Truck Dually Wheels

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Me thinks if dat Dually had da B&W hitch nun uf dis wood uh happnd.

Me thinks dat the Dually would have stayed attached to the 5er or at least the pin box would have been.

352, I guess it was a battle, the stability of the truck vs the hitch. Lucky for us the hitch lost & the truck won otherwise we may not be around today to talk about it.

For the record the truck did not suffer any frame damage. It was checked before a new box & hitch were installed.

Me thinks if dat Dually had da B&W hitch nun uf dis wood uh happnd.

The Mad Norsky wrote:
I posted recently in another thread, on about this same subject.

There is a really simple answer to this DRW v SRW fiasco that usually goes on way past its prime.

Do the math.

In other words, look at your tires capacity (weight wise) then figure what the heaviest loaded pin weight will be of any fifth wheel you are thinking of purchasing.

These figures are advertised by almost all manufacturers, and can be easily figured with just a few moments of anyone's time.

Doing the math has all the advantages.

Math does not go on for ten pages without an answer. It happens immediately.

Math does not tell fabrications.

Math does not tell war stories.

Math does not offer an opinion.

Math does NOT pit one poster against another. It is neutral, and, as I said, immediately correct with an answer, which is what any of us needs.

Math does NOT give you a personal impression of what one vehicle drives like or the other.

Math just simply gives you an answer. Impartial and quickly.

Now for those that say "what is this guy talking about???" here's a quick example of how the math answers.

New fifth wheel, 12,500 pounds unloaded with an advertised pin weight of 2,300 pounds. It also advertises a Gross weight rating of 16,500 pounds.

Just be reading the sidewall of your tires one can immediately know if they can handle this fifth wheel.

An answer. Not ten pages of back and forth.

The example fifth wheel above has a hitch weight percentage of 18.4 percent. (2300 divided by 12,500)

So the heaviest pin weight this model can generate is 3,036 pounds. (16,500 times 18.4 percent).

Now, what is the load rating of your tires??? You have an answer.

Not an opinion, impression, war story or otherwise. An honest answer.

One catch though. Folks with SRW (single) rear wheel vehicles MUST realize that those two tires in back are carrying the truck itself, so most likely you will use up a lot of that tire capacity for one tire in just the truck itself.

So when you look at pin weight, just think of it as all being on the one tire remaining and you will do just fine.

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Veebyes wrote:
I see The Mad Norsky has not forgotten.

for the benefit of transamz9 & others who think that beefing up a SRW with airbags & such compensates for real extra width & stability when faced with a real emergency that cannot be ovecome with pulling power or braking power either, here it is.

Hurricane force sustained gust of wind hitting a heavy 5er broadside. The 5er had something like 80gal water in the low mounted tank & also a heavily loaded 12 cuft fridge on the windward side.

This is why I get rather passionate whenever the SRW vs DRW subject comes up. I will never forget the sound of the kingpin tearing out of the 5th wheel.







That was no 'barely meets specs for the trailer' hitch. It was a 20,000# hitch.






The truck stayed up on the highway. It mowed down a couple of those snow posts but it did not go down with the trailer.

Appears to me that the 5er hitch might have saved the truck

Veebyes,
I am glad that no one was hurt in the incident. I do remember seeing these photos before. The dually vs SRW debate will go on as there is never a clear answer unless it is carrying capacity. Then I agree that dually is better. I have been in such high winds in Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska and have been fortunate that I have not had anything more serious then a lost spare tire cover. But I do my best to avoid those situations, even holding up for a day or two if needed.
Also, the photo of the 5th wheel hitch is something. I wonder if the rv.net favorite hitch boys had comments.

The Mad Norsky wrote:

x96mnn wrote:
@madI did not read your entire post, Are you trying to say it does not matter about the truck only the tires and what they can hold? If you are I do not need to hear anymore.

Tires are the major part. Tires and rear axle capacity are the weak points in fifth wheel hauling.

If one does the math then you will know if a SRW or a dually is needed to carry the pin weight of any fifth wheel.

Now 2500/3500, 350/250 has just been debated ad nauseam here on the forum over the years. Same-different-same-different and so on for page after page.

I figure if you're not overloading the tires, the truck is probably fine.

Exactly.

x96mnn wrote:
@madI did not read your entire post, Are you trying to say it does not matter about the truck only the tires and what they can hold? If you are I do not need to hear anymore.

Tires are the major part. Tires and rear axle capacity are the weak points in fifth wheel hauling.

If one does the math then you will know if a SRW or a dually is needed to carry the pin weight of any fifth wheel.

Now 2500/3500, 350/250 has just been debated ad nauseam here on the forum over the years. Same-different-same-different and so on for page after page.

I figure if you're not overloading the tires, the truck is probably fine.

If you noticed I just talked about scales and weight. Math is fine if you have the trailer to check. The location of the water tanks can cause the pin weight percentage to change as you load the trailer and not linear from curb to max.

I got hit in the side with a dust devil above Vegas a few years ago. It knocked me sideways across two lanes. A car stopped and told me I hit him. I explained it was the wind and he was like BS you hit me and knocked me out of the road. When I pointed out he had no damage he felt like an ass and left. I was left with the antenna and roof ripped loose.

I had a SRW and didn't wreck, if I HAD to do it again I'd much rather be in my DRW. Saying I barely saved it is and understatement.


To my other post about super singles, you'd still have to buy a drw truck to handle the wide tire. Putting super heavy tires on a srw won't help the axle ratings, nice try though.

I do not think anyone can say for sure if a SRW would have held on or not. It is proven though that it takes close the a 1/3 greater joules of force to push a DRW sideways compared to a SRW. This was based on Static friction and never saw a test on kenetic friction but am sure it is out there if someone wants to look.

@mad

I did not read your entire post, Are you trying to say it does not matter about the truck only the tires and what they can hold? If you are I do not need to hear anymore.