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}