1 ton truck and AF 990?

[JRJR]

I am currently hauling my AF 990 on my 1999 F-250 super cab 7.3 with mods being E rated tires and wheels, Big Wig sway bars front and rear, air bags and Rancho 9000 shocks. It seems like quite a load on the truck. When fully loaded the camper weighs in the neighborhood of 5,000# Also with the camper on the truck I am afraid to tow my 20' boat.
Now to the question. Could I make this work with a SRW 1 ton truck or would I have to go to a DRW truck?
Anyone out there doing this with a 1 ton SRW?
Thinking about getting a used late model or new truck.
Thanks
John

[ace44]

Here is my experience. I bought a 990 AF and carried it on a 1999 F-350 SRW. It was marginal at best. The new Dually makes it so much more enjoyable to drive. Hated letting go of the 99 7.3 with only 70k miles on it, but the DRW is worth it.

[billsnp5]

You can buy a new 16 Dodge DW for around 43K with a diesel or a gas for about 6k less, you may have to look hard or order one to get a gas. If you look at the price of used diesels 2 or 3 years old they sell them for about the price that you can buy a new one.

I had to buy my truck from Dennis Dillon in the Boise area as they were the only one around who had a DW when I wanted to buy. I got it for slightly less than 40K in early 2013. It is not a Laramie but it has everything I needed, all power, chrome wheel covers, blue tooth, auto. You can go to their web site and they post their prices so you can see about what they can be sold for. I believe you can probably get the same price anywhere but you might have to check around.

[wcjeep]

Grit dog wrote:
Ya used diesel truck prices are insane. Hard to believe they're selling for that much but must be a lot of people that believe msrp is what you pay for a new one, making used ones look attractive to them.

Don't forget finance rates. New truck finance rate is usually cheaper than used. New trucks can be cheaper overall than used.

[Grit_dog]

Ya used diesel truck prices are insane. Hard to believe they're selling for that much but must be a lot of people that believe msrp is what you pay for a new one, making used ones look attractive to them.

[Kayteg1]

JRJR wrote:
Thanks everyone. Looks like I will be looking for a 1 or two year old dually with low miles as I just cant bring myself to spend the cash for a new one. Hopefully it won't be to big of an issue to add the swing out brackets to my jacks on the 990. Anything else that will need to be changed? Or anything else that I need to know about going from SRW to DRW?

Thanks
John

You don't post your location, but I am shopping around for dually, while waiting for my equity to become cash.
Even 3 years old duallies come on the market with 50k price tags, while Washington dealers offer almost $14k discounts on new F350.
Low inventory of XL models, but you can buy new, loaded CC with 4WD for less than 3 years old truck listing. Obviously used trucks listings are also negotiable, but 50k is not good starting point for used truck at all and inventory is very low.
Rumors are that with new aluminum trucks arriving any week now - we can expect even deeper discounts on 2016 models.

[Bedlam]

Swing brackets are easy to install with the TC on the truck. Here are mine on my AF811 when I still had my F250. Nothing else is different other than your frame tie downs.

[JRJR]

Thanks everyone. Looks like I will be looking for a 1 or two year old dually with low miles as I just cant bring myself to spend the cash for a new one. Hopefully it won't be to big of an issue to add the swing out brackets to my jacks on the 990. Anything else that will need to be changed? Or anything else that I need to know about going from SRW to DRW?

Thanks
John

[lonegunman]

I haul an AF 865 on a 2011 F-250 with airbags. It has camper pkg and heavy duty options and is identical to an F-350 suspension wise. My truck has airbags and Rancho 9000xl's and is a far stouter truck than an older F-250 and I still think about a dually as an option if we replace this truck.

I asked a couple of different AF owners with SRW and DRW trucks, everyone who went with DRW was glad they did and said it eliminated issues with rocking and concerns about a blowout.

You should be able to get a nice 2-4 yr old dually for far less than a new SRW truck and have nicer options.

[cubbear]

I have a 2015 F 350 Lariat CC LB PSD DRW 3.73 Fully loaded steer axel #5640 & rear axel #8700 this is full of fuel- water Ect as this is how I travel. only mods upper and lower stable loads. handles great. sure glad I did not buy SRW as I was thinking.

[Kayteg1]

Bedlam wrote:

You can spend about $3k on your current truck to make it handle the camper well if you don't tow behind it. If you are set on towing your boat, you really need a DRW for that weight camper.

I was considering that way with my F250. I already had air bags, I moved spare wheel to front bumper, I removed rear-mounted generator (turned only 90lb), took off one of propane tank, moved batteries to front of the camper and even I come close to tire rating, the camper was standing 12' tall and just thinking about catching tire blow was making my back wet.

[Bedlam]

JRJR wrote:
I am currently hauling my AF 990 on my 1999 F-250 super cab 7.3 with mods being E rated tires and wheels, Big Wig sway bars front and rear, air bags and Rancho 9000 shocks. It seems like quite a load on the truck. When fully loaded the camper weighs in the neighborhood of 5,000# Also with the camper on the truck I am afraid to tow my 20' boat.
Now to the question. Could I make this work with a SRW 1 ton truck or would I have to go to a DRW truck?
Anyone out there doing this with a 1 ton SRW?
Thinking about getting a used late model or new truck.
Thanks
John

You can spend about $3k on your current truck to make it handle the camper well if you don't tow behind it. If you are set on towing your boat, you really need a DRW for that weight camper.

[Kayteg1]

boogie_4wheel wrote:
With that weight, how are you not over your tire capacity now?

DRW is a no brainer.

+1
When I bought my camper, my first stop was at the scales.
The dry camper was 4200lb, yet overloaded the rears by about 20%.
Had pretty scary trip home, but I bought the best tires just for the trip so made it just fine.
2 months later I bought dually.

[CAJW]

I'm waving the dually flag here as well. The rig in my sig line handles a similar weight that you'll have and does it just fine. Mods I've done aren't even close in cost to what 19.5 rims/tires, etc.. would cost you. Comfort/safety in driving/handling is something you really can't put a price on. I agree, get a dually or look at a lighter camper. Lots of discussion on SRW vs. DRW, but not any complaints that I've seen from DRW owners, wishing they'd got a SRW.

[wcjeep]

19.5" rims/tires would make the load alot more stable. Check Craigslist.