How Wide is a Dually? Always Need Dually Jacks?

I drive Ford Trucks for almost 20 years and don't take anything for granted.
Whatever you call F450 - I was loading 10,000lb on flatbed with no problem. (as long as I could load heavier side behind the cabin).
Had F350 dually, who was sold as C&C and that monster had suspension as beefy as F450.
When I was ordering new 2017 F350 dually for my 6500 lb camper- everybody on this forum was telling me that I will need to add suspension modification.
Turn out new truck have lighter rear, what adds about 400lb cargo capacity and not sure if the suspension is beefed up, but the truck carries the camper perfectly and I did not hesitate to follow semi-truck at 80mph.
That saves over 10% on fuel consumption, but the air turbulence makes it white knuckle driving.
Main misconception is taking the registration ratings as vehicle ratings and regardless constant reminder on forum - owners take the taxable rating for physical rating.
My new house is taxable at 1/3 of its actual value.

mkirsch wrote:

I thought "F350" meant a 1-ton, but apparently not. I would say his is a 3/4 ton same as my Chev. ( I know nothing about Fords but am learning with my "previously enjoyed" MH E350 dually.) EG, I would expect a 1-ton to have G tires on the back with a single. His had Es.

Technically NONE of them are "1 ton," as these trucks can hold much more.

What you're probably thinking is that an SRW F350 would have the same payload capacity as a DRW F350. It doesn't. Obviously the DRW truck has more payload capacity due to the additional spring leaves and tires.

An F350 is not a "3/4 ton" truck either. An F250 has a ~6100lb rear axle rating, while the F350 SRW has a ~7400lb rear axle rating. It does have a higher weight capacity than an F250.

I do know that the SRW can carry less than the Dually with Chevs. I remember a SRW Ford "1-ton" had G tires instead of Es some years ago. Chev never even had a SRW 1-ton till about 2005, but it was/is just an up- graded 2500HD really. Their dually is the real thing still.

I was thinking it was like with Chevs where a 3500 is a "1-ton" and a 2500HD is a "3/4 ton" Chev used to have a 2500 which was a "heavy half" not a 3/4, and a 1500 is a 1/2 ton. But they also had a 1500HD as another way to do a "heavy half" for a while there. I just thought Fords had the same thing with 350/250/150 .

His F350 had GVWR of 9200 same as my 2500HD but his is maybe ten years older and trucks have been gaining carrying capacity over the years, so that probably doesn't count.

Anyway now I have a Ford, I guess I will have to learn their language too! :)

I was carrying over 1 ton on Chevy El Camino, who had air-adjustable shocks.
I have a feeling that 1-ton truck, 12-ply tires and oil change 3000 have the same roots.

I thought "F350" meant a 1-ton, but apparently not. I would say his is a 3/4 ton same as my Chev. ( I know nothing about Fords but am learning with my "previously enjoyed" MH E350 dually.) EG, I would expect a 1-ton to have G tires on the back with a single. His had Es.

Technically NONE of them are "1 ton," as these trucks can hold much more.

What you're probably thinking is that an SRW F350 would have the same payload capacity as a DRW F350. It doesn't. Obviously the DRW truck has more payload capacity due to the additional spring leaves and tires.

An F350 is not a "3/4 ton" truck either. An F250 has a ~6100lb rear axle rating, while the F350 SRW has a ~7400lb rear axle rating. It does have a higher weight capacity than an F250.

Kayteg1 wrote:
There might be small variations, but there is no way you can squeeze 8 feet wide fenders between 7 feet jacks.
Even with jack extenders I have less than 1" clearance per side.

X2

I should have bought a 1 ton DRW. The original camper I had was right at the limits. My current sig rig is over when loaded with gear. I made the choice to upgrade my suspension with airbags, Rancho adjustable shocks, anti-sway bar in addition to 19.5 rims and tires. The truck handles and drives great. I feel safe driving down the road.

Just for "the rest of the story", I sold it to a guy who had a 1990's crew cab long box Ford 350 single rear wheel. I checked his door and it said it was 9200 GVWR and needed 80 lbs for the back tires for max loading, same as my 2003 Chev 2500HD specs.

It was a little wider between wheel wells in the box than my Chev so he had more room for the camper sliding in than my Chev has. I thought "F350" meant a 1-ton, but apparently not. I would say his is a 3/4 ton same as my Chev. ( I know nothing about Fords but am learning with my "previously enjoyed" MH E350 dually.) EG, I would expect a 1-ton to have G tires on the back with a single. His had Es.

I asked if he knew how much PSI his tires had--he said no, so I checked. He had 77lbs in each, so I figured that was good enough. I had my air compressor ready to pump them up if needed.

Anyway, his truck appeared to hold the 3,000lb camper just fine, although I am sure it maxes it out. My Chev truck is tail-high unloaded and goes level with the camper on it. His was level to start with, and went down a tad but not badly. His whole box and rails are lower than my 2003 Chev's (which has lower rails than the newer 2007s on up) So he doesn't need so much travel in the jacks as I did.

He said he was going to get air bags. Not sure he needs them, but that's his business. He knows they won't do anything about weight, but just for level and ride (and head light aiming I suppose).

I did spend some time showing him how to do everything since he was a newbie, but he caught on fast and asked good questions. He has a friend who knows more about campers, who helped him decide to get mine. So I feel good it went to somebody who will figure it all out from there and not be a menace to himself or to the general public! :)

I guess my point is that there is a lot to owning a truck camper, so a newbie could get in to trouble real quick if he was just allowed to drive off with the thing perched on his whatever kind of truck. As a seller, IMO you have to be willing to add some time after the sale to teach him the basics. Most sellers would do that anyway, no doubt, but I was a newbie seller too, so I was fussed about it all.

Thanks for the good advice in this thread everybody! :)

Could be the customer loaded his/her own vehicle. Obviously loaded improperly. The load should have been centered between the front and rear axles. The back tire looks like it is on the rim. They did use a lot of string to tie the load. Judging by the wheels, my bet is the driver is between 16 and 20 years old. That is probably the years of our lives we are the smartest.

I brought my own dually brackets with me when I bought my camper. Of course I knew I was coming home with the camper because I found these brackets on Craigslist the day before I was supposed to go look at the camper.

Luckily the previous owner of the brackets had welded extensions to them, or else I never would've been able to load this particular camper on my DRW truck.

There is limit to everything.
Suppose the HD had the driver signing the liability release before loading the materials.
I still think the HD manager is idiot not much better than the driver.