Jack of all trades tow rig... On a $4000 budget?

Hello all! Long time lurker here trying to get my foot in the door with the motorsports community. After four events this year, a few road trips, and quite a few mishaps It's become apparent to me it may be time to upgrade my truck. I've got lofty goals for 2019 and I firmly believe a rock solid tow vehicle/daily driver will be a crucial part of keeping the overall stress levels low next year. I'm interested to hear what others have done to keep them high and dry while on the road. I've got a few ideas in mind:

• 2001-2006 Silverado 1500HD/2500HD (Bed Cap, Sleeping inside)
• 2003-Present Express (Camper Conversion)
• 2003-Present Express Cutaway Box Van (Camper Conversion)
• 2001-2006 Suburban

I'd like something that could tow a 350z on an open trailer,  room for plenty of wheels and tires (drifting), tools/parts, as well as sleeping arrangements. My girlfriend and I are tired of tents, we'd like something we can sleep in to keep us dry and insulated. Sleeping in the cab of a Silverado at a rest area is not fun being at my height. I currently own a 2004 Silverado 1500. It's been a decent truck , It's an old farm truck with plenty of issues. The body is toast. Unfortunately the morning of an event the brake lines failed and sent me overboard. I've fixed the truck, and It's drivable currently but I've had enough. 

Silverados and Suburbans are the most practical for daily driving, no doubt about it. However we'd be sleeping in the truck bed, with no spare space for equipment/wheels. Suburbans have less ideal sleeping but roof racks for tires. Express vans don't typically come with a limited slip from what I've found, making the whole 2WD thing concerning to daily drive in the winter. I love the idea of a Cutaway box van seeing how affordable they are, however my silverado barely fits on the slab off the garage. 

I'm asking a lot from the vehicle, especially at such a low budget. I'm curious if I can make it work! My current truck below.

It's van time. 

I have a Suburban 2500 and have done the same thing: open trailer with track car and stuff and sleeping in it at the track.  It does a great job for this, but not with everything put into the truck.  Get a tire rack and/or storage boxes on the trailer and keep things there for less loading/unloading. 

Now that we have a 20’ aluminum enclosed trailer we just put everything car related in the trailer and camping related in the truck which works great. 

Try to stick to a 2500 Sub if you think you might want to go to an enclosed trailer ever in the future.  The 6.0 gets the exact same mileage as the 8.1, both are terrible and will get 11-13 in daily driving.  

These also have all the same issues as your Silverado (brake lines, etc).  You’ll want to get one from the south to avoid doing all of that again.  

Ditto the Suburban 2500.  Mine and Sonics are probably near identical.  It’ll tow a house but gets terrible mileage all the time.

03-up Expedition. As much space and towing capacity as a 1500 'burb, but it has IRS, which not only gives you better ride and handling, it gives a lower load floor in the back and a folding third seat. They also don't seem to hold their value as well as the Chevies, so you can probably get more truck for your money. Spark plug issues aside, the 5.4 is a fairly solid if unexciting lump.

hey.. another minnesota guy..  we should go for a beer.

https://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/cto/d/2007-chevy-express-van-awd/6676155920.html   This is what you really need.. an AWD van.  Chevy made them, but they are rare and the awd hurts the towing capacity some.

The 1500HD were essentially a 2500 "light duty" meaning they have the 6.0, 4L80E, 14 bolt semi-floating rear end and HD version of the front diff in 4x4 models but not the tall frame and factory body lift that the 2500HD had to clear the big Allison trans. I had one, and my BIL had one.  Mine was a 2000 and was my DD and RV tower for almost 7 years.  My BIL bought his 2003 nearly new and just sold it last year.  Solid trucks for sure.  They get my vote for your intended purpose.  They can be found nearly or completely rust free with higher miles around here all day long for $3500-$5000 CAD.  Fly and drive one home from southern Alberta.  You get an automatic 30% discount on exchange.

For purposed of sleeping quarters the van will be better, it has a taller ceiling and access to the rest of the vehicle.  They were designed to be up-fitted by the aftermarket so there are extra 50 amp circuits built in.  The towing package came with a locking differential, I drove mine through a few winters, traction wasn't an issue waiting for it to heat up was though. 

Just sold this one for $2500.

V10 Excursion

Remove the 3rd row seats and you can fit a full size mattress back there. Roof rack for your tires and the second row seats can be folded down to be extra storage space. 

I would have bought a van for this exact purpose, (and this exact budget) but my needs for awd/4wd put them just outside my financial reach.  I was looking for almost a year for an awd chevy/gmc savanna/express but ended up with something different.

