Dually vs SRW Questions

[MJWenrich]

These are going to be sophomoric questions for the experienced dually owners but not having ever owned one, and considering buying a dually, I would like to know a couple more things about them. Okay it turned out to be four things.



1. Can you rotate tires on a dually? It looks like the wheels are different on the front and rear. And if you can rotate, how do you include the inner wheel?



2. Is the ride in a dually better than a SRW. I currently have a 2004. 5 2500 Laramie with the diesel and E rated tires. Our roads are pretty poor except for the major highways and my truck rides, well... . like a truck. I keep seeing on this forum how nice the newer trucks ride but is there a difference between the dual and single rear wheel rides?



3. I really like the way the new dual fenders blend into the body. They look like they are not as wide as in previous years. Is that so and does anyone know the dual rear wheel width for considering what and where it will fit in garages, etc?



4. Lastly... and not a dually question, My typical drive into town is 7 miles, Half of that is 40-45 MPH and half is 60 MPH. Is that enough miles to take it out of the grocery getter category? Other drives are much longer but I could have 10 or 20 short drives before getting in a longer one.



Thanks for feedback..... Mike

 

[Wertles]

In my recent experience, I found the unloaded SRW a better ride than the dually however, when loaded, the dually was better. Take into account that a new dually may ride better than your SRW as suspension has been improved and all parts are new and tight. To get an accurate comparison, you need to test drive a new SRW and DRW.

You can rotate the tires. The front and rear wheels look different because they are turned 180 degrees to each other meaning the rear tires are positioned to look concave, the fronts turned around to look convex. They are the same tire/wheel combo. I have aluminum (bright and shiny) rims on the front and outside rear that can be rotated. The inner wheels on the rear are steel and would look bad if rotated anywhere else than side to side on the rear axle.

I have not measured the outside width but my truck is no longer going in the garage with 8 foot doors. It might fit but I would have to be absolutely perfect each time. I had to pull 1 mirror in each time with my last SRW to make it in without incident.

My commute to work is 9 miles with similar traffic patterns. I don't use the truck when I don't have to. The oil temp doesn't get all the way to operating temp so I know it's not ideal. You are now trying to heat 4 gallons of oil instead of 3.

 

[Powder Extreme]

Rims are the same, the front axle has spacers installed to make the wheels fit. Like stated the inside duals are steel, not the pretty aluminum so you can only swap them side to side, the remaining wheels can be changed front to rear.

The fenders are as wide as they always were, they just blend in better on the new body.

The ride is a little bit stiffer when empty, but not bad. Loaded the Dually is better and MUCH more stable.

The tires will last quite a bit longer on a Dually, but you are buying 6 instead of 4. From what I've found the Dually is still cheaper in the long run.

The fuel mileage is worse on the Dually, figure 2mpg less.

That's not ideal use for a diesel, you aren't really getting the oil warmed up enough to burn off the impurities, but the new motors tolerate it better than the old ones did.

 

[S.Morris]

A Dually will ride pretty good empty if you don't keep the tires too hard.

 

[Gonzo 1066]

My last 4 Dodges have been Duallys. They handle the load MUCH better in the twisties, and there is a addes safety factor if you happen to have one of the rear tires go flat. It is however imperitive that you have a routene of checking tires on a dually, as you can have a inner go flat and you might not notice it. This is one of the reasons you see duallys with one fender tore up, they ran a tire flat till it self distructed taking the fender with it. For the load I tow I will not go back to a SRW truck.

 

[Bug Out]

I ran Duallys for 10+ years towing large 5th wheel Rv's for personal use. I always had a dually at home for no purpose other then to tow my 5th wheels. Once RAM had ratings that were equal to what duallys once were, ie 25K GVW, Vs my 2005 Dually had a 23. 5 GVW rating, it was time to give thought to SRW. I bought a 2013 SRW 2500 which has the same GVW as a 3500 SRW, 25K. Thats all I needed. Hindsight, 3500-Aisin transmission would have been my choice now. Oh well. My 2500 tows the 16. 9K 5th likes no bodies business. . Better then the 05' Dually. However, I have noticed on windy days that the tail of the 2500 will give me a "minor wiggle" while rolling down the road. The dually , I could not feel a 40 MPH cross wind until I looked out the window to see the 5th tail slightly out of line with the rest of the unit. Keeping that in mind, if I was towing A lot, dually would be it. In my case, 80% is commute, 20% tow..... ie= short box 2500 for daily driving etc.

