For those that know/have driven or owned both.
I have a 2003 2500 quad cab 4wd now and love it... have had it since it is new.
I bought a bigger trailer that, when fully loaded pushes the limits of what I should do with it, so I am thinking about upgrading.
I found a 2008 5500 that really looks nice. I am sure when pulling the trailer there will be no regrets.
What about when just driving... I won't use it as a daily driver, but will drive it without the trailer a fair amount.
It has a pretty big hauler bed on it, so I think it should ride ok, but then again, it is a 5500.
So, specifics... will it drive like a tank, being longer and heavier?
What about empty mileage... When I am loaded with my current truck I get between 12 and 14, depending how hard I push it.
Empty, I get close to 20. What do you get on the 4500/5500's?
Will it turn like a school bus?
I could just upgrade to a 3500, but then empty, how different will a 3500 be vs. a 5500.
I also have trouble dealing with not being able to go faster than 75..
I appreciate your thoughts.

 

i drive a 09 5500 for work, its a rough ride. there are no aftermarket steering parts or at least the company "mechanic" hasnt found them. supposably all of the 4500/5500 steering componats are completlely different from standard parts.
i dont think that its sees better then 12mpg. the lie-o-meter doesnt say better then 10mpg. but the speedos out 1km every 100kms. i idle
the bed on my 5500 is 10'x8', plus the quad cab. this makes the chassis almost 15' long. oddly enough with 19.5'rims it doesnt turn much worse then my 97 on 33s".
the diffs come in 4.88 or something just as high. at 2600rpm im sitting at about 120km/h. but i am really cuttin into my mpgs. the 09s got a 50gallon tank, i can burn off roughly 3/4s of a tank with a round trip from edmonton to calgary (about 600km). they are 100% work trucks, the pickup version of a kenworth/peterbuilt.

if it where my 03 truck id put airbags under the rear axle. though if the trailer is that big and your lookin for a dually... id still stay away from a purely commercial vehicle, the aftermarket for them is very small and you will be stuck with something you cant fix without throwin an extraordinary sum of money at it.

 

There was a recall on the shocks on the 08's. The replacements are tolerable. The bigger bed as well as hooking up to a heavy trailer will smooth out the ride. You could swap out the overloads for airbags to make it even smoother

Since it is a 5500 you probably have 4.88 gears in it. They are great for towing but not for the millage. I get about 12-14 hwy with mine, doing the deletes with a smarty or H&S will improve those numbers as well as removing the 75 MPH limit.

 

Thanks for the helpful information.

 

Towed with a 4500 yesterday while the stability was great it don't have no power compared to the 2012 my wife has with the auto.I would like to add i was very disappointed.

 

the 4500 is available with 4.10 gears.. and a air ride rear is the cats meow

 

I have an 11, 4500. I've heard the ride between 4500-5500 is a lot dif. Mine is a little rough, but has more of a solid feel to it. I pull over 30k# with it very often. It will burn the diesel though. I have full deleted and I get 7.3mpg. But it pulls like no ones business. I have h&s on it. I have seen 16mpg, but that's so rare. I'd try staying with 4500, you'll like the ride better. Unless that truck is always hooked to a trailer. With 30k# hooked to the truck my overload springs are still an inch from touching.