Is a dually needed?

[Soundguy]

yep. nice setting a full heavy pallet inthe bed and not much happens tot he suspension and you drive off like no problem. then the next guy in a half ton behind you gets loaded and his headlamps are more like ufo landing assistant beacons..

 

[QRTRHRS]

Just letting you know if you look and shop well you can find extremely good deals on new ones.

thanks Fordman, my default search I think was only 25 miles and that clearly is not going to cut it. Just need to drive a little further to find it.
but I do have to say, I don't want something that looks like a plumber's truck...[/QUOTE]For myself I would want one of the flatbeds with storage compartments. Never enough storage and the flatbed makes hooking up a fifth wheel or gooseneck so much easier. With the stock bed, you end up slithering in from the tailgate. Being you want to go with a fifthwheel camper, yor are likely to drop the trailer alot while you go explore.

I would go with 4x4 else you are going to find yourself spinning the wheels if you get off the road at all.

Your questions tell me that your experiance is limited with what you wish to do. I would suggest the dually will be more secure for you over single wheels as you get used to the rig. You will quickly learn to look before you leap with just the truck or the combination. A lot of parking lots are tight. Park away and walk a bit. Skip the drivethroughs. You will be fine.

 

[daugen]

Your questions tell me that your experiance is limited with what you wish to do.

absolutely. Never pulled this kind of load with a pickup. I drove a boom sod trailer one summer during college, and
pretty good sized fire trucks for several years, bigger stuff doesn't bother me per se, but no experience pulling heavy weight.
And owning a suburban and a class A motorhome now, I'm used to width/positional awareness issues.
Like everything something new takes practice.

thanks

 

[Soundguy]

you only looking new.. or looking at old too. if older.. how old?

 

[daugen]

you only looking new.. or looking at old too. if older.. how old?

definitely old too, if it's nice...they bumped up/boosted the hp a few years back, not sure how far back I can go without
giving up a lot of the latest grunt. Probably no more than five years back.

 

[buickanddeere]

Forget about traction in mud or snow with a dually.
How many miles of towing, honestly? Honestly run the numbers, the diesel still may not break even on cost per mile.

 

[Fordman1981]

Forget about traction in mud or snow with a dually. How many miles of towing, honestly? Honestly run the numbers, the diesel still may not break even on cost per mile.

The weight he's talking about I would defiantly get a diesel.

 

[timswi]

The OP should give new a chance...The wife almost had me talked into a quad cab D-max 4x4 Denali 3500 dually. The Sticker was 64K..I laughed, before I knew it the price started to collapse as the dealer saw the wife's interest. I didn't pursue it as I can't drive one of those into the city every day. It sure was nice though and wish I could have made it work.

If you stay away from the absurdly decked out ones, you might be surprised at what you can actually get.

 

[daugen]

The weight he's talking about I would defiantly get a diesel.

Buick: you are absolutely right. This isn't about economics, it's about the ability to pull the trailer period. Even gasser duallies
from what I read won't pull eight tons legally. Fordman, I've reached the same conclusion, it's the dually issue; I'm not sure I have any
choice there either.

 

[Reg]

Something that didn't come up in the replies I read so far is driving in/around camp sites.
Dual rear wheel trucks are better at "floating" across mud and slop, where SRWs tend to cut and rut.

If you will ALWAYS be on concrete or asphalt this may not matter, I guess that depends on what sort of trailer camping you do.

I haul horses to shows and have to deal with "meadow parking", which often means crossing areas that were paddocks the day before,
they just rearrange fences so we can get through.
If anything is going to sink it will be a SRW 2WD truck and most likely one without even a limited slip axle (-:

WRT Garnering admiration -
REALLY ?
Things like that MATTER to you ?
{Ahh F350 owner ...gottit}

 

[daugen]

Something that didn't come up in the replies I read so far is driving in/around camp sites.
Dual rear wheel trucks are better at "floating" across mud and slop, where SRWs tend to cut and rut.

that's a very good point, thanks, flotation...treading lightly. I'm a wuss camper, most rv parks for my motorhome are gravel or paved. And where I would take this fifth wheel trailer next winter would be pretty civilized. Near a Southern beach I hope...

