Dually versus single rear wheel?

[loanman]

I am in the market for a 05-07 6.0 and what I tow can easily be towed with a single rear wheel but I have always liked and preferred the look of a dually. What will I be giving up going to a dually? basically what are the cons to a dually? do they ride worse? worse fuel economy? etc.

any input would be appreciated.

worse MPGs, costs more for tires (you have to buy 6 instead of 4) little harder to get in/out of parking areas, drive thurs can be a PITA, etc....

would i ever tow anything without a DRW.......... NO!!!!!!!!!

[loanman]

how much worse do you think in MPG's?

[caissiel]

A SRW has a much better ride, the front tires are bigger and give a better ride. I know a man that rides around with 50LBS of air in his tires and pulls a 14000Lbs trailer. He says the ride is much better with his trailer on the back. I told him I would not get out of the driveway with any less than 75lbs in my tires. I had a Ranger pulling a 5600lbs 5th wheel. It pulled quit well untill one day I did an emergency stop and then noticed the wheels had turned on the rims. I did have a flat in the rear with the trailer on and also broke all the studs on my rear wheel and with no insidents. My friend got many flats in the rear and arrived at campgrounds with only one wheel holding one side on the rear. He also could not stop without the rear wheels slipping a lot. This is due to the rear wheels not loaded enough for proper traction. Unless I need more then 6000LBS load on the trear I would not have a dually. I heard that the F350 Single wheels are great for 5th wheeling. Specially with the larger tires. The Class 8 trucks are going to Singles and Michelin makes a tire that is much more efficient than all dullies on the road. We were using duelly trailers, we had tire problems and we ended changing to single tires and solve the tire flats problems. This was in the woods with less trappings between the tires. The single tires could also carry a much bigger load.

[loanman]

very informative post caissiel, thank you

i have never had a problem with my duallys. you need good tires (10 ply min) you cant go with bigger tires on a dually. you dont want them touching (sidewalls) i have 80PSI in all of my tires all the time. i feel that yes the duallys ride a LITTLE rougher than the SRW trucks but for being stable going down the road... there is no comparisson. All i can say to the OP... see if you can test drive one of each both empty and with a load on it and then make a decision from there.

[ciscofreak]

I have no experience towing with a dually but I do know that coming down the pass (6% grade) with corners towing my 14K 5ver that the rear of my SRW does sway a bit due to do my BFG All Terrains. It was better with the stock Contis.

I would love to tow with a dually as it may make the trips through the mountains a bit less "white knuckle"....

Originally Posted by ciscofreak

I have no experience towing with a dually but I do know that coming down the pass (6% grade) with corners towing my 14K 5ver that the rear of my SRW does sway a bit due to do my BFG All Terrains. It was better with the stock Contis.

I would love to tow with a dually as it may make the trips through the mountains a bit less "white knuckle"....

thats the exact words out of my wifes mouth when she first hauled with my dually after she had hauled with her old 350 SRW for a couple of years

[mrnecsteve]

You know, it really depends a lot on how much your towing and where your towing. Myself,I set a 10k limit,truck or trailer The srw handles 10k exceptionally (its rated by Ford up to 14k with a 2.5 inch hitch receiver.I use a load leveling setup.trailer tow only
I did SRW for 3 reasons.
I drive a lot of secondary and country roads.The extra width requires greater precision in driving.
I drive offroad a lot. Ability to choose what type of tires all the way around matters to me (for 4wd especially)
Last but not least. On the east coast some states are adopting stricter guidelines for over 10k rated trucks. Dually wheels are a dead giveaway for a police officer to wonder if you are commercial or "non-commercial driver driving a commercial vehicle"
IF you are considering fifth wheel operation,forget everything I just said..

[caissiel]

I can't understand all the sway problems people have with they SRW hokeups. The spring attachments points are at the same place on SRW and DRW. The thing that I don't like is that the DRW tires are wider and they hit twice as much bumps on the road then a SRW. My trailer has 2500lbs on the pin and I never ever felt any sway with my 5th wheel. I do believe that the weight difference of a dually with ball trailer will make a difference. Thats why I usualy have a load in the truck when I am hoked to a ball hitch type trailer. The horse trailers that have the wheels way back have a dually requirements here in my province and it because they carry most of the load in the bed. They also have to stop at all the scales.