Bigfoot in Bigfoot TX

[Sango]

[bigfootgrey]

Congrats on the “new” truck! Good find! Sounds like a nice truck

Bob

[Marcela]

Well, just bought an 01 F350 crew cab dually with the 7.3. Went over and looked at it and the guy has had it since '03 and is the diesel mechanic for ford--major plus there. Only 58k miles and pretty well taken care of.

Don't think the truck has the spring pack so probably have to bag it or add helpers, the gvwr is 11,500 and the camper on my srw reg cab was 11,200.

The 7.3 did sound good:). This will be the second one I've owned, bought a new one in '99 and sold it a couple years ago.

Monkey is off my back:)

[Marcela]

Went out and looked at cab and chassis and did a comparison from outside only. All are 4' from top of frame to cab top, or pretty close. A flatbed is going to raise that bout 8". Kind of a bummer there, the gap between the cab top and overhang is going to make things look out of sorts. Didn't measure the regular bed trucks but the GMC has the large gap also.

Between all 3 looking at the frame configuration and everything behind the cab the Chevrolet appealed the most to me, along with the independent front suspension.

Really, the ford 450/550 frame looked very similar to the 350 frame except frame bracing was riveted on behind the cab ahead of the axle. The dodge 450/550's did the same except they were welded. The chevrolet 3500 had the largest rear sway bar even among the class 4's and 5's and the spring pack looked very similar. The only large difference seemed to be the rear end sizing.

If there was someway to rid the large gap of the overhang and cab top. I wonder if other manufacturers are similar in their camper dimensions.

The bigfoot is 4' from bottom to overhang, and I measured 5' from bottom of overhang to top of a/c fyi.

[GoinThisAway]

Marcela wrote:
You guys with the 1 ton duallys, how do you like the handling?

I am still on the market for a bigger truck then my 1 ton srw and haven't decided whether to go 1 ton or the bigger 5500 series dodge, or wait and see if Chevrolet comes out with their medium duty truck.

I'd rather drive my dually than my daily driver ... with or without the 10.4 on board. I wasn't sure whether I'd like driving it but I hardly notice the extra width. I've even squeezed it into my parking space in the garage at work on occasion. And it carries the 10.4 very well ... just not into the parking garage :B

[TxGearhead]

Yeah a 1ton dually should handle the 10.4 fine. I think the 10.4 is maybe 300? pounds heavier than my 9.4. I'm about 4600# loaded heavy. That's about 1,000# under my payload.
I'm not sure if the Chevy has a rear sway bar, Ram doesn't.

[Marcela]

Nice looking rig. Believe I'd settle for that.

[bigfootgrey]

This is how our 10.4 sits in the 2011 F-350 with just a 3/8” rubber bed mat over sprayed bed liner. It cleared the bed rails by a couple of inches and the cab lights by 3.5”. Ford and GM recently raised the bed rail height and narrowed the tailgate opening requiring a platform to be built to get the clearance needed. Not sure about Dodge but the dually fenders are tight to the fastguns. Glad to hear you still have the Bigfoot!

Bob

[Marcela]

I still have the 10.4

Good to know on the 1 ton drw.

On the GMC there is a large gap between the cab top and overhang, leaves a nice bug strip across the camper. Don't believe the Ford or Dodge have as much gap. Would like to eliminate this but kind of like the GMC platform. Give and take, give and take.

[bigfootgrey]

Marcela wrote:
You guys with the 1 ton duallys, how do you like the handling?

I am still on the market for a bigger truck then my 1 ton srw and haven't decided whether to go 1 ton or the bigger 5500 series dodge, or wait and see if Chevrolet comes out with their medium duty truck.

A dually is the way to go. Very comfortable ride,stable on corners and cross winds. Do you still have your 10.4 ? If so a 350/3500 series would be fine.

Bob

[Sango]

Marcela wrote:
You guys with the 1 ton duallys, how do you like the handling?

I am still on the market for a bigger truck then my 1 ton srw and haven't decided whether to go 1 ton or the bigger 5500 series dodge, or wait and see if Chevrolet comes out with their medium duty truck.

What kind of camper do you have? Love our dually.

[Sango]

bigfootgrey wrote:
Lookin’ Good,Sango! Enjoy the new rig!
Bob & Cathy

Thank you

[TxGearhead]

Marcela wrote:
You guys with the 1 ton duallys, how do you like the handling?

I am still on the market for a bigger truck then my 1 ton srw and haven't decided whether to go 1 ton or the bigger 5500 series dodge, or wait and see if Chevrolet comes out with their medium duty truck.

I love it. Night and day difference. I had a 2016 Ram 3500 SRW 4X4 CC long bed diesel and made maybe 6 or 8 trips with the Bigfoot. I added the Hellwig Bigwig sway bar and it helped.
When I traded for the dually equipped exactly the same it was much better. I took the Bigwig off the SRW and put it on the dually. It actually fit much better. No more white knuckle moments. Much less stress.
This is my first dually. No real problems as a daily driver. As before, I park far out in store lots. Small issue with some drive up ATM's and fast food drive throughs. Just have to remember those big hips are back there.
Difference like Impala vs. Corvette.

[Marcela]

You guys with the 1 ton duallys, how do you like the handling?

I am still on the market for a bigger truck then my 1 ton srw and haven't decided whether to go 1 ton or the bigger 5500 series dodge, or wait and see if Chevrolet comes out with their medium duty truck.

[bigfootgrey]

Lookin’ Good,Sango! Enjoy the new rig!
Bob & Cathy