I have been towing large 5th wheels for years, and my last two trucks were dual rear wheels.
I have a chance at a great deal on a new truck, equiped exactly as I have been looking for, except single rear wheels. It does have a positraction rear end.
Are there any major, or important reasons for not towing with a SRW equiped with a locking differential?
Added info:
SRW truck I'm considering is a Silverado 3500, Crew cab, long bed Duramax.
5th wheel is 35 ft, about 14,000 lbs loaded.
Pin weight is about 2000 lbs.
* This post was
edited 06/28/08 04:32pm by fastcw *
Opponents will say the duals give you stability, I say it's a 400# impediment. Have driven both over the years. My Uni is SRW and my Peterbilt has super singles on the drivers.
Matt J - 1956 416 Unimog, Featherlight trailer - Gone to Bakken, ND.
Bert - '08 Dakota 4.7, Airstream
Generally speaking, assuming that two identical trucks are equal in GAWR's, the SW truck will do better braking, traction, mpgs on down the road. The ONLY place a dually is better, is for the drivers brain, ie if one of the tires blows, then you have a spare to hold you up to the side of the road. Of course we are talking two trucks with the same GRAWR!
You are talking a truck with a 6100-6800 GRAWR single vs one with 8500 lbs. Yes the dually will weigh in at about 300-400 lbs more, but even at that, you still have 1500-2500 lbs more payload with the dually in a pickumup! So one has the ability to carry more pin wt, hence tow a bigger trailer with the dually in pickumups. Otherwise, I will admit, if I could get a single wheel with the same payload as my dually, I would go with singles in a heartbeat!
marty
05 Chev CC D/A LS Dooley
92 Navistar dump truck, 7.3L 7 sp, 4.33 gears with a Detroit no spin
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fastcw wrote: I have been towing large 5th wheels for years, and my last two trucks were dual rear wheels.
I have a chance at a great deal on a new truck, equiped exactly as I have been looking for, except single rear wheels. It does have a positraction rear end.
Are there any major, or important reasons for not towing with a SRW equiped with a locking differential?
Is the new truck a 1 ton or a 3/4 ton?
Long bed or short?
What are the weights on fifth wheels that you plan to pull and pin weights?
I too have owned both dual rear wheel pickups and single rear wheel pickups. Even with equal spring strength, the dual rears are more stable than the singles, as there are twice as many tire sidewalls supporting the load and each are under much less load than with singles. The duals also have alot more load capacity. You're not likely to exceed the rear tire load capacity on a dual rear wheel pickup, as the combined tire load capacity often exceeds the axle load capacity, but you're very likely to exceed the single rear wheel load capacity if hauling a heavy slide-in camper, fifth wheel or gooseneck trailer. The combinded single tire load capacity seldom come close to equaling the axle load capacity on a SRW truck.
The other thing is the springs, axles and other load carrying equipment. The duallies come with heavier springs to match their increased rear axle load capacities. Duallies also come with factory sway bar and overload springs that not all single rear wheel trucks get, though some can be ordered with those things.
Some duallies come with stronger rear axles as well. The DRW version of my truck got a 2000-lb stronger rear axle than my SRW did (6250-lb Visteon 10.25" for my F350SRW -vs- 8250-lb Visteon 10.25" for the F350DRW in years '86-'97). The newer Fords, '99-up, have the 11,500-lb Dana 80 for the F350DRW diesel (same axle as some F450's get) -vs- the 9750-lb Visteon 10.50" for the F350SRW (same axle as the F250).
I should have bought the dually instead of the single wheel F350, but in my year Ford truck, Ford did not make the dually pickup with 4wd. You either chose 4wd, or you chose dual rear wheels, not both. Nowadays, you can get it how ever you like it. I chose 4wd, figuring it is easier and less expensive to convert a single rear wheel truck to duals than it is to convert a 2wd to 4wd, if I ever needed the additional payload capacity of dual rears. Well, I have so far upgraded the springs to beyond the stock capacity of the dually springs and I have upgraded the wheels and tires to the highest capacity 16" tires I could find and custom made heavy duty wheels to match. Next upgrade is the axle itself, as it is currently overloaded. Would be alot easier if Ford would have just made a factory 4wd dually in those years...
Regardless of how many rear tires you choose, definitely get the locking rear differential if you intend to use the truck off-road.
Something that ALSO should be pointed out when comparing singles with duals, is that the width of the tires, needs to be the same! Along with the singles being about double width. OTHERWISE, as SoCal mentions, I also alluded to, the SW pickumup will not tow as well as a Dually. More due to increased spring capacity, increase tire width etc. A properly setup rig with super singles as mentioned, will tow as well or better than than a dually.
I had a 3/4T when I got this 5er and then went to a drw cuz I didn't like the feel of the srw even with 80 psi in the tires. I wouldn't go back and my 5er is only half the weight of the big ones. Craig
2003 Dodge HO CTD, NV5600, 4.10. Real 1Ton - pregnant with twin spare tires, 4WD - all on the rear. Aurora 2000 turbo, Diablo Predator, 4" muffler. 98 Sunnybrook 30RLFS 5th wh. WHOEVER INVENTED WORK DIDN'T HAVE AN RV!
I have towed with both, pulling tag-along's, gooseneck and 5th wheel. The difference between SRW and DRW was negligible, unless you were pushing your design weight limitations. Of course a 3/4 ton SRW (the only way they come, unless modified) will not tow like a 1 ton SRW or DRW. Think about what you will be towing. A DRW, especially with the shorter wheel base, will ride a lot harder than the SRW when not under tow and your fuel mileage may suffer to some degree. You must ask yourself, does my tow require the added weight and expense of a DRW? There is always the option of air suspension kits, which do not change your GVW, but will assist the ride and balance. As you can see from the previous listings, a lot of this is just personal preference.
M & M On the road again! 2007 GMC 3500-SRW-Duramax-longbed-4X4 2005 COUGAR 5th wheel 2002 SUNDOWNER gooseneck horse trailer
I've towed with both and if your towing a heavier 5er, I'd highly recommend the dually, again, I've towed with both in the mountains of WV,TN,NC,SC & VA and I COULD tell a difference when it came to driving on curvy roads up and down those mountains, the stability alone was well worth it, not even taking into consideration that the dually will handle more weight under normal circumstances.
Jim & Kathy
2007.5 Chevrolet K3500DRW/CC/LB/LMM/D/A LTZ, Prodigy,Reese 20K hitch.
2006 HR Presidential Suite 37RLQ (4 slides).
2007 Mitsubishi Outlander XLS 4X4
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a lot of this is just personal preference.
On the road again!
