2003 2500 rear axle vs. 2003 3500 dually axle?

[MillerR]

Please bear with me. This may at first look like an old topic, but I have some questions that I have not been able to find answers to. I am considering a single to dually conversion. I literally crawled under an '03 dually and measured from backplate to backplate and then compared to my '03 2500 axle. My tape measure showed the dually to be ~1 inch narrower. This doesn't make any sense to me at all. I would expect the 3500 axle to be wider to allow clearance for the tires/springs. My question then is this. Does anyone know the physical difference between the 2500 axle and the 3500 dually? Is the dually narrower or wider? Is it possible to simply mount dually wheels on a 2500 axle/hub? Are the lugs different? Is there a difference in the hub dimensions? (If a dually hub is wider, then that would clear everything up). If that is the case, I'm not really wanting a 2500 that looks like a 3500 dually... so, any suggestions for sources of a 3500 dually axle/spring set-up?



Thanks for your answers... -Trey

 

[Southbound]

Miller-



Somewhere in this forum there are several aritcles about this. I do know of a TDR member who converted his dually to a single rear wheel and the end result was an inch wider on each side??? A while back I was thinking about converting my new dually to a single rear wheel but after I towed with it... ... ... wow ... . I decided to stick with the dually. Good luck on your research.



Southbound

 

[JGraff]

I am new to the site, and In the process of doing a conversion my self, Now I have heard to different things so far about the axles.



I was told a dually axle is shorter than single, and then vise versa.



also I heard you still need spacers in the rear?



could anybody give me an answer. I have an 05 2500 thanks

 

[MillerR]

JGraff: I have the answer. I actually was able to get with "smokejunkie" and trade axles. He wanted a SRW and I wanted a Dually. So here's the details. If you measure from backplate to backplate, the Dually will actually seem more narrow, but when you add the larger hubs of a dually and measure from mounting surface to mounting surface, the dually measures about 3" wider. This 3", 1 1/2 each side, is what gives you the clearance for the inner wheel/tire to clear the frame. As for the swap, all I can say is PIECE OF CAKE! It took us about 6 hours to complete the swap. Everything was a straight accross trade. Shock mounts, Spring mounts, Brakeline mounts, etc. One thing you might consider, in order to not have to open up the brake fluid lines is to leave the caliper connected to the truck. There's a left/right brake splitter mounted on top of the rear axle on the left side. It also has a breather tube sticking out of it. Take off the breather tube and there's a bolt that just unscrews to remove the splitter as a whole. No worries about having to bleed brakes... Good luck and don't hesitate to ask any questions. -Trey

 

[MrFixit]

So you know have a dually without over load springs?? or is this only for the 2 wheel drive??

 

[J&LRam]

converting a 2500 to a dually can create legal problems. TXDOT gave us a paper work/capacities look [no actual weighing] at a truck stop in Amarillo,TX on a '95 DRW truck that one of my employees had converted to a dually from his 2500. When they opened the drivers side door to get both RAWR/FAWR tag info the RAWR was way short for the load we were registerd for. I though his truck was a 3500 DRW truck so I registered it as as such. The DOT guy was nice and no tickets or impounding. He had us drop our 36' GN flatbed [28000 lbs+] and made two trips with the other real 3500 DRW truck to Santa Rosa. The TXDOT officer said it was illegal in TX for the operator to change door info tags. I was regestered out oif OK and he suggested we check with the nstate it was registered in as how a legal change can be made.

I noticed the new AAM 11. 5 DRW axle is rated 9350 RAWR on the door tag. The same 11. 5 AAM on the 3500 SRW has a 6200 RAWR on the door tag and the 2500 11. 5 AAM axle has a 6000 lb RAWR on the door tag. Same axle but if your concerned about staying legal watch the door tag RAWR/FAWR on the truck as it is checked by LEOs as a legal weight commercial or non commercial.

JIM

 

[MillerR]

Yes, it's a dually without the overloads. I shouldn't be over the weight limit. My goal was more stability and the security of control in case of a flat with a GN horse trailer or the 5th wheel. 3 extra tires is better than 1 in my opinion. -Trey