Need advise on tow vehicle 3500 or 3500 dually

Good luck. Chevrolet's website doesn't agree. Cargo capacity is going to be the problem. A regular cab has 3500 and then down to 2900 for the crew cab long bed. Not towing capacity.

garysol yes I told them exactly what I was doing gave them all specs on the trailer, try and explain to me all payloads, pin weights, ratios and all of the above is a little overwelming, called them on my 08and they said no go 13600 thats why take the vin # let them tell me after all they made the vehicle right?

Tinbangertom wrote:
the gm manufacturer ( not dealer) says no problem with the 2500hd with what we are towing the Big Country 3450ts

The person at GM that you asked did realize that the Big Country has a 15,500gvwr right?

Ok all I purchased a 2015 Silverado 2500hd diesel il'l post pics soon enough thx. for all the advise as we are probably not traveling many long distances till we retire completely the gm manufacturer ( not dealer) says no problem with the 2500hd with what we are towing the Big Country 3450ts as for the dually,safety checks every year and the city work changed my mind.

Transamz9 The 5500 does not come in the Longhorn trim. Nor does it come with a sun roof. I do like my comfort. In have previously owned a 2012 Laramie dually and a 2003 srw Laramie, both excellent trucks. As far as towing heavy the dually is superior to a srw. The 5500 has similar tow ratings only with a 4:88 and yes payload is twice as much. The downside is that the 5500 rides like the truck it is. The fuel mileage will be far less then my truck with the 4:10. The post was in ref to srw vs drw and after towing lots of miles with both the drw does a better job.

Glenn West wrote:
Pin weight on my Teton is 5280. Puts my dually at max on rear axle. Towing at max is no fun and rough on truck. So 3500 dually not good for all of them

My pin is 4,500# with rear axle weighing in at 8,780#. Another 780# would not be a problem as mine rides like a dream as is.

I know all you guys with SRW trucks think you can tow anything but length of a RV does come into play. I truly could not believe how stress free towing my combined load of nearly 29K is in all weather and stopping/lane changing conditions.

I travel a lot along HWY 10 between Palm Springs to Phoenix the wind can come up on you without notice. You have to look along the side of the road at the foliage to see if the wind is blowing.

Bottom line is if you want a big heavy/long RV be prepared to step up to a Dually and even more than that if needed.

CurtisFamily wrote:
When I had my Ford F-250 SRW, I was cconstantly wishing for more truck. With my Chev 3500 DRW, I have yet to wish for less truck. go Dually all the way.

Hey all you should have done is slap on a set of 19.5's and som of them air bag thingies and you would have been able to say "it tows just fine" ;)

AH64ID wrote:
While a DRW isn't in my cards for many reasons parking isn't one of them; however, there are too many newer parking lots where I am nearly (6" per side) on both white lines with my SRW and a DRW would take up 2 spots without even trying.

Well then, I am just glad I've never found those parking lots. :h Must be a regional thing then cause I've been all over the place and have yet to find lines too narrow to fit into.

Course, I am way too over particular in where I park. Most of the time I get the walking exercise mentioned previously.

Folks, you're missing out on the most important benefit of owning a dually. You see dually drivers are healthier. It's a result of all the walking you get from always having to park far far away.

retispcsi wrote:
on 09/15/14 09:05pm



retispcsi wrote:

So I am sitting under the awning reading this post and I look over at my 2014 Ram Longhorn I got a couple of weeks ago. It has a 29,000 lb tow rate not counting the truck and almost 5500 on the payload. I have towed with a 3/4 ton Ram ctd and a dually ram ctd before this one. All are 4x4 also. I don't worry I know I can tow it. You can never have too much truck.


So why didn't you get a 2014 5500 if you can't have too much truck?


2005 RAM 2500 Cummins/2011 Sandpiper 345 RET/2008 Nitro Z9 Mecury 250 PRO XS




Posted By: ol Bombero-JC on 09/15/14 09:32pm

All I can say is go drive a 3500 Longhorn with the max tow aka 4:10 and a 5500 and you will see the difference also look at the specs for towing. The 3500 will handle my MS38RSSA without any issue at a comfort level that is really sweet. This is my third Ram. My previous 2012 would have handled my fiver but this one will do it so much better. I am sure the 2015 will be great also so I will probably wait for the 2017's they will be even better then the 2015's and so it goes on.

All I'm saying is you could have gotten a 2014 5500 loaded with everything you have now with 4.88:1 rears and have the same trailer tow rating and almost doubled the payload you have. Remember, you said you could never have too much truck so why not get the 5500? Just think how much your 2014 3500 handles your trailer better than a little ole wippy 3500 SRW, You could have gotten a 5500 and it would have handled it that much better. ;)

The point I'm trying to make is that if a SRW is rated to handle a load then why do people think that someone needs to get a DRW anyway.