Dually Real World driving

[rayford118]

So Ive come to the conclusion that for the toy hauler i want, im going to have to upgrade from a F250 up to a dually (either ram or ford). My biggest concern has always been city driving and fuel economy since im on the road alot for work. Questions are: Is it really that much tougher doing city driving and normal everyday use with a dually over a 3/4 ton? Its not like im going from a coupe to a dually. And how much of a drop in MPG should i expect to see moving to a one ton? Right now i average about 18-18.5 in my F250 doing city and hwy driving.

[Cummins12V98]

Bionic Man wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Bionic Man wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Bionic Man wrote:
My truck in sig will be two in September. I have about 23,000 miles on it, almost all of which are towing. I would not want to use it as a DD if I had to drive in the city.

My Cayman makes a much better DD.

I have basically the same truck and I drive into downtown Palm Springs and parallel park with no problem.

Yep, but yours is the magic truck. From your posts, your truck runs faster, gets better MPG, lower trans temps, etc, etc, than mine.

If you are claiming that it's as easy to parallel park on a busy street a DRW as a SRW, or that it is as easy to park in a parking garage, I will have to run your posts more through a filter than I have in the past.

I know there are limits, I just drive mine within those limits and don't worry about what I can't or should not do. I do have to be selective with where I park, but to me it is not a big deal since my "Magic Truck" does so well in other areas to make up for the few things it can't do.

Am I fabricating 9.5mpg average towing? Am I fabricating 172 trans temp with outside air at 90? Am I fabricating 55 is the slowest on I-5 border to border?

You should be the same. I don't exaggerate anything, I have no need to.

My truck runs hotter than 172 solo, gets right at 8 MPG towing, and will run down to 45 towing I70 in Colorado.

And I've never gotten anywhere near 100,000 miles out of a set of tires on the truck, usually lower than 45,000.

I am a regular on TDR and Cummins Forum. My reports are similar to most posters on those sites. I highly recommend you never sell that magic truck of yours.

Whatever, oh you forgot my 98 12V Cummins with 380K.

I have been a member on the TDR since 2001, many on there have the same results with their Ram's.

The grade from Las Vegas to Pahrump this last may going to TDR's May Madness I was down to 42 in second.

[Bionic_Man]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Bionic Man wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Bionic Man wrote:
My truck in sig will be two in September. I have about 23,000 miles on it, almost all of which are towing. I would not want to use it as a DD if I had to drive in the city.

My Cayman makes a much better DD.

I have basically the same truck and I drive into downtown Palm Springs and parallel park with no problem.

Yep, but yours is the magic truck. From your posts, your truck runs faster, gets better MPG, lower trans temps, etc, etc, than mine.

If you are claiming that it's as easy to parallel park on a busy street a DRW as a SRW, or that it is as easy to park in a parking garage, I will have to run your posts more through a filter than I have in the past.

I know there are limits, I just drive mine within those limits and don't worry about what I can't or should not do. I do have to be selective with where I park, but to me it is not a big deal since my "Magic Truck" does so well in other areas to make up for the few things it can't do.

Am I fabricating 9.5mpg average towing? Am I fabricating 172 trans temp with outside air at 90? Am I fabricating 55 is the slowest on I-5 border to border?

You should be the same. I don't exaggerate anything, I have no need to.

My truck runs hotter than 172 solo, gets right at 8 MPG towing, and will run down to 45 towing I70 in Colorado.

And I've never gotten anywhere near 100,000 miles out of a set of tires on the truck, usually lower than 45,000.

I am a regular on TDR and Cummins Forum. My reports are similar to most posters on those sites. I highly recommend you never sell that magic truck of yours.

[Cummins12V98]

Bionic Man wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Bionic Man wrote:
My truck in sig will be two in September. I have about 23,000 miles on it, almost all of which are towing. I would not want to use it as a DD if I had to drive in the city.

My Cayman makes a much better DD.

I have basically the same truck and I drive into downtown Palm Springs and parallel park with no problem.

Yep, but yours is the magic truck. From your posts, your truck runs faster, gets better MPG, lower trans temps, etc, etc, than mine.

If you are claiming that it's as easy to parallel park on a busy street a DRW as a SRW, or that it is as easy to park in a parking garage, I will have to run your posts more through a filter than I have in the past.

