Possibly Downsizing to SRW from DRW

The 245/70R19.5 are about 33" tall. The OEM 275/70R18's that were previously on my truck were the same height.

flyairam wrote:
Jim,

Although I've always towed with SRW and can't comment on DRW manners, you might be interested in my experience.

My SRW Dodge 3500's limiting factor was the tires. My pin weight is 3600, loaded trailer weight of 16,000, which would have exceeded my OEM tire limits (the axle has the same components as DRW, even the brakes are the same). I installed 19.5 inch medium duty truck wheels/tires, a common mod with the truck camper crowd, to solve the tire safety concern.

My truck is very stable towing, in fact, it's more stable loaded than empty. These 19.5s are designed to carry weight-and lots of it. I'm sure having more tires on the ground would only add to stability, but I can't imagine my rig being more user-friendly, it's already night-and-day better than my 10,000 lb. travel trailer was.

One benefit of SRW is fuel mileage, we just completed a 3000 mile trip and averaged a shade over 12 mpg on the lie-ometer (it's very close, though). The 19.5s have less rolling resistance than either OEMs or duals.

Good luck with your decision,

Randy

With the different rim size did the height of the tire change? That needs to be considered when checking mileage. Your Lie O Meter could be really lying!

I was just in the same mode of deciding to go from a DRW to a SRW. I currently have a 2005 Dodge RAM 3500 DRW and have now decided to go to a 2015 RAM 3500 SRW. The 2015 SRW is actuallty rated higher in GVWR and GCWR, payload is slightly less at 4480 versus 4807 for the DRW (mainly because of the 4 tires on the DRW, limiting factor becomes the axle).

I am towing a Fuzion 302 so dry weight is 11189, hitch weight unloaded around 2450. I figure I will have plenty of margin even after adding weight to the camper for gear and such.
Biggest factor for me once I knew the weights would be OK was the fact I only tow about 6 times year and other times it is used as a daily driver.

It really depends on you on which way to go and what you will be towing.
Took me 3 months to make my decision looking at all factors

Had 2007 2500HD pulling a 39ft TH. Did okay but always felt a little unstable in windy conditions. But as a daily driver it seemed like the way to go. Just picked up the new 3500HD dually last week. Wish I had done that a long time ago. Still using as a daily driver and so far no regrets.

Here's my experience:

DRW for my heavy truck camper. I have seen AF811s carried on SRW trucks, but I can say that on a pre-2011 GM SRW trucks, they are overloaded.

Last year, probably mid March I towed two identical 28' travel trailers, one with my dually, then a day or two later, one with my short bed 2500HD SRW. The dually was much more stable and planted on the road. I felt the difference as soon as I got on the interstate.

I have two trucks. I don't know that I want two trucks anymore, so a new SRW has been a remote consideration for me as well, but my gut feeling is that I probably should stick with a dually, for stability of the heavy camper combined with towing, even though the new GM 3500HD SRWs have a higher GVWR than my 09 dually. I was just at a local dealer last weekend, and I checked the door jamb stickers.

Qualification:
Had a 2009 SRW F250 6.4
Had a 2012 SRW F350 6.7
Have a 2015 DRW F350 6.7

Both SRW were FX4 short beds and had some squirrely handling characteristics on rough highway while cornering with or without a load. They had a tendency to hop and jump sideways in the rear. Otherwise, very nice trucks.

The DRW is a long bed, not an FX4 and handles much better in all loaded/unloaded situations. No hop or jump. All the other differences such as MPG, acceleration, etc I attribute to more capable engine and 4.3 axle ratio.

I just got back from a 4.5 week 8000 mile trip out west towing the fiver. I saw a lot of SRW 2500 and 3500 trucks towing very large fivers. Some of the trucks were short bed, some were not. I suspect that many of them were exceeding their OEM ratings. I don't think that these people were doing it on purpose. I just don't think they knew better or reslly didn't know there true weights. As a degreed engineer I always err on the side of safety. I just feel better going down the road. You never know what can happen in the blink of an eye.

As others have noted, with a heavy truck camper there isn't a lot of choice. We carry an AF 1150 truck camper that wet and loaded weighs over 5,000 pounds. That isn't possible with a SRW. In addition, at least with Ford, you get bigger brakes and a bigger rear axle. Bigger brakes are always good in my opinion.

45Ricochet wrote:
Depends on the truck camper size, I know if I had a TC it would be on a DRW truck especially if you do a bunch of mountain driving.

Agree with you Rick:)

Depends on the truck camper size, I know if I had a TC it would be on a DRW truck especially if you do a bunch of mountain driving.