DRW v. SRW is like diesel v. gas, auto v. manual, Chevy v. Dodge v. ford, foreign v. domestic.
What works for others may, or may not work for you. I personally see benefits to having either one, and negatives for both as well.
I do agree with the other posters, a 38fter is in all likelyhood going to need a dually. Or possibly a SRW with 19.5" tires/wheels. However, a 3500SRW with the 19.5" tires/wheels may run into axle capacity issues. I doubt a 3500SRW with 16" wheels/tires will ever be up to the challenge.
Depends on the trailer, and what rule of weights you follow really. If you need to be under the GVWR at all costs, then you will probably need a dually. If you follow the axle weight and tire ratings rule, you will probably be fine..............but we really need to know the true pin weight and GVWR of the trailer.
I towed my 40' 2600 pin/15500 GVWR trailer with a 2500 no problem. Under all axle and tire ratings and handled like a dream. Some trailers are different than others.
Weight is everything. It's hard to make a determination without the actual weights of the fifth wheel. As for a general opinion, when towing heavy, a dually is more stable. Look at it this way, any truck on the road designed to carry weight has dual rear wheels... for a reason.
i have to agree with Georgeh. you COULD be over even a 3500/F350 dually with that large of a trailer. Without some accurate information about brand/model/GVWR of the trailer it is impossible to make even a slightly educated guess.
Even without the trailer weight, you are not going to find a SRW rated to handle the pin weight of the 38' trailer. His trailer GVWR is probably over 16,000# which means a pin weight of 3200# or so.
A 1 ton dually will probably be at it's limits and you probably need to look at the F350 Tow Boss package or move up to an F450 or a 4500 series truck.
The whole issue of SRW vs DRW depends on the pin weight of the loaded trailer (forget the brochure BS).
Ken
KE5DFR
Vintage 1979 Silver Streak Supreme Rocket toted by a 2002 F350, crewcab dually, 7.3L,4.10 axle,SCMT. Travel with two miniature Schnauzers and one African Gray parrot. Practicing for retirement!
The other problem with this question, along with what Engineer9860 mentioned, are we talking reg cab vs et cab vs crew cab? A reg cab SW 25 or 35 series truck could have well over 5-6000 lbs of payload, more than ample for an 18K 5w with 25% pin wt at 4500-5000 lbs, along with a couple on board. Take same SW crew cab, and you have at best maybe 2500-3000 lbs of payload, so it is NOT able to handle the pin wt along with a couple much less a family of say 6 towing said beast. If you are in the latter such as myself, even a 450 might not handle the pin wt and family wt etc of said 18K 5W, you would be into a Class 6 model with a 20k'ish GVWR!
So the reality is, one way to answer, I have no problem saying yes a SW will handle a 38' 5W, on the other hand, even a dually 35 will not!
To a degree more info is needed, yet not
Marty
05 Chev CC D/A LS Dooley
92 Navistar dump truck, 7.3L 7 sp, 4.33 gears with a Detroit no spin
00 Chev C2500, V5700, 4L80E, 4.10, base truck, no options!
92 Red-e-haul 12K equipment trailer
3 Single axle utility trailers
Wow !! Lot of speculation. I own a 2008 Montana 3400RL 38'4"
Advertised dry weight 11,800 GVWR 15,500 Actual loaded weight 12,740, Actual loaded pin weight 2,420 These weights are fact weighted truck and fiver last week.Biggest reason I did is because of topics like this one and all the speculation.. I tow it with a 1 ton Superduty SRW
I am sure some can make arguement with these weights and a 1 ton SRW, but I had one concern tires tires tires,I am way under my tire capacity with my new tires and wheels,so that one concern is gone.Totally depends on the OP's weight. In my case I think some of the above replies are abit off base.
* This post was
edited 10/05/08 09:37am by up2nogood *
We have a winter neighbor in Az that has a very large triple axle Travel supreme and a chev 2500 short box truck. He has told others the truck is very good.
chevman PS I do not agree
chevman
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2005 3500 2wd duramax CC dually
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