 

[AH64ID]

I have a friend with a 07 G56 3500 DRW, riding around town it does not feel any different than my 05 3500 SRW. I am sure there are some roads where the DRW will not ride as nice, but under most circumstances I doubt you notice.

There are times I would like the tire capacity of a DRW, but don't want to deal with the PITA reaching something in the bed and/or the extra width on some of tight roads I drive.

 

[MLee]

Add this to the equation, you'll find more right hand turns find the CURB than the SW did, or does.

 

[MJWenrich]

Thank you everyone. These are all good points and since I am in the ballpark of 20% towing I was considering the SRW as well with it's added capacity payload in the 3500. When I bought my 2500 2004. 5, and adding only a matching camper shell, I did not believe I would ever need more than the 1700 Lb payload and so did not opt for the 3500. Turns out that was a mistake. It has been a great truck and the only thing inadequate is the payload and maybe the trans to handle heavier jobs. I did not want to make that mistake again and wish I had a dually. My present plan is to purchase a medium weight camper and tow a car trailer. I just do not see how my present truck can do that without a lot of mods that will take a bunch of money and have me living on the edge. The present 325 horsepower is adequate but I sure would like the exhaust brake and 6-speed Aisin.

I could also get a Class C camper and deal with a Furd engine, have lots more wheels sitting around and build another garage for it and, and and so on. It's really hard to get one rig to do it all when we such ideas of grandeur. Going down to the big city to drive a new dually tomorrow and maybe a SRW if they have an 8 foot bed.

 

[MJWenrich]

Thank you everyone. These are all good points and since I am in the ballpark of 20% towing I was considering the SRW as well with it's added capacity payload in the 3500. When I bought my 2500 2004. 5, and adding only a matching camper shell, I did not believe I would ever need more than the 1700 Lb payload and so did not opt for the 3500. Turns out that was a mistake. It has been a great truck and the only thing inadequate is the payload and maybe the trans to handle heavier jobs. I did not want to make that mistake again and wish I had a dually. My present plan is to purchase a medium weight camper and tow a car trailer. I just do not see how my present truck can do that without a lot of mods that will take a bunch of money and have me living on the edge. The present 325 horsepower is adequate but I sure would like the exhaust brake and 6-speed Aisin.



I could also get a Class C camper and deal with a Furd engine, have lots more wheels sitting around and build another garage for it and, and and so on. It's really hard to get one rig to do it all when we such ideas of grandeur. Going down to the big city to drive a new dually tomorrow and maybe a SRW if they have an 8 foot bed.

 

[mgonske]

I just had the first tire rotation done on my '13 (my first dually) this week (outers only). I was shocked to see that what had been the hidden side of all four Alcoa forged aluminum wheels were unpolished! The formerly outsides of those wheels had beautiful polished finishes from the factory. I may consider forgoing rotations altogether after the next time, when the polished sides get returned to view.

 

[Powder Extreme]

I've personally hauled a good sized camper while towing cars etc with both a srw and a drw.
Don't even consider the srw, you will regret it. Unless it is a tiny popup camper, it is absolutely night and day difference between the two. White knuckle crosswinds with a srw won't even phase a drw, add in a heavy trailer to the mix and it multiplies.

I have a 30' long, 8' tall enclosed car hauler (wind sail) that would tend to wag some behind my srw, even with a sway bar. Same trailer behind my drw doesn't wiggle a bit with no sway bay. Difference? Sidewall flex on the back end of the pickup, which gets even worse with a heavy camper. Add a crosswind and it gets downright dangerous.

Remember with a slide in you have move your ball mount even further back which magnifies any shimmy in the truck to your trailer.

If you are getting an extended receiver, go straight to torklift, far and away the best. Don't waste your time and money trying other units like I did.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Forget rotating unless you want to spend a bunch on dismount and mount and balancing. Keep the fronts at 80psi the rears at 45 empty and 55-60 when loaded.

