Pickup truck tow vehicle stability tests

RinconVTR wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:

RinconVTR wrote:
Take the stability of 2 rear tires and multiply by two...give or take.

OP, am we missing something? Is there a hidden question here?

Wow, not even close to reality. By this logic is we fit the entire length of the axle with tires (say 8 tires) it will be 8 times as stable (it's not).

The answer is yes, dually's are more stable but as long as you are within weight ratings, there is no safety issue. SRW trucks don't fall over because they are missing the training wheels. You would be very hard pressed to document a situation where a SRW would roll but a dually would stay upright while towing.

I suggest you start watching semi's. You will notice a great many are going singles (a little difference as the outside width is held steady). If they were falling over left and right, trucking companies wouldn't use them. That is about as objective as you can get on the subject.

The reason to get dually's is because you need the extra load capacity.

Question was about stability...not load...not safety...stay on topic. You answered the question yourself...but yet you go on.

If you look at the trucks converting from dual to single tires, they are not carrying the highest loads and the single tire is VERY wide. VERY WIDE! Now why would they do that? Hmmmm

Also stability while towing...IMO...does not mean resistance to tip over. Roller over "stability" I don't believe was the point of discussion here, but if it was, I'd simply take measure. The wider version likely wins. And is that not the dually?

Safety was implicit in the question. If the OP wasn't concerned with safety, what would be the point of the question?

To end it as yes, it's stable and ignore the fact that there is no distinguishable benefits (other than load ratings), would be highly misleading, so I took the liberty of adding to the discussion.

Supersingle truck tires are very wide. They are very wide so they can handle heavy loads not to make the truck more stable. I brought it up because there were misleading posts that more than one tire is intrinsically more stable.

True, stability could be in reference to either roll overs or the trailer pushing the back of the truck around:
- For roll over, there is an improvement but as stated, there's not a problem with SRW trucks towing 5th wheels falling over. The impact while towing is negligible and well within safe operating parameters.
- For stability in reference to the trailer pushing the rear of the truck around, there is even less effect (not that 5th wheels typcially have an issue with this anyway). There may be a couple hundred pounds from the extra tires, axle length and such but overall the weight planted on the rear axle but it's going to be pretty close to the same for a similarly outfitted rig. Available traction is a function of the coefficent of friction and the force pressing the wheels to the ground. If they are the same, there would be no additional stability. Any negligible difference could be made up by throwing some extra weight in the truck bed.

So my initial answer still stands. There is a difference but not enough to matter.

transamz9 wrote:

Huntindog wrote:


And as for comparing a dually with a SRW that is 5 years newer and stating that the newer SRW is better.... Well that depends on just what 5 year span one is talking about. From about 2000-2010, capabilities were pretty constant. The big three substantially redesigned and upped the capacities from 2011-2013.... But those capacities were raised for the duallys as well. So that argument falls flat.

No the argument don't fall flat. Dually is a dually as far as what everyone is saying. The way all the people that are pushing the "dually is more stable" push sounds like it don't matter if you buy a 1990 DRW or a 2015 it will always be more stable than a SRW truck. I'm saying that's wrong and misleading.

I agree, HUGE difference between a 1990 Dually and a 2015 dually, MONSTER differences in GVWR, RAWR, GCWR....In fact a 2015 2500 (Ram), has a higher GCWR than my 2010 Ram 3500 Dually...doesn't have the GVWR, or RAWR, but you couldn't compare an 03 2500 like I had to a 2014 and up 2500 of today....

I don't "push" anyone into getting a dually, (I have ZERO control over someone's purse stings that I've NEVER met)....one will read opinions and experiences and glean from there..and as I've stated quite often, the rest will be using basic math skills and some common sense....nothing more, nothing less...

I still think, after towing same weight 5er, over the same mountainous, curvy terrain at the same speeds with both a SRW truck and a DRW truck, that in those conditions, the DRW offered a more "stable" towing experience (in fact even the wife stated so),

It's not "wrong" and it's not "misleading", but I'm not talking about 1990 dually's either, when in these discussions, unless someone states a certain year and model, then I'm basing on new to new, (in my case, from 2010 through now)....a 3500 SRW truck can handle weights that my 2010 dually could and some, more...BUT, the towing experience is a tad different...don't know if I could say that if I were towing in the "flatlands" or on hilly terrain...talking about where "I'VE" personally told with both..

BB_TX wrote:

BB_TX wrote:
You are going to get 3 or 4 pages of opinions. And in the end that is what it will be, opinions. ............

Just as I stated on page 1, lots of opinions, but in the end that is all it will be, personal opinions with no facts proven by testing to back it up. Except it is up to 5 pages now.

So. I will give my opinion. I have pulled a 35' high profile 5er for 8 yrs, first with a 2007 F350 SRW and now with a 2012 F350 SRW. Stability is not an issue, even on winding mountain passes and very high cross winds across the plains. Would a DRW be more stable? Possibly. Is stability a problem on the SRW? Absolutely not.

Three reasons to buy a DRW;
1. because the pin weight requires it,
2. because you just really want one,
3. becauee someone convinced you that you will be all over the road without one.

