Dually

My father is carrying a 5,000# Bigfoot on his 2016 Ram 3500 DRW. He added a Hellwig sway bar and air bags. No mods other than that. He at first carried it on a SRW with upgraded tires and there is a HUGE improvement on handling.

He did go with the Aisin but he also has a 16k 36' FW he hauls. If it was just the TC, he probably would have been happy with the 68RE.

Are there any reasons, other than the weight of the camper, that you are looking to change? High Mileage? Year of the Vehicle? Just tired of it and want something new?

Cause basically, I can't help wondering what it would cost to yank the SRW set up out of your truck, and drop the correct DRW axle and springs in? You would need new fenders, which could be sourced from a junkyard. As could the axle itself and springs, if you could find a good one. Might even be able to use an axle and such from a 4500 series? (Does GM make one? I know Ford and Ram do, not sure about GMC.)

The other alternative that occurs to me would be to take your truck and fully loaded camper to someone like Deaver Springs and let them engineer new springs that are correct for the weight. I kinda think that would be better than a hodge-podge of aftermarket parts that were never designed to work together.

Just thinking out loud and playing Devil's Advocate here . . .

I've had the 2018 dually about 2 weeks. Traded the 2016 SRW in on it. Both with the Aisin so I have no way to compare. I've got about 1,000 miles on the new one trying to break it in before I load the Bigfoot. When I hit 600 miles I hooked on the 5th and towed about 150 miles. I got the Torklifts on last week. My plan is to load the Bigfoot and go trout fishing next week.
To Aisin or not to Aisin, that is the question. For me I have trouble saying no to more horsepower and torque. I don't remember what the Aisin allows the Cummins to be tuned up to in comparison to the 68, it's not a lot, but it was enough to snare me.
The maintenance will be higher for the Aisin. They call for a drain and replace at 30,000 miles. It's just drain the pan so only 7 quarts. I let the dealer do it just for having a record in case of later warranty issues. My little small town dealer said they don't ever recall doing that. At 60,000 it's drop the pan and a new filter.
I have the BigWig off the SRW in the garage waiting to get installed on the DRW. Not sure if I want to make a trip without it just to see how the DRW does or go ahead and put it on now.
Not much help for your decision but that's all I know.
add: My payload went from 4018# on the SRW to 5406# on the DRW. Both spec'ed the same, even the color.

when I was getting tired of waiting for my 2018 ram to come in I specked out a 2018 Chevy dually.

I was suprised to see the GVWR on the chevy was 975 lbs less than the dodge.
I have seen my 2015 ram cross the scales at 13970 lbs including me, wife, Arctic Fox 990 loaded for week plus Tong weight of 7x14 box trailer with a BMW motorcycle inside.

Don when we picked up the camper in Happy Valley we spent the night just outside the Dales. Very beautiful area. The next day I ended up in the emergency room in the Dallas. I had a bad case of vertigo. Fun for the first night in the new camper. Thanks for the input. Always liked my GMCs but this Rams got my attention. Look great. I’m still trying to decide to go dually now or wait till the new model year

donn0128 wrote:
Been towing heavy with a 6.7L Cummins backed by a 68RFE automatic. Never had an issue with the transmission. I would not hesitate to get the 68RFE. The only real reason to get an Aisin would be if you were towing 20,000 pounds or more. Then the Aisin would shine.

^ This. I agree with donno ( that was hard to type, lol).
There’s probably 100:1 68rfe trucks to Aisins on the road. They’ve been in production over 10 years now. So have the Aisin transmissions to be fair. Both units have their advantages and disadvantages, and for equal $ I’d take the Aisin, but if I bought a new Ram tomorrow, I’d pocket the extra $2500 up charge and get a 68......unless like donno said towing really heavy.

Been towing heavy with a 6.7L Cummins backed by a 68RFE automatic. Never had an issue with the transmission. I would not hesitate to get the 68RFE. The only real reason to get an Aisin would be if you were towing 20,000 pounds or more. Then the Aisin would shine.

As I have mentioned on here in a earlier thread, I bought a beautiful Host Cascade in November and put on my SRW 3500 GMC. I have done many mods to the truck and it carries the camper ok. You definitely know it’s back there and you feel the rough roads. Sometimes it bounces pretty good. So thinking of going to Ram 3500 Dually. I’m trying to get a idea of investment. For those of you that carry a heavy camper can I expect to do mods on the new truck and to what extent? On my SRW I have done a ton of mods from sway bar to heavy duty Timbrens, blistien shocks, lower stable loads, 19.5 inch wheels and 14 ply tires. Will the dually be so much better that no or a few mods have to be done? I only tow a bass boat. Also you guys that have the Ram are you satisfied with it and are you happy with the Aisin transmission or would you recommend the 68? I have heard some Aisin have had problems. What’s your experience? Thanks for your input. Love this site

Get the Aisin transmission. It is the only one that can handle the Cummins High Output torque. It has a very good reputation.

The dually is about a $1200 option when purchasing new and is worth every penny when carrying a heavy camper. You might still want to add shocks and maybe air bags but the stability and load carrying capacity is well worth the extra wheels/money. It also raises the truck's payload and gvwr numbers if that is any concern to you.

I was shopping around for dually diesel over a year ago and used ones, having +- 3 years/40k miles would cost over 40 grands, when I custom build new F350 for $52k.
Newer trucks come with heavier suspension and my 2017 carries 6500lb of camper with no modifications.

A few of us have gone from SRW to drw as our situations change. Yes, it will probably be better. In my case and probably yours, the brakes will be remarkably better.

I'm sure some will chime in about their experience with the RAM transmissions.