peobryant

I know Dually's are meant for people that tow. My question is, how much do the duals really help? Is it just increased stability that is appealing to the dually, or is it something else. I love the look of 'em, thats why I bought mine, but I was just curious of the towing advantages they have.

madhat

A lot of stability, better weight distribution, capacity for more weight, more breaking power.

You'd be amazed at the difference that they make.

rich

yep what he said

tommygun

same here i love towing with mine

Jeff in TD

5th wheels and goose necks place around 15-20% of their weight on the hitch. A toyhauler with full tanks and empty garage could be higher.

When I was looking at switching from a 30' toyhauler to a 40', I first sold my 3500 SRW to a buddy and got a dually. The SRW towed the 30' one just fine (about 2100 pounds of hitch weight, plus the weight of the hitch and people), but the Dually did it better (more stable and relaxing to drive on uneven, narrow and curvy mountain roads).



When I bought the 40' one, I hit the Cat scale with the trailer totally empty. My rear axle weight was 6,440 lb. That would have way overloaded my single rear wheel truck.



Personally, I'm not that worried about the combined weight rating or tow rating, but when you start looking at getting over axle weight ratings, or especially tire weight ratings then IMHO it's time to look at more truck.

Once I got used to the Dually, I find the extra width isn't really any bother. I don't think I'll ever own another single rear wheel...

radshooter

We are full-timers in a 38' fiver, triple slide, triple axle that weighs around 18K.
We now tow with the dually in my sig. Before we got the dually, I pulled the same trailer with an SRW. Being full-timers, we pull a lot of the time. With the SRW, whenever we would get in a tight curve at speed, ie. a cloverleaf on-ramp, or similar, it would feel like the trailer was trying to push the back end of the truck sideways and spin us out. Not talking 90 mph here, just even 20 or 30 mph getting around the curves. With the dually, that feeling is completely gone. It feels like the truck is leading the trailer instead of the trailer pushing the truck. The dually also made a tremendous difference in cross-winds. We don't wander back and forth near as much now.

As long as I have a decent size trailer to tow, I will have a dually.

peobryant

Thanks for all the responses. It seems like they do make a pretty significant difference.

SOhappy

Training Wheels!

92'1stGen

I found out the same thing, it's a completely different experience when towing with a dually. The change is definitely a pleasant one with any load.

Bill1374

Very significant difference. Tried my current trailer with a single wheel and hated it. Way too much trailer. Dually handles the pin weight fine plus a lot more stable on the road. Wouldn't consider pulling a trailer over 14k with a single wheel.

Bill

C Schomer

You're lucky you like the looks of them - that was the biggest hurdle for me! I think they are the butt ugliest things on the road. I had a 5spd/3.54 3/4T and was looking for a 6spd/4.10 for our bigger 5er change when I found this 03. It had every option I wanted and none of the options I didn't want... but it was a dually. I'm much happier with the handling - it's like night and day. The hauler bed did wonders for the looks! Overall, I am very happy with it now and won't go back to srw as long as I haul this much weight. Same story from everyone I know who switched to a dually. Craig

Number47

EXACTLY!! (couldnt help but laugh!)wider footstep and smoother ride

BearKiller

Big long properly built goosenecks will easily put 60% or better of the weight over the truck.

Seeing as how a properly located gooseneck ball is four-inches ahead of axle centerline, a portion of this weight is transferred to the truck's front axle, but the bear's end of it is on the truck's rear axle.


Most fifth-wheel camper-type trailers are more balanced, with the trailer axles farther forward (why I don't know, as it seems sort of un-wieldy to me), thus placing a much lesser portion of the load on the truck.(I have never been able to understand the reasoning behind this, as most of them have flimsy axles and not near enough tire for the load.)



With a big gooseneck, a SRW truck is loaded with the empty trailer, and the single tires will not hold up long under the weight of a loaded gooseneck.


As a general rule, SRW trucks also have much lighter springs and no provision for over-loads.

A decent DRW truck will have a bigger stack of leaves in the over-loads than a SRW truck will have in the main spring-pack.



There is no comparison in the stability.

Kenny D

I tow all the time with mine (lifted) and i love it it is much more stable and for me i worry allot less about tires blowing out when im loaded for long distances and if they do you alwyas have 2 spares in an emergancy wich has happend

gibbs6017

I have a dually for a work truck i love it when i pull trailers the main reason i like it is for the added safety ie. i was coming back from houston in late summer will a fully loaded 30' gooseneck i had a tire blow out on the back but i was still left with one on that side so for me i got to get to a gas station to change it out instead of on the side of the highway and im sure if i didnt have a dually i would have had a hard time keeping it under controll with a rear flat and only one tire on the other side.