do over, I would put the savings in a safety deposit box and be able to pull it out as I wanted. Again, thank you all and hope to meet some of you at the rally in May.

Thank you everyone for your wonderful advice. Now I have another dilemma and I think this is probably not the forum to use, but since I am on it, I will. All my life I have saved using the 401 at work. (And this was working at a paper mill). After retiring, I transferred the money into Wells Fargo. This is what they are saying: I will be paying too many taxes to draw from my account. I absolutely do not want to go in debt for a new truck and an Oliver when I have the money in Wells Fargo. I also do not want to sell the house unless I am sure that I want to go full time. I am toying with just throwing caution to the wind and do it, but also am a little scared. Has anyone been in this same boat? What did you do? Thanks again.