I had a 4500 4x4. get the air ride cab, seats, rear suspension. big difference with and with out. my 4x4 would yield a best of 11mpgs. in Oklahoma I taged it like a normal vehicle and was insured thru allstate on it no special crap. It towed like no other and the stopping power great! the ride well wish I spent the coin for the full airirde. The wow factor was pretty cool too. Steering was good real tight easy to pull in and such. Had the full monroe pkg with dually bed on it. keep away from the earlier years and lean towards the 07ish era for the 6spd trans instead of the 5spd in the older ones. they take the same programers and such along with dpf delete kits as well. It was great on long trips loaded (with spring suspesion) stretch out kids in back and sofa sleeper rear. If I got another it would be full airride. Did it for the weight I was carrying I felt a lot more incontrol than my gmc dually was.

Thanks for everybody's opinions.

I'm just looking for something different and fun to use for a tow vehicle like a kodiak or H1 or something like that. I have my little commuter car to drive every day so I'm not too concerned about mileage.

Kodiak or H1 I'd have to say Hummer.

Or something else unique along those lines.

international cxt! the kodiak will be cool as well.

I noticed that you are in california as am I. I tow my cat with a Kodiak 5500 with air ride, it does a great job, however I had to insure it as a medium duty truck on my commercial policy through my business. I also needed a class A license to pull an 18000 lbs. trailer that is 45 ft. long so check the state laws before you buy one. I really needed the towing capacity of the Kodiak to tow legally or I would never own one just to look cool. I was also forced into the B.I.T. program in California and now my truck and trailer get inspected and I am in a drug program, just to pull a boat! Your 29 Fountain may not put you in this class but I would check before you buy. I hope this helps. Doug

You may want to stay clear of a H1 for towing. I've read were several guys went from 1ton pickups to H1's and the rear (independent) suspensions weren't up to pulling large boats (38+ft). Just mentioning incase you ever decide to get a bigger boat.

JPD hit the nail on the head. I've driven F450-550's and C4500-5500's. The F450-550's I drove didn't have air ride and rode like logwagons unless you had some serious weight on the tongue of the trailer. The C4500-5500's I drove were setup like JPD's setup and rode pretty well when unloaded.

In Illinois, a Class C (chauffer) license is good up to 26,000lbs with or without airbrakes ,which is what I have, and I've never been hassled over it.

be cool
 

my 2 cents be cool! I tow a cafe racer, had a couple 550s last one was a 06 with a 6.0 never again [whole other story] I looked at the 4500/5500 they can be really cool. I came across a f650 crew with a hauler bed, way more truck than I need , but its to cool. state farm insures i as a personel vehicle as long as they also insure the boat, I put maybe 8-10 k miles on it a year but its cool. buy what you like, there is a bunch listed on horse trailer.com

I have a
07 kodiak ( even with air ride it rides like ****)
08 F450 way better ride and tows almost as good
07 Frieghtliner Sportchassis which rides better than both and pulls way better ( turns a lot better than the Kodiak) olt more room in the cab, just overall a better truck and gets better mileage

i have a 2007 kodiak 5500 monroe conversion. love the truck,has full air ride with 22in wheels and gets 10 mpg pulling my 42 outerlimits . we had a ford f 450, didn't ride as good to me. Yes the truck looks way cool,but check into your state laws about weight . I'm getting my CDL just so im legal in most states. My truck weighs 12,500 on the scales . Add the trailer and boat and it over 26,000. Just what i needed to do this winter was to get a CDL drivers lic...lol