Guest

Hello. My first time here. Love your site. I find it very informative. I Just ordered my first 03 Ram 3500 QC Long Bed/Diesel HO/48RE Auto/4.10 rears/4 x 2, but with single rear wheels. I plan on checking into an exhaust brake, grill gaurd, running bars, navigational system, spray-in bed liner and of course the fifth wheel hitch. I'll be towing a 5ver 37' Kountry Star with a GVWR of 16,250. I believe that once we load it up for travel we'll be at around the 15,000 lb. tops. We will be fulltiming it for the most part which means we'll be towing about once a month on an average or less. I have heard many pros and cons about having dualies. I guess I'm looking for some piece of mind after my order has been placed. The dealer, as I'm sure everyone is aware of, can be about as helpful as a pair of brick shoes in quick sand at times. In fact as I was holding the new brochure in my hand that read, "Now, a 4-speed automatic transmission is available with the Cummins High-Output Turbo Diesel engine", the dealer insisted that I could not order it that way, which only means that the dealer wouldn't have a clue on any futher assistance as far as to dually or not to dually. I don't believe that I will be unhappy nor disappointed with my choice of trucks because according to the dealer I am unable to change my order at this point anyway. They tell me that my truck is in "D" status (whatever that is). So my question is, does anyone think that not having duallies will be that big of a deal or have any set backs as we adventure into our new lifestyle? Again, great site and I'll post some pictures with the rig all hooked up for those who are interested. :

Guest

I agree with KenR and FiverBob. I've driven and towed with a '99 2500 and an '02 3500 dually, both equipped similar otherwise. There's a big difference in stability, especially at high speeds and in those situations where you have to do things like pull over concrete kurbs into gas stations. If you can do it still, go with the dually.

ascraeus

Guest

:'(Well, we talked to the dealer and because our vehicle is in what they call the "D" status, there's no turning back. We're stuck with the single wheels in the back rather than a dually. I guess never having the pleasure of driving a dually I won't know what I'm missing. Maybe I can attach a set of training wheels just in case. Thanks for the replies. At least I'll know better next time before I drop 40K on a vehicle.

Guest

Just to add one more tidbit...we were informed that we would be able to pull more without duallies so in order to get the max towing capacity out of our truck we didn't order the duallies. Were we missinformed?

Guest

Thanks to everyone for their input. It has helped a lot. The fact is that when I ordered my new truck, no one every informed me about &quot;pin weight&quot; ever being an issue. In fact most of the reason I hear about owning a dually are not as important as the one main reason that I should be concerned with which is the &quot;pin weight&quot;. You would think that the dealer would know something after learning how I will be using this truck. You would think that the RV place would give me a heads up. What's wrong with this piture ??? First thing tomorrow I will be visiting the dealer to cancel my order and they can have my $500 if that's what it takes. I would rather be safe and keep other fellow drivers of whom I share the road with safe. I will probably go to another dealer and start over fresh only because this dealer didn't know diddly-squat when it came to offering any information. In fact this same dealer (after I told hime that a new Auto Tranny was available for the HO Cummins) asked me to go home and find this information for him on the internet and fax it to him. He wanted me to do his homework for him so he could sell me his product. I should have walked then but I didn't. <br>Thanks again for all you input.