Has anybody used one of the available kits to convert an F-250/350 SRW to a DRW? If so how did it go, seems like a good fix to the weight issues with SRW
Cpmanz
'06 Montana Mountaineer 336RLT
'03 Ford Crew Cab 4X4 6.0 PSD, Banks
Past RV - '97 Pace Arrow Vision 33L
If you are going to go to that trouble, why not just buy some 19.5" 245-70-19.5 tires, those are good to upwards of 5500-6000 lbs per tire, about what a dually will allow, probably for less money and easier. Assuming the springs are capable of handling the additional wt. If not, for around 800-1000 you can have a new spring pack made up too. I'd do these options before going with a dually.
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
For any vehicle which has factory duallies readily available, trading up is much easier than doing a conversion. On your truck, you need to change from the Sterling axle to a Dana 80, plus change the springs, and front hubs. Dually trucks are usually less expensive used than SRW trucks, since many folks don't want to drive them around.
Or as Marty notes: More tire capacity will put you in a better place than your are now.
Bryan
2000 Ford E350 DRW Wagon (14-pass all captains chairs)
V10 w/ Banks PowerPack, Diablo Predator, 4.56 LS, ~350,000 miles
New Desert Fox in the works!
There is already a topic going HERE, in the Truck Camper section of the forum, about Arrowcraft and other dual wheel spacer conversions, if you want to read a few pages on the topic.
blt2ski wrote: If you are going to go to that trouble, why not just buy some 19.5" 245-70-19.5 tires, those are good to upwards of 5500-6000 lbs per tire, about what a dually will allow, probably for less money and easier. Assuming the springs are capable of handling the additional wt. If not, for around 800-1000 you can have a new spring pack made up too. I'd do these options before going with a dually.
Marty
Fuel economy is inherently better with a SRW.
But there is more stability with DRW --- which is a major issue with an unwieldy, dynamically unstable trailer.
I've not seen a difference between a dually and a SW rig with equal axel rated springs, tires etc as far as carrying wts, trailer towing etc.
IMHO, if you have an unweildly unstable trailer, you have other issues than a SW vs DW issue. On the other hand, I could see how a 2 or 4 horse trailer with moving stock, a wider rear axel, be it single or dual would handle this issue. But from an RV standpoint, or load carry standoint, there is no difference.
Thanks for all the replies, I have just been seeing a lot of talk about this on other boards and wanted to get some feedback
Didn't see the existing thread until after I posted
blt2ski wrote: I've not seen a difference between a dually and a SW rig with equal axel rated springs, tires etc as far as carrying wts, trailer towing etc.
IMHO, if you have an unweildly unstable trailer, you have other issues than a SW vs DW issue. On the other hand, I could see how a 2 or 4 horse trailer with moving stock, a wider rear axel, be it single or dual would handle this issue. But from an RV standpoint, or load carry standoint, there is no difference.
Marty
What you're missing here is that with 1-ton pickups, which is what we're talking about, the DRW rear axle/spring/tire/wheel assembly is rated in the 8-10,000 lb range, whereas the SRW rear assembly is rated in the 6-7,000 lb range. There is a noticeable difference in load carrying, handling and sway with otherwise similar DRW versus a SRW factory stock pickups.
I think you're talking about a super-single commercial tractor, versus a dually commercial tractor. Those are not the same class as pickups and the super-single is not hampered by comparably lower rated tires/wheels/springs as a stock SRW pickup is, compared to it's dually counterpart.
I've had SW and duallys with equal rated rear springs in pickups, granted I had to modify one or two of the singles, but at the end of the day, if you take a sw with a 7500 grawr, compare to a dually with a 7500 grawr, there is not difference! Reality, I went from a 6400 to an 8400 lbs spring pack with my old 96 CC, same handling as my dually with equal trailers. There was a difference in the old truck from 6400 lbs springs to 8400 lbs springs.
Yeah, if you want to compare a SW to a dually where the suspension is 2000 lbs different, then yes, their will be a difference. Even in pickups, equal to equal, there should not be a lot of difference if any.
Where on this planet are you going to buy a STOCK SRW, and a STOCK DRW, and end up with both having the same RAWR?
It's not gonna happen.
An SRW is going to have around 7000lbs RAWR.
A DRW is going to have around 9000lbs RAWR.
The only way for your sceario to happen, Marty, is if you cut up two trucks. As a general rule people tend to want to not have to tear their "new-to-them" trucks apart and make major structural changes to make them suitable for the task at hand. It makes much more sense to buy the truck set up ready to go.
2002 Chevy 3500 DRW 8.1L/Allison
2000 Palomino B1500
...and the reason why I need a DRW to haul a Palomino:
2004 United 7x14 tandem axle enclosed toy trailer
2011 PJ 8x20 7-ton deckover equipment trailer
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