dually pros and cons

[Winston Wolf]

Ohh mberry!

I don't own a dually, but I had my truck for exactly 1 week and turned too sharp coming out of the car wash and hit a concrete filled steel pole.



That's gotta hurt!! It hurts just to read about it. I know you were in the hunt for your new truck for quite some time.



Hope you can get it fixed and just forget it ever happened.

 

[kober]

Get the dually, like me and others, you'll never look back!

Kurt

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

I strongly advise looking back on occasion. Else you might pop one of those rear bubbles.

 

[mberry]

I don't own a dually, but I had my truck for exactly 1 week and turned too sharp coming out of the car wash and hit a concrete filled steel pole.



That's gotta hurt!! It hurts just to read about it. I know you were in the hunt for your new truck for quite some time.



Hope you can get it fixed and just forget it ever happened.

Yes it hurt! I'm still upset with myself. I'm going to get an estimate on it next week. I'm going to pay for it myself because I don't want to make a claim on my insurance and have the rates go up.

 

[ACoyle]

I just bought my second dulley. If someone offered me a caddy, I woulden't swap. Both of them are daily drivers. I can parallel park in NYC with a tight clearance. Solid ride, great on the highway. My '99 got 20 to 22 on the read and 18 daily. The 2004. 5 is not nearly as good. That is not the dulley's fault, it is Cummins / DC's fault. I know it can be done.



I came back feom kale George with the 31. 5' Terry on the back and the placemats stayed on the table. Enough said.



AC

 

[Po' Riggity]

I'd like to know where you people live, that even the malls have good enough "back parking" for you? I know all of our malls here in so cal are constantly packed, and it's hard enough trying to find a good space for my 2500 SRW, let alone having a DRW. As far as all that crap about "Once you dually, you never go back"... BS. I know of three people that had duallys, and went to a SRW, just for the sheer ability to park.

Scott

 

[Winston Wolf]

Po' Riggity...



You need the snow plow option. Then you just make whatever size parking space you need.



Looks like the discussion is about to heat up :-{}

 

[Winston Wolf]

I think it depends a lot on your willingness and ability to adapt. If it wasn't possible, how would you ever get an 18-wheeler in the city? A delivery truck? A trailer?



Anyone that expects to drive and park a dually just like every other civililian vehicle in every situation, then the dually is probably not a good choice.

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

Po' Riggity queried:

I'd like to know where you people live

Nope, aint telling. :-laf



I figured the reason the DRWs who were converting to SRWs were doing so because they had a hankering for those useless fat humongous tires. Oh, ... almost forgot... imho.



I got to looking at the Gen 3s today. I think the front end is stylish. It is the boxes that are plug ugly. Dually bubbles or flatbed goes a long way toward cosmetic surgery.

 

[SSlevin]

Wont have a dually due to all the trees I navagate around when working in east texas sometimes I wish didnt have mirrors. Got a bunch of new scratches this week

 

[mfrost]

Dully all the way. My wife picked it, I bought it. Made both of us happy This is my first diesel and probably the last. Should last as long as I do :-laf Only fenders that that I have seen damaged are ones that employees drive that would care less about what happens. People do seem to give you more respect on the road

 

[Sarge]

The dually fever........

Dually's are to trucks, as Harley's are to motorcycles. Sometimes you dually cause you need to, sometimes you dually cause you WANT to. The folks that are afraid of them, should be. I have had both SRW, and DRW, and DRW is one bad mother You can't beat em for towing, and will handle almost anything you can hook to it. My SRW was good, but the flame red DRW is AWESOME. Dually drivers don't snivel because they don't get 25 MPG, we just drive around with that goofy grin, knowing that there is nothing that we can't handle... ... ..... :-laf OK, i'll stop now... ..... They really are kind of a "culture" all to our own. Try it, you'll like it!!!

 

[Bertram65]

This is getting as bad as the long bed short bed topic, now the beds are ugly unless they are duallys, guess I have the worst possible Dodge, short bed, SRW, and an automatic. To add a little heat, at least I have 4WD, I don't know why anyone would want a 2WD truck, "trucks" should be 4WD. Oh well works for me, as for parking in a city with a dually, yeah sure, come up to Boston.

 

[TCDiesel]

I have had them both for over 20 years and a total of over 20, the DRW are not worth the cost, if you drive 90% or above hwy on dry road than they are great. The history of the DRW is 20 years ago you had to by them because they did not make a tire that could carry the weight 3000 lbs +, that the the truck was rated to carry,Now they are 3300 and up.



