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New User
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Location: Emerald, WI | We have a 35' Sundowner, 3-horse with 12' living quarters. Now it's time to upgrade to a newer truck. Found a good deal on a 1 ton dually with a Duramax diesel engine, but have never driven a dually before. We had to really beef up the back end of our old 2500HD gas engine truck to pull this trailer. What do are the pro's and cons of having a dually verses standard wheel? |
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 Expert
Posts: 2453
  
Location: Northern Utah | It's all Pro's as far as towing goes. Much more stable, better braking etc The negatives will be you drive it empty. It is just a little bigger. Harder to park, You will find your self walking a little farther in the parking lot at the mall. An empty dually slips a little more traction wise in snow or mud. There is more floatation with the surface area of the tires. The outside tires on the dually don't follow in the ruts created by the front tires. And of course the obvious. 6 tires in place of 4 when it's time to replace tires. More difficult to change an inside flat than on a SRW truck. Most duallys have a slightly higher gear than most SRW trucks, so your fuel mileage will be down just a notch. |
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Veteran
Posts: 264
Location: Sumas Washington | I switched both my trucks to Duallys in 2001, NEVER regreted it .. MAYBE when buying tires. Lots better handling, LOTS BETTER. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 406
Location: Minneapolis, MN | I just can't imagine being withing the tire specs on the rears, considering the pin weight of 35'.I weighed coming back from Kansas. 4500 steer, 6160 drive, 10,220 trailer. This is with a SRW Ford shortbox. The 265/75-16 are rated are 3400 and change....the trailer is 24' no bathroom, but other than that, full LQ. |
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 Regular
Posts: 93
Location: Newnan, GA | i have an '08 f350 with a 3.73 rear end (was hoping to get better fuel mileage). fully loaded with trailer and horse, gear for camping i got 7.3 mpg on a recent trip:( figured this using the old fashioned method - the gauge on the dash usually tells me better numbers). 45k miles so far and the tires still look great. so i just saw where you posted weights - i had my full rig weighed just recently as follows:steer axle 5280 lb, drive axle 7480 lb, trailer axle 9680 and gross weight 22440i have an '01 c&c 26' box all alum 12' lq, 3h slant and usually haul one horse.i went back and weighed just the truck loaded, full fuel and a light load of firewood:steer axle 5060 lb, drive axle 3720, trailer axle 0, gross weight 8780.at this point my question is - when i put the trailer on my truck it drops the bed 4". i am thinking about getting "timbrens" put on. one guy says my springs are maxed out. and then i wouldn't mind having airbags either. my husband really nixes all those ideas and says the truck is built for how i am using it. so i hope to go down the road fine as i have for the past 3 years. i had my gooseneck raised a few inches hoping to get some of the weight off the bed and it came back down about halfway down the road when we hit a big bump... |
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Expert
Posts: 2615
| We tried pulling a 3H 10' SW LQ with a F250 Powerstroke.We go in hills a lot to camp and ride,and,I'll just say that,all weighing aside,we didn't have the stability that we wanted with this truck.We traded for a 12' 3H LQ but had already gotten a 3500 Duramax dually.We are confident that we have the vehicle that we need for our trailer.All of the "cons" that have been mentioned are true,and you will no doubt have a couple of posters on this topic who are well known for their opinion of a different truck for your LQ and theirs.I'm just saying that for our needs,the dually worked. |
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Veteran
Posts: 134
| I have a 32' LQ trailer, and when my husband finally talked me into putting a dually underneath it, I have never regretted it. I love the stability. I have an 08 Duramax, and it is my daily driver. It has never bothered me to drive on snow or icy roads with it, but I don't get crazy either. For what it is worth, after pulling with a dually I would never go back to a SRW, I think the benefits are far greater than the disadvantages. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 406
Location: Minneapolis, MN | Fastguard, We had a huge argument here a while back on the Timbrens and ride quality...versus air bags. Aside from that debate, the fact of the matter is, Ford is trying to get car like ride quality on their SD's...and starting in model year '08 I believe, Ford spec'd a longer leaf spring...I think it's under sized, and causes a axle wrap issue that results in a driveline shudder. I borrowed a friends '08 F350...my trailer squeezed it 4"....It also squeezes my F250 4"....go figure. |
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Member
Posts: 39
Location: Southwestern, Indiana | I have a 15' shortwall 4 Horse Lakota 33' box, I pull with a 2007 F350 Dually. Wouldn't want to pull it with a SRW. None of the cons - parking, tires or manuvarability come into play as far as I am considered especially when compared to the additional stability and load spread on soft ground. I have heard good things about the Duramax so I vote for the dually! Course a Freightliner Sports Chassis would be nice. |
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Member
Posts: 45
Location: Pontotoc MS | We have a 8 wide 11 foot shortwall 3 horse Lakota. I pulled it with f250 super duty but traded to a 3500 dodge and there is no comparison. The 3500 handles the trailer much better. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1069
Location: MI. | We pull a 14 foot three horse with a 3500 srw and it sits quite level and pulls it well. But sometimes on the highway there may be some rough spots and we can get an occasional bounce, depending on the speed. Next truck, 450-550 hauler. |
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Expert
Posts: 1205
Location: Arkansas | Dually....more stable, more braking, and at least the hope that a rear wheel blow out does not mean a complete disaster. We have a half ton, a HD 3/4 ton SWD 3WD, and a F350 DWD 4WD, and then the runabout Infiniti QX4. have a 25' flatbed gooseneck, a 28' GN stock trailer, a 20' GN stock trailer, a 3H 10' shortwall 8' wide LQ..and other ddmaller BP trailers (we just gather em up, I guess). there is no comparison in stability and handling characteristics...love the dually. The dually and the 3/4 ton are both 4:10 rear ends, the F350 an auto tranny, the 3/4 is a manual.... can't complain on it, as it has 330,000 miles on the original motor...we special ordered it and it has done very well, but really love the dually for all major pulling. |
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Expert
Posts: 3853
Location: Vermont | Originally written by Painted Horse on 2011-11-27 9:11 PM The negatives will be You will find your self walking a little farther in the parking lot at the mall.  |
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Location: KY | That is so funny (and so true) I am walking farther now with my new truck 'cause I park away from everyone so no one will complain that I cannot get it between the lines most of the time. |
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Dually Verses Standard for 35' Trailer