I'm a retired insurance guy, and truly believe in risk reduction, so everything I've been hearing leads me to the conclusion that a diesel dually
is the right tool for the job, albeit "overly qualified" for many others. I have seem these duallies hog up four parking spots in shopping centers, but if you
don't want your hitch in someone's radiator, or your rear fenders scraped, what other choice I suppose is there? Well, there usually is plenty of parking somewhere at Home Depot, usually down where all the other trucks are. Just have to park in the truck area. That's easy.

I would never consider this kind of trailer or truck if I were to go traveling around, like I intend to do this Spring. No way I want to explore some little town and drive over their curbs with a duallie. That's why I pull a VW Golf TDI behind my motorhome. But this trailer for next year will be a set and leave deal, with me driving home somewhere much further North. Well, I do want to pull a 9900 GVW trailer for my tractor, so that sure would be easy with one of these.

Thanks guys. I love the way we get to spend each other's money here...
And I'm going to keep my eyes open for a creampuff dually that someone used for their dream trips and now
can't anymore. Pretty normal for those of us in our "mature" years...

 

[Turbys_1700]

I've run my dually now for 10 years so I do have a good perspective...
To me, the stability offsets any negatives...
I drive my truck to work daily and you will adjust your parking and driving habits...
It is a pain to park but with the rear back up aid sensor I have yet to hit anything...
Dually's do not track well in the snow...
IMHO they are useless in wet grass also...
I have front wheel drive just for that...
I don't plan on going back to a SRW truck ever...
To me the benefits far outweigh the additional negatives...

 

[daugen]

instability gets way too exciting for me, thanks Turbys.

 

[foreman Etexas]

I would also go with the dually. I pull a good amount of hay and tractors and the the truck feels alot more stable,with the duals. Un-loaded its not that bad of a ride,only thing is some drive-thrus get kinda tight,the banks are the worst but alot have been putting in a wider lane. Wally world I park it out by itself anyways cause some people just dont care where there door ends up anyways.

 

[downslope]

Personally, if I had to tow that big trailer and was forced to make a compromise on dually or diesel engine I'd easily give up the diesel first. Better to be a little short on power than be unstable going down the road. If you keep looking you might find a clean V-10 or other gas with 4.10 or higher gears that will get the job done, and probably at a much lower price point and less maintenance worries than a used late model diesel.

 

[RedNeckRacin]

I would reccomend the dually also. I have towed with a SRW 1 ton cummins and it was not a fun drive with over 8 tons behind me. I had that weight on a gooseneck (5083E with loader and loaded tires, on a 5400lb GN and sometimes a 1700lb counter weight) with air bags and tires inflated to the max and it made that truck suspension seem mushy still. I could pull it but there were hills that I could only pull at 40mph with that cummins screaming. I have pulled the same load on the same trailer with a few different trucks and by far the dually felt more stable and controlled the load instead of the load controlling the truck.

I noticed a big difference in the handling based on where the load was placed, but you have very little option to move the weight with a camper. I was considerably over the GAWR on the SRW truck trying to get the load balanced where it should be.

I don't know anyone who tows heavy and doesn't prefer a dually. Some cannot justify the cost of upgrading trucks and that's their choice. I have recently upgraded to a medium duty truck and it makes a dually pickup feel like that SRW in comparison. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.



Anyways, My personal opinion is that a dually is required when you are not able to adjust the pin weight to make it manageable and when stability becomes a concern. Airbags only mask the problem and are not a long term solution. Anything over 7 tons is dually territory because how often are you towing in optimum conditions?

 

[Bigfoot62]

Is a dually necessary? No.
Would you be better off towing a big 5ver with a dually, rather than a SRW? Absolutely.

This is coming from someone who has both. F-250 Super Duty 7.3 and a F-350 Super Duty 7.3 DRW. Both trucks are autos with 4.10 rear axles. The big difference is the rear suspension and dual wheels. I've pulled big, heavy trailers with both.
Will the 3/4 ton do it? Yep. Will the dually handle it better and safer? Absolutely.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I have had dually ' s and SRW 1 tons. I prefer the SRW trucks and I tow about 10,000 miles a year. The dually is a pain in the butt to me, tracks bad in snow and mud, gets stuck easier, easier to damage, makes most bank drive ups and atm's off limit, and forget about fast food joints or single car garage doors.

