If you want to compare the size and safety of rigs, lets do it right:
This will sting a little at first, but here are some "hard truths" about your "big ol' duallies" you probably won't like: Starting with "they ain't so big" and including "they let
anyone drive them". And, considering those reasons alone, if a mere dually is the best crutch available to make the highways a tiny bit safer, then I am all for them.
Just remember, I have no interest in owning a 5th wheel
at all OR a pickup camper that is too big for my truck. (Dragging a 5th wheel on vacation would just be too much like what I do for a living to let me feel I was finally on my own time.
Like a 'busman's holiday' where a bus driver spends his entire day off riding on a danged bus. )
Many of you recreational drivers haul your big rigs almost 5ooo miles per year. Some of you are retired and pull/haul your big "5ers" (cute term) or 5th wheels 10 thousand miles a year or more. Wow. The average professional truck driver does more than 10k per
month; 12 months per year.
You tend to do the majority of your driving in good weather during the summer months and in daylight hours. Your experience with your 'big rig' on snow, ice, and high winds and heavy rain is as limited as possible thanks to your good sense to avoid those hazards. For that, I sincerely thank you, since as a professional driver, I MUST be out in all those conditions and dread every encounter with RVs then.
You haul a rig, that is approaching the same size as a semi, though MUCH lighter and vulernable to wind, and you aren't even required to have a CDL or even receive any special training or pass any kind of driving test AT ALL. Your equipment is not subject to strict DOT inspections on a regular basis. The chassis is built as lightweight and cheaply as possible; especially the running gear. Gotta save weight and money somewhere so the inside can have 3 cable TV's and hardwood flooring, ya know.
It has electric/hydraulic brakes of
almost adequate size to stop a vehicle grossing nearly 20,000 pounds under ideal conditions. Sure, 20k pounds is only 1/4 of a modern 80,000 pound rig with air brakes and anti-locks, but lighter rigs are often harder to handle.
I never hear you guys mention how many sets of duals your trailer axles have, btw... ? Isn't that where much of the weight is. . ? Isn't that where
most of the side-to-side leverage of a tall vehicle exerts it's force. . ? Hmmm... Now
what is up with that? Are tandems a substitute for duals? How do they limit sway? Gee golly...
Furthermore, any high blood pressure, diabetes, bad vision, medications, etc do not automatically disqualify you from driving those huge rigs. Your hours are not strictly regulated and you can drive as long and far as you want without rest. You need every advantage you can buy, and a dually is one of them.
A dually pickup is almost 12 inches wider in footprint in the rear and on ONE axle only and has 4 additional sidewalls. Never mind your
front footprint is actually NARROWER than a single rear wheel pickup and
those wheels and tires, though not as load-bearing, do all your steering.
You probably never though about that, did you? On a semi, the front wheeltrack is as wide as the
outside width of the tandem duals. Your's are not.
By now you recreational drivers with your 'big rig' duallies and '5ers' are bound to be resenting me very much for the superior air this is written with. In fact, I'm sure it sounds just like
you guys when you jump on every opportunity to start criticizing any single rear wheel pickup owner who wants to buy a pickup camper
to fit his truck and needs.
But if recommending a recreational driver buy a dually helps at all, I'm all for it. If all I used my truck for is what many of you guys use yours for, I would have dually, too. But it wouldn't make me super-bobby-big-rig.
I only put less than 5,000 recreational miles on my RV per year, too, anymore. I am buying a pickup camper to eliminate the need to pay for year-round insurance and licensing and maintenence on a dedicated RV vehicle. So my vehicle must perform many other day-to-day tasks. There will be some compromises, which is why I want an appropriately-sized pickup camper that does NOT need a dually.
And frankly, I am a professional driver with more miles of accident-free driving under my belt and in my logbook than anyone here, I'll wager (close to 3 MILLION miles in a semi alone and not counting a single personal-vehicle mile). I know my vehicles and what they can and cannot do. I also know my own limitations. Quite frankly, I'm a better driver. Truly BIG rigs and safe driving ARE my profession. Lectures from recreational weekend warriors are amusing at best and soon become irritating. Like Piper Cub weekend flyers lecturing a 747 pilot.
Hey guys, drive whatever makes you feel more confident and safe. Drive whatever makes
the rest of us safer when you are on the road. God knows I see far too many motormansions and 5th wheels in the hands of idiots with more money than brains or experience. If that "great big dually with 2 extra tires and a few inches of rear-axle-only width" makes you safer to share the road with,
Please, by all means, keep your dually!
Just remember: Not everyone seeking opinions on pickup campers is a novice to Big Rigs, RV's, pickups, or driving. Not every SRW pickup owner will put up with 'airs of superiority' from guys who own identical pickups with a tiny bit wider rear-axle-only footprint.
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