Bit the dually bullet

billstuart · 07-26-2015, 12:29 PM

I have read much debate on the forum on the subject of SRW vs. DRW trucks. When we bought our Alpine in 2012 we made the mistake of buying the truck - an F250 - before we bought the trailer. I've towed conventional travel trailers since the mid-80's, but the Alpine was my first 5th wheel.

Any time you take on something new, there is a learning curve and you don't know what you don't know.

So, will a 3/4 ton truck handle a 15,000 lb 40' 5th wheel? Yes, but you better bring your A game every time you get behind the wheel. Is that 3/4 ton truck the correct tool for the job? No. Is a 1 ton SRW truck the correct tool? Unfortunately, no.

Our F250 handled the Alpine better than my Suburban 2500 4X4 w/ 454 gas and 4.10 gears handled my 35' Prowler bunkhouse back in the early 90's. And the Prowler weighed about 1/2 of what the Alpine does.

So, I guess you could say I was lulled into a false sense of security. I didn't know what I didn't know.

We travel a lot. We live in the west, so mountains happen - frequently. The F250 was a great truck - plenty of power from the 6.4L diesel. Climbing mountains was not a problem. It's coming back down them that puckers your sphincter.

With 15,000 lbs pushing me down mountains, often with the added excitement of some wind, it slowly began to dawn on me that maybe the guys on this forum were right and we were under-trucked. I finally know what I didn't know.

About two weeks ago we took delivery of a new 2015 Ram 3500 Laramie Limited dually 4X4 w/a high output Cummins, Aisin trans and 4.10 gears. This truck is rated to pull over 28K lbs. Now we're over-trucked and I couldn't be more pleased with it!

I have only towed about 120 miles with it so far, but MAN am I impressed. The day we towed the Alpine home with it was a windy day. I knew that because the trees were swaying in the wind. The truck was rock solid. I am a dually convert.

Thanks to all of you who beat the dually drum and encouraged me to do the right thing.

Happy trails,

Festus2 · 07-26-2015, 12:54 PM

Bill -

What a beautiful couple! A match made in heaven. Congratulations!

Javi · 07-26-2015, 01:18 PM

Congratulations on the new dually... you are now in a different world when towing.

**chuckster57** · 07-26-2015, 01:43 PM

Sweet!! Glad to have another member of the DRW choir.

GaryWT · 07-26-2015, 01:44 PM

Congrats and good luck, stay safe.

bsmith0404 · 07-26-2015, 02:04 PM

Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt. The DRW is a wonderful world to be in when towing a 5er of this size. I had a 2500 Duramax when we bought our Alpine.....one 60 mile trip was all it took to decide it was time to upgrade.

Ram189 · 07-26-2015, 02:27 PM

My wife hated mine when I first got it but now has come around after 6 or 8 trips up and down the road.
She was not a dually fan based on looks. Now if the weather gets bad while towing she sleeps right on through. She used to be a white knuckle rider.

Great choice in the Ram H.O. also. Mine has been great so far.

PARAPTOR · 07-26-2015, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Javi

Congratulations on the new dually... you are now in a different world when towing.

x2 ; Believe me you will never look back!! As stated by others now you can now relax and enjoy the overall towing experience

rbev2308 · 07-26-2015, 07:02 PM

Just pulled my 14,800 lb Alpine over Fancy Gap, VA and the Blue Ridge mountains on my way down to Anchor Down RV Resort in Dandridge, TN. Set the cruise to 55 and went 8 miles without ever touching the brake pedal. The tow/haul mode managed the appropriate time to gear down and up along with the exhaust braking...Got 10.5 mpg on this 229 mile trip. I just cannot beat the handling of a dually.

x96mnn · 07-26-2015, 07:58 PM

I do understand why some people go with less truck, it is what they can afford and going camping is better then not going camping. The life style of it is good enough for me makes sense, in theory. I was one of these guys and camped a lot with trips that totalled maybe 2000 miles a year and 100 plus nights.

Now that I have my dually, 10000 miles this year, still about the same amount of nights but starting to see the world. It is 100% different experience, one that I enjoy almost as much as getting there and cracking an ice cold beer.

More importantly on this thread,

1 that's one nice truck!
2 that's one nice camper!

gtsum2 · 07-26-2015, 08:00 PM

Agreed with all. I did a 2700 mile trip from east coast to Midwest and back 3 weeks ago and just got back from a 570 mike trip in the mountains of west va. 2014 Ram 3500 srw and 16500 toy hauler. I am ordering a dually with the aisin tranny

kimbashaw · 07-27-2015, 12:59 AM

Nothing like a diesel dually with exhaust brake when towing a 40 foot fifth wheel in the mountains

C130 · 07-28-2015, 06:28 AM

Dually is the way to go, especially on the larger toy haulers. Now I'm toy hauler less so looking at getting a larger one than before. I had a feeling when I got my F450 a larger toy hauler would be in my future.