If you need a dually get one, they are an awesome towing machine. With our wide body Mobile Suites in tow it is really hard to tell if the wind is blowing. You never feel the semis pass.

Our Dually is a daily driver, love it! Wife even drives it.

 

[EGroeneveld]

I'm on my second dually. I haul a heavy truck camper AND pull a 20' enclosed trailer with quads and a RZR in it. 52,000+ on it in just over 2 years. And its never given me problems with my little 6 mile commute to the office they I do to pay for my fun weekends. The truck gets used hard on most weekends. Got back from riding and camping in Utah on Monday, head out riding on Saturday again total weight on Monday running home was about 22K pounds combined.

I have the steel wheels and covers and have the tires rotated about every 5k miles. On my second set of tires now. I keep the fronts at 65 and the rears at 80 with camper on and 40 without the camper very religiously.

For hauling any camper PLUS towing I'd always stick to a dually unless you had a real reason you could not. Real reason being IE... need short box to park in garage at home or parking garage at work or some reason where a dually is just not going to work... .

 

[MJWenrich]

Again, thanks for the great information. Went to a dealer today and was surprised to hear a few things and observed a few others. I had noticed the different size wheels and tires on the SRW models and asked about that. The stock wheel is 17" and the option is 18" with a different polished wheel. I did not look on the inside since I had not yet read about the tire rotation Mark wrote about. Since it was 102 degrees, I would not have been getting down on the asphalt even if I did know. The young man I was talking with says they just started getting 2013's a couple months ago, that they can still order one made, and no date on the 14's. Also that Dodge extended the run on making trucks due to the delay. Had not heard this before but I live up in the mountains just so I don't hear everything going on.

He also said the 8' beds are not as much in demand anymore except in the dually. Of course he only has one 8' dually I could see and a bunch of short beds. When he did an internet search, he found a few but not in my choice of color (white) and the Aisin. I will post another question under a separate subject on the radios.

He was not aware that the non-commercial bodies have the 385 HP diesel. But I do not see the engine listed separately on option lists and window stickers. He says the exhaust brake and limited slip is now standard and that may be true based on the window stickers I saw. The option lists are mind boggling and I believe I will take his suggestion and do a build your truck thing on the internet, which may get me to the options I want, except for the cursed woofer under the rear seat. I want the storage. Saw an SLT with the storage on one side and the woofer on the other. Useless to me. Cannot get leather without the Laramie package and cannot get the passenger power seat without the Laramie. But you can get a Laramie without the bucket seats. You get the fold down middle seat like I have in my 2004. 5. I like that at least. Still trying to decide on the dually or not and I now understand it will depend on what else I buy to haul.

 

[MelvinPierce]

If he told you you can still order a 13, he needs to find another job! He is a moron.

June was last to order a 13, 14's have been on order for over a month. 14's started rolling off the line Aug. 12. You think one can order a 13, even as 14's are already being produced? Not happening.

Did I say he is a moron?

 

[Doubleclutch]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the dually comes with 17" wheels, SRW 18". I didn't see an option 18" for the dually.

 

[TCDiesel]

I read many promoting DRWs. But in reality The SRW will out perform the DRW in every category except Sway and OEM GVW. I laugh every Time I drive By the DRWs stuck out in the field or Job site or at landfills. Plowing Snow with DRW just plainly PITR, look at all the extended wheel wells all bang up. Hmmm I've had my full of DRW you can have them, Some think they look cool. If I was to own a slide in that would be the only area I would consider DRW ,With tire/suspension technology now available DRW just is wasted $$$$.

 

[Powder Extreme]

Like we've all been saying, IF you are hauling a heavy load while pulling a trailer, or pulling a very heavy trailer, a DRW is far superior to a SRW. That's just fact. Since the OP wants to haul a camper while pulling a trailer, naturally we are suggesting a Dually.

He didn't say I want a daily driver that will never haul or tow heavy.

 

[TCDiesel]

I tow 25K+ weekly with SRW for over 20 Years NOT 1 incident... ... . legally..... In his case DRW May be the way to go.....