Pros of the DRW : More stable hwy driving





Cons: Thr DRW will cost more no matter how you look at it{if you like the look of DRW than maybe it can justify the cost}

1 More rotating mass less mileage: increase maintence.

2 Off road use is almost out of the Question. Example When we would dump are tri-axles dump trailers at the landfill ,we got stuck more often,Also we had at $500. 00 per truck per year in tire replacements, Debris would get cot in between the rear tires.

3 I live in MN,the DRW will get stuck on a snowflake. Plowing in most cases you will not get hire,Most of the commercial business known this.

4 The SRW will out pull the DRW: You can place 1500lbs more in the DRW bed

5 Ride:If your looking for ride always get the long bed,DRW & SRW ride about the same except the DRW is more Firm.

6 The SRW will go into spots DRW won"t , Sometimes a inch can be a mile

7 Most of the things mentioned in earlier post.



Everthing being consider buy what you want,Make sure it is a cummins it is more loyal than the others and is more bomber friendly. And when engine repairs a necessary you won"t be stuck with dealer only sh_t & COST. and 24 hour a day parts with most parts.

 

[kober]

I'd like to know where you people live, ...

Scott

Hehe, that's why I live in Arizona. The germans used to call it "Lebensraum". IOW, "room to live".



I agree that parking spaces just ain't made for full size trucks. Had the same problem with my 2000 V10 Quad Cab LB SRW. I just park in the south 40.

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

Would not ever go back... will never buy anything but... ..... you'll never look back... . Get the dually... . If someone offered me a caddy, I woulden't swap..... Dually's are to trucks, as Harley's are to motorcycles. Sometimes you dually cause you need to, sometimes you dually cause you WANT to. The folks that are afraid of them, should be. ... DRW is one bad mother ... They really are kind of a "culture" all to our own... . but love my dually more!... I love my Duelly.

Pssst, ignore the above subliminal messages

Sounds like some sort of cult to me.

 

[kober]

I'd like to know where you people live, that even the malls have good enough "back parking" for you? I know all of our malls here in so cal are constantly packed, and it's hard enough trying to find a good space for my 2500 SRW, let alone having a DRW. ... . Scott

I guess if you hang around malls a lot you're better off with a Yugo or a Geo Metro, etc.



DRW trucks meet a special need. If you don't need the extra two wheels, don't buy them.



I went from SWR to DRW only after much researching a soul searching. It's my daily driver but on most weekends it carries my slide-in truck camper and/or drags my bass boat to the lake. I did it with my SRW for 2 years with no problems but now that I have the "training wheels" I wouldn't even consider ever going back to SRW.



TEven when fully loaded the dually drives so nice and easy with so much stability I even let my 16 year old daughter drive it for an hour or so a few weeks ago on the way back from a camping trip; on a windy road no less. I would NEVER have let her drive my SRW with the camper on it. Airbags, airshocks, swaybars notwithstanding, there's just no comparison.



Bottom line: If you don't need the extra two wheels you're wasting your money if you buy them unless you just wanna look like one of the "big" boys and you don't mind walking a bit farther when you go shopping at the mall (yuch). But, If you need them then there is no substitute.

 

[CTLindsey]

Southern Orange County. Sometimes you have to cruise around a bit to find a space at all, I manage to squeeze, the wheels are the same width as my moirrors. I can never go back, if you need a duelly yiou need a duelly. I can't do without as I haul a 15K+ 5ver

 

[MHalberstadt]

I got a dually after having a 97 with SRW. Pulling boat trailers a fifth wheeler and a slide in camper for awhile. The 97 did a pretty good job but I much prefer the dually. I park in the back of the parking lot anyway having learned long ago after owning two full size vans and the 97 Ram that you get less door dings and want to pull through anyway to avoid backing up. The 04. 5 doesn't have as good a turning radius as the 97 did which occasionally is a problem but not associated with the DRW.



One advantage in So Cal is on the freeways were the lanes are offset from where they were originally and you end up with one wheel on the concrete seam the dually doesn't squiggle around like my 97 did. If your from SoCal you know exactly what I mean.

 

[Nine Ball]

My last truck was a fullsize GMC that was lifted and on 33" tires that stuck out. My new Dodge dually isn't much wider, so I guess I'm used to wider trucks. My truck is my daily driver (about 4K miles per month) and I love it! I've always been the type that parks in the back of the lot away from the door-dingers, so parking isn't an issue. You will learn to just back into all parking spots, its much easier than pulling into them. Haven't found a spot yet that wasn't wide enough for the dually, it typically fits right inside the lines on normal spot sizes.



I didn't buy one because I "needed" it. Sure, I tow my show and race cars around, but thats only about 6K lbs at the most. My GMC pulled them just fine too. But, this Dodge is so much more stable and the brakes work much better too.



Anyone with a dually notice you can take some sharp corners hauling butt? These things handle awesome for a truck, very little body roll!



Love the diesel, and love the dually.



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