Dual Rear or Single Rear Wheels on Tow Truck?

4x4ord wrote:

smcrea wrote:
Hi All,

Thanks for all the discussions on this SRW vs DRW quesion:

I was trying to sum it all up and came up with this.. am I close?

- $345 difference in price from a SRW
- People say that the DRW sits on the road like it was on rails when towing and is much more ‘stable’
- It is however wider by about 12”. People say that if the mirrors fit then your hips fit as well but you have to be careful when parking.
- The DRW carries more load than a single rear wheel and so opens the 5th door to just about anything we can see.

Would I be able to tow most except the VERY largest 5th wheels with a SRW 3500?

My problem is that one we arrive on site and setup the RV then the tow vehicle becomes the family car, so we cant have something that is unusable as a family car for sightseeing, shopping etc

-If you are pricing a Ford the short box SRW with 20's is actually a little more than the dually but if you go with 18 inch wheels on the SRW short box you can save about $1260 over the dually long box.

-Stability is a non issue with the new F350 SRW with 20 inch wheels regardless of how stable the dually is. My guess is that the new GM 3500 SRW is more similar to the Ford but even though our 2010 Duramax SRW is quite impressive as a tow vehicle it feels significantly less substantial than the 2011 Ford when towing.

- The payload advantage of the dually becomes a big deal if you are planning on towing a 5'ver much over about 15,000 lbs.

-Because Ford requires that you go to a 3.73 axle in the dually vs the SRW there is a significant fuel savings with the SRW. The 20" wheel option requires that you go to a 3.55 ratio axle which will cost a little on fuel over the 3.31 axle. The GMC uses the same axle (3.73) for all their Duramax configurations and the difference in fuel economy is less significant whether you go duals or not.

What is the height difference in all the tire/rim choices from Ford.

Wheel size doesn't by itself affect power/economy..Tire height does.
Sometime in the past I looked at this and the Ford was requiring lower gears with taller tires and taller gears with shorter tires. So the net effect was pretty much nothing. Not sure if that is still the case.