3 Questions: 3 answers
1. yes, at the time.
2. No, didn't want one,
3. No, never heard that one until you just posted it.

So, again, just another opinion...nothing more...Have you towed the same 5er over the same terrain, running the same speeds with both a SRW truck and a DRW truck?

Mine is based on ACTUAL experience, and in MY opinion, AFTER an actual comparison experience, having towed the same weight 5er over the same mountainous, curvy roads, with both a SRW truck and a DRW truck, it was my opinion, BASED on experience that I had, that the DRW truck handled the 5er better on that type of terrain than the SRW...The SRW truck was doing it safely, I didn't feel in peril or anything like that...trip was the same, BUT, the DRW felt a little more stable when cornering on these mountainous, curvy secondary roads.

THAT was from actual experience, with an actual comparison towing of the same 5er with both a SRW truck and a DRW

I got a Dually in 05', when I was towing a 37' Coachmen Somerset 3 slide 5er with an 03' Chevy 2500 D/A....weighed the combo and found out that I was well over GVWR and pushing limits of the RAWR.. so actually, though not a fair comparision, that was the FIRST time, but not the last, that I was able to compare, I then towed the same 5er with the 05' 3500 over the same terrain with same 5er and I couldn't believe how it handled the mountainous curvy roads compared to the 2500, (and I NEVER felt unsafe with the 2500), until I heard it from the weight police on this forum:), (now I are one:))

So, yeah, just another "opinion" based on my experiences, (more than several).....

Not trying to sell anyone a dually, I really don't care...all it takes is simple math and some common sense to figure out what TV one needs to tow what they're towing with....

Proof? Guess that would be from those that towed same unit, over the same terrain, at the same speeds with both trucks...some won't agree with me, but most will....

BB_TX wrote:
You are going to get 3 or 4 pages of opinions. And in the end that is what it will be, opinions. ............

Just as I stated on page 1, lots of opinions, but in the end that is all it will be, personal opinions with no facts proven by testing to back it up. Except it is up to 5 pages now.

So. I will give my opinion. I have pulled a 35' high profile 5er for 8 yrs, first with a 2007 F350 SRW and now with a 2012 F350 SRW. Stability is not an issue, even on winding mountain passes and very high cross winds across the plains. Would a DRW be more stable? Possibly. Is stability a problem on the SRW? Absolutely not.

Three reasons to buy a DRW;
1. because the pin weight requires it,
2. because you just really want one,
3. becauee someone convinced you that you will be all over the road without one.

BenK has it right, it's all about the width of the track. The widest track will be the most stable. Outriggers you see on heavy equipment use the same principal. It's perfectly possible that a SRW can outperform a DRW in regards to stability if the SRW had a wider track.

I had the outside dually go flat while towing my 5ver, I was able to control the truck to get to a safe place to get off the road. Mine is also my daily and I put 500 miles a week on it. My truck had 360K miles on it, and I wouldn't tow with any thing less that a dually.

I've towed the same 5er over the same terrain with a 1 ton SRW truck and the dually...99% of my towing is on mountainous, curvy roads in NC, SC, TN, VA and WVa....Running at the same speeds, the dually, in my opinion, handled my 5er in a more stable manner on the curvy, mountainous sections of the roads..just seemed, (to me), to handle the load a little better....I have a high profile 5er loaded to 16,300#.

Driving on flatland, guess it might not matter, but in windy conditions, seems the towing experience seems to be a little more stable....Again, going by my own personal experience. And it should be obvious, as stated above that the "wide tracking" in the rear that the dually provides, will help with a more stable ride...I personally purchased my first dually in 05' because of weight of a 5er I was towing...not necessarily for anything else, BUT, after towing the same roads with the same unit and then hooking up to a dually, THEN, I became convinced that it offered a more stable towing experience...but again, I'd say it would depend on how heavy you're towing and WHERE you're towing. In my case, and my opinion, with my 5er, I prefer the dually for where I do most of my towing.

BenK wrote:
Repeat...didn't say dually...it is the track...AKA width...

BenK is on the right track too :)

06Fargo wrote:

bmet2000 wrote:
On the BMET scale, a dually is 72.7% more stable...

Now we are getting somewhere :)

How did you arrive at your results :):)

My previous truck was a dodge/ram as well and current dually has me smiling 72% more with it's stability towing my 11k travel trailer. One day I may even get a 5th wheel, but we are camper shell people (a dying breed apparently) cause we like the bed covered and our stuff dry.

Huntindog wrote:


And as for comparing a dually with a SRW that is 5 years newer and stating that the newer SRW is better.... Well that depends on just what 5 year span one is talking about. From about 2000-2010, capabilities were pretty constant. The big three substantially redesigned and upped the capacities from 2011-2013.... But those capacities were raised for the duallys as well. So that argument falls flat.

No the argument don't fall flat. Dually is a dually as far as what everyone is saying. The way all the people that are pushing the "dually is more stable" push sounds like it don't matter if you buy a 1990 DRW or a 2015 it will always be more stable than a SRW truck. I'm saying that's wrong and misleading.