In 2014 I bought an F150-7700.  It was a single cab long bed.  I ran it like crazy until it rusted to bupkiss and I got tired of the 14mpg.  I paid $4500 for it and it was mostly trouble-free.  Sold it for $4100 and then bought a low mileage 94 Mazda B4000 for that exact $4100.  So far, all I've towed with the Mazda was a 3500 lb boat, but it did brilliantly.

Pretty much any full size van or truck will do what you need.  I'm very partial toward vans.  For the same overall footprint you get more like 12' of dry, secure cargo space instead of 8' with a truck. In your case, a 1/2 ton van will be fine, but if you ever want to tow more, consider one step beefier when comparing vans.  Many times vans are heavier than a comparable truck; especially conversion and passenger vans.  Often times a 1/2 ton conversion van is darn close to GVW even before you put people in it.  Stepping up to a 3/4 van doesn't cost anything more, but you get the bigger trans, suspension, brakes, axles, etc.  Little penalty, big gain.

I'm not a fan of Dodge stuff, especially after running transmission repair shops for so many years.  Chevy/GMC 1/2 ton, F150, Tundra, Titan, E250, Savannah/Express 2500, all good choices.

doc_speeder said:

The 1500HD were essentially a 2500 "light duty" meaning they have the 6.0, 4L80E, 14 bolt semi-floating rear end and HD version of the front diff in 4x4 models but not the tall frame and factory body lift that the 2500HD had to clear the big Allison trans. I had one, and my BIL had one.  Mine was a 2000 and was my DD and RV tower for almost 7 years.  My BIL bought his 2003 nearly new and just sold it last year.  Solid trucks for sure.  They get my vote for your intended purpose.  They can be found nearly or completely rust free with higher miles around here all day long for $3500-$5000 CAD.  Fly and drive one home from southern Alberta.  You get an automatic 30% discount on exchange.

My BIL has one of these as well.  It's an interesting mix of 1-ton parts, 3/4 ton parts, all stuffed into a body-lifted 1/2 truck.  His actually has the 10.5" full-floater which I learned when I showed up with brake parts to help him out and realized I had the wrong stuff.

Early Sequoia. There are at least half a dozen local to me udner $4k (or if you can find an 05+ around that price, they have more power, better transmisison, and better other stuff). In the end, it's Toyota quality and reliability without the 4Runner/Tundra/Tacoma coolness tax. It will fit a full-size mattress in the back if you have the two rear rows of seats out (which I always do anyhow). Still truck-y, but has Toyota comfort and road manners when just going to the store or driving around town too.

akylekoz said:

Just sold this one for $2500.

If you tell me that was AWD, I'll be very jealous that I didn't buy it.

Ramcharger from Mexico?

In reply to irish44j :

I was going to suggest a sequoia as well. 05+ is pretty much unreachable at that price however. 02 or 03 can be done. 

I use the a van, granted it's a campervan. We paid 4k for it about 11 years ago. Mine is a Ford E250. If you found a van without a LSD it's easy enough to add one. 

With a cargo van you can fabricate a fold out bed and install a built in tool box and storage area and a sit down shower. 

If you're going with an SUV a sequoia or suburban would be hard to beat. 

In reply to Curtis :

It was a couple years shy of the 4wd and double door options.  It still had the 5.7 in it.

lnlogauge said:

In reply to irish44j :

I was going to suggest a sequoia as well. 05+ is pretty much unreachable at that price however. 02 or 03 can be done. 

IDK, with a bit of looking. My local CL has a 2007 (with high miles, but not that high for the 4.7) for $4900. No idea where the OP is....my area is full of older luxo-SUVs for cheap since everyone here always has to have the newest and most expensive luxo-barges. 

https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/cto/d/2007-toyota-sequoia/6705756863.html

akylekoz said:

In reply to Curtis :

It was a couple years shy of the 4wd and double door options.  It still had the 5.7 in it.

Whew.  Thought I missed an opportuntiy 

DaveEstey said:

That's Thompson. I've camped there. Hope to again in the future with my V8 Safari.

“Its van time.”

It’s starting to look that way the more thought I put into it. I dislike the idea of daily driving one but that may have to be the sacrifice I need to make. I’ll sit down and make a proper response tomorrow, it’s late and I’m just getting into town. For those asking, I’m from St. Paul/Minneapolis.

For now... SUV guys, thoughts on the camping situation inside?

refer to my post on the ford excursion 

Buy my 2005 Escalade!

Everything is already done, trans, brakes, suspension, Load E tires and on and on. Email/contact me if you're interested.

8800lbs towning capacity, awd