Is a dually safer to tow with? Yes! But where do you stop. A Mack truck would also be safer and will last forever. To me a 3/4 ton is not a smart purchase either due to the limited gvwr of most. A SRW 4x4 1 ton like mt current Diesel F350 is a good all around truck for towing upto 20,000# and still working for daily stuff.

Chris

 

[Reg]

Something that didn't come up in the replies I read so far is driving in/around camp sites.
Dual rear wheel trucks are better at "floating" across mud and slop, where SRWs tend to cut and rut.

that's a very good point, thanks, flotation...treading lightly. I'm a wuss camper, most rv parks for my motorhome are gravel or paved. And where I would take this fifth wheel trailer next winter would be pretty civilized. Near a Southern beach I hope...

I'm a retired insurance guy, and truly believe in risk reduction, so everything I've been hearing leads me to the conclusion that a diesel dually
is the right tool for the job, albeit "overly qualified" for many others. I have seem these duallies hog up four parking spots in shopping centers, but if you
don't want your hitch in someone's radiator, or your rear fenders scraped, what other choice I suppose is there? Well, there usually is plenty of parking somewhere at Home Depot, usually down where all the other trucks are. Just have to park in the truck area. That's easy.

I would never consider this kind of trailer or truck if I were to go traveling around, like I intend to do this Spring. No way I want to explore some little town and drive over their curbs with a duallie. That's why I pull a VW Golf TDI behind my motorhome. But this trailer for next year will be a set and leave deal, with me driving home somewhere much further North. Well, I do want to pull a 9900 GVW trailer for my tractor, so that sure would be easy with one of these.

Thanks guys. I love the way we get to spend each other's money here...
And I'm going to keep my eyes open for a creampuff dually that someone used for their dream trips and now
can't anymore. Pretty normal for those of us in our "mature" years...

Never any need to hog parking spaces, that behavior says something about the owners who do it, NOTHING about the vehicles that they own.
Pick almost any brand of "car" and you can find one parked deliberately diagonally so nobody will park beside them.
I gave up on parking WAY over THERE, I swear "door swingers" go WAY over there LOOKING for me (-:

Anyway, a couple more points.
If you are looking at 15,000 GVW behind you a 9,900 SRW will keep you under 26,000 - a 12,000 DRW won't.
That may or may not matter to you according to your license class.
DRW takes about a ton more payload - i.e. "pin weight".
They are only WIDE if you get the (ridiculous looking) bulbous flared fenders.
If you want narrow get a Chev/GM (narrowest track of the big 3) chassis/cab and put a flat-bed on it.
That is the best/easiest way to handle/avoid the issues with top rail height and trailer interference.
You also get a clear full width platform, not 4 ft or so between wheel wells - it is closer to standard loading dock height too.
Allison trans is another good reason, but that wasn't what you asked about.

IGNORE anything you may have read or heard that "Campers" are exempt from the 26K CDL requirement.
Having a toilet on board won't get you out of that, though in some states that, a bed and sink might help your vehicle taxation a bit.

 

[gengine]

There are many great responses here with some really great advice. Also a lot of opinions. That being said, here's mine. I tow a lot. I have a f350 srw 4x4 and a ram 2500 srw, both diesels. For pulling a lot, go diesel. For pulling a few times a year, go gas. For power, go cummins, for speed, go dmax, and for compromise, power stroke. Stay away from the 6.0 and 6.4 power strokes. There is a reason ford dumped them in short order. As far as weights, it all depends on how the truck was put together. A truck at work is close to identical to my 350, just a dually. It also has a lighter spring package, so the difference in payload between the two is only 500#, according to the sticker. The only real benefit of the dually, as I see it, is if you have a blow out. My E rated tires are for 5400# ea., 3250#ea, dual. The two singles are rated higher than the truck. As for side to side stability, if it has the heavy sway bars, it doesn't make any difference I have found. I pull a 24k rated flatbed with a 21k forklift, almost weekly. I know I am overloaded. The good thing about 5'ers and goosenecks, some of that hitch weight is also put on the front tires.