Yes, the exhaust brake is awesome! It was amazing how little brakes I used while towing down fairly steep downgrades in Tennessee last month.

jhudson · 07-28-2015, 03:58 PM

Any of the newer 3500 SRW trucks 2011 and up are very capable vehicles. With GVWR running up to 11600 pounds are more capable that most of the older 2006 - 2009 1 ton DRW. My 3725 Montana (40') has a pin weight of 3200 pounds loaded and does not exceed any of my 2012 3500 SRW ratings. By the way the Montana's GVWR is 16000#. So I do not think you can make a blanket statement that the one ton SRW trucks are not the proper tool for the job. Yes I have weighed both truck and trailer many times to keep everything in check. But even DRW folks should weigh their trucks too, paying close attention to the older DRWs ratings. You will find they are not the proper tool for the newer 40 footers.

mikebrls · 07-28-2015, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhudson

Any of the newer 3500 SRW trucks 2011 and up are very capable vehicles. With GVWR running up to 11600 pounds are more capable that most of the older 2006 - 2009 1 ton DRW. My 3725 Montana (40') has a pin weight of 3200 pounds loaded and does not exceed any of my 2012 3500 SRW ratings. By the way the Montana's GVWR is 16000#. So I do not think you can make a blanket statement that the one ton SRW trucks are not the proper tool for the job. Yes I have weighed both truck and trailer many times to keep everything in check. But even DRW folks should weigh their trucks too, paying close attention to the older DRWs ratings. You will find they are not the proper tool for the newer 40 footers.

I think it's not the weight involved in a SRW it's how much extra grip you have on the road with 2 extra tires holding on to the road " DRW" 4 tires in the rear is going to hold better grip then 2 , thats just the way it is and I think thats where the better ride come's in on windy day's and winding mountain roads .

mike

jhudson · 07-28-2015, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikebrls

I think it's not the weight involved in a SRW it's how much extra grip you have on the road with 2 extra tires holding on to the road " DRW" 4 tires in the rear is going to hold better grip then 2 , thats just the way it is and I think thats where the better ride come's in on windy day's and winding mountain roads .

mike

Yes I will give you the stability card, but not grip. This is not a traction issue. I have more than 100,000 miles towing over Colorado mountain passes and in high wind conditions and never had any "grip" issues. The only difference between my SRW and current DRW is the extra tires. This does give more stability and more axle capacity compared to my SRW as mine is limited because of only having singles to a rear axle rating of 7050 pounds. As to ride, I have never experienced any side to side motions with my 1 ton SRW.

Jay

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

gtsum2 · 07-28-2015, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhudson

Any of the newer 3500 SRW trucks 2011 and up are very capable vehicles. With GVWR running up to 11600 pounds are more capable that most of the older 2006 - 2009 1 ton DRW. My 3725 Montana (40') has a pin weight of 3200 pounds loaded and does not exceed any of my 2012 3500 SRW ratings. By the way the Montana's GVWR is 16000#. So I do not think you can make a blanket statement that the one ton SRW trucks are not the proper tool for the job. Yes I have weighed both truck and trailer many times to keep everything in check. But even DRW folks should weigh their trucks too, paying close attention to the older DRWs ratings. You will find they are not the proper tool for the newer 40 footers.

Agreed, but my 2014 ram 3500 srw has gvwr of 12400 and over 4000lbs payload per sticker and cat scale. I scaled my rig on a long vacation. Toy hauler weighed 16550, truck was 12500 and I had about 3500 on the pin (39ft toy hauler). It does a good job but getting pushed down steep grades that are windy (west va mountains) and then getting hit with 40mph and rain for 7 hours makes me think a drw would be a bit more stable. I certainly wouldn't have to be concerned with how much firewood I was loading into the bed before going over my weight ratings (no wood or anything in bed when I weighed it and was 100lbs over). But you are right regarding the the new srw's are rated much higher than older drw's

DiverB · 07-29-2015, 12:59 AM

Congrats on the new dually. Nice color choice by the way. Check out the Cummins forum when you have time, lots of great guys and a treasure trove of information on our trucks there too.

The Ram 3500 is a great tow vehicle and with a few minor mods, its even more of a towing beast!

bsmith0404 · 07-29-2015, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhudson

Any of the newer 3500 SRW trucks 2011 and up are very capable vehicles. With GVWR running up to 11600 pounds are more capable that most of the older 2006 - 2009 1 ton DRW. My 3725 Montana (40') has a pin weight of 3200 pounds loaded and does not exceed any of my 2012 3500 SRW ratings. By the way the Montana's GVWR is 16000#. So I do not think you can make a blanket statement that the one ton SRW trucks are not the proper tool for the job. Yes I have weighed both truck and trailer many times to keep everything in check. But even DRW folks should weigh their trucks too, paying close attention to the older DRWs ratings. You will find they are not the proper tool for the newer 40 footers.

Yep, the 3500 SRW have much better load ratings than they used to, even my 2011 2500 was rated much higher than the 2010s. I can tell you from experience that the DRW is much more stable, not only when towing heavy trailers, but also when towing lighter trailers. The 4 feet on the ground just makes it better when dealing with sidewall flex. The big part I really like about the extra payload of a DRW is the fact that I can add 700lbs of fuel in an auxiliary tank and still not have to worry about my capacities. It's is great being able to travel 1200 miles on a tank of fuel when loaded and 2000 miles unladed

billstuart · 07-29-2015, 04:10 PM

My thanks for the compliments on the new truck. The more I drive it, the more I love it!

I had previously resisted getting a dually because my truck is usually my daily driver. A dually is about a foot & a half wider than a SRW truck. I have to say that so far this has been a non-issue. I've always parked in the far reaches of parking lots any way to protect my vehicles. Now, as one of our members suggested in another thread, I back in so my bulbous rear fenders won't be an obstacle to other drivers.

If I could have purchased a SWR truck with 4.10 gears, I may have. But I've got to say, I'm really glad I got a dually. The stability is tremendous.

Like I said in the first post of this thread, I didn't know what I didn't know.

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