I know there are limits, I just drive mine within those limits and don't worry about what I can't or should not do. I do have to be selective with where I park, but to me it is not a big deal since my "Magic Truck" does so well in other areas to make up for the few things it can't do.

Am I fabricating 9.5mpg average towing? Am I fabricating 172 trans temp with outside air at 90? Am I fabricating 55 is the slowest on I-5 border to border?

You should be the same. I don't exaggerate anything, I have no need to.

[Bionic_Man]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Bionic Man wrote:
My truck in sig will be two in September. I have about 23,000 miles on it, almost all of which are towing. I would not want to use it as a DD if I had to drive in the city.

My Cayman makes a much better DD.

I have basically the same truck and I drive into downtown Palm Springs and parallel park with no problem.

Yep, but yours is the magic truck. From your posts, your truck runs faster, gets better MPG, lower trans temps, etc, etc, than mine.

If you are claiming that it's as easy to parallel park on a busy street a DRW as a SRW, or that it is as easy to park in a parking garage, I will have to run your posts more through a filter than I have in the past.

[45Ricochet]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Fire19 wrote:
Having driven a Ford 350 dually in upper Michigan durring the snow is that the duallys are always fighting to find the track in the snow. I make sure I have weight in the rear and that helps quite a bit.

Who the He!! drives in the snow??????

Me goes to where it's warm year round!

I do and he's correct, they don't track the same unless you single em out. You can have the heat, we're dying when it hits 90F but keep the house a pleasant 63-70F year round. Ahhhh the great Pacific Northwest :B

[Cummins12V98]

Bionic Man wrote:
My truck in sig will be two in September. I have about 23,000 miles on it, almost all of which are towing. I would not want to use it as a DD if I had to drive in the city.

My Cayman makes a much better DD.

I have basically the same truck and I drive into downtown Palm Springs and parallel park with no problem.

[Cummins12V98]

transamz9 wrote:

jmtandem wrote:

My father has a 2005 Dodge SRW 3500 with the low HP engine. He gets 24 empty. If you need duals I would choose the Ram over the Ford because with Ram I believe you can choose duals and still get a 3:42 rear axle so I wouldn't expect the fuel economy to drop as much. My srw Ford is not great on fuel and the 3:73 gears and smaller tires of the dually would likely make it terrible.

I know a lot of folks tow fifth wheels with pin weights of 2500 or more pounds with 250/2500 trucks; if they tried out the dually I am sure the experience would be even more stable.

I've got both SRW and DRW and my SRW is just as stable towing the same load. The DRW can just handle my tongue weight.

Are you saying you can tow the rig in my sig with your srw as well as with your drw?

[Cummins12V98]

Fire19 wrote:
Having driven a Ford 350 dually in upper Michigan durring the snow is that the duallys are always fighting to find the track in the snow. I make sure I have weight in the rear and that helps quite a bit.

Who the He!! drives in the snow??????

Me goes to where it's warm year round!

[Cummins12V98]

Trailering Texans wrote:
OH please don't . I'm so sick of these folks in a dually who don't know how to drive or park them. They are over the line alot and can never pull into a parking spot without taking up half the next one. Please do the math to figure out if you really need to make that purchase - plus think about the cost of replacing tires. I know some folks are great at driving these - but many are clueless.

Truck has nothing to do with it, some people are just clueless!

[Bionic_Man]

My truck in sig will be two in September. I have about 23,000 miles on it, almost all of which are towing. I would not want to use it as a DD if I had to drive in the city.

My Cayman makes a much better DD.

[coolbreeze01]

My work dually had a 9' UB and was no problem at drive thru's 😉

[mike_mck]

transamz9 wrote:

jmtandem wrote:

My father has a 2005 Dodge SRW 3500 with the low HP engine. He gets 24 empty. If you need duals I would choose the Ram over the Ford because with Ram I believe you can choose duals and still get a 3:42 rear axle so I wouldn't expect the fuel economy to drop as much. My srw Ford is not great on fuel and the 3:73 gears and smaller tires of the dually would likely make it terrible.

I know a lot of folks tow fifth wheels with pin weights of 2500 or more pounds with 250/2500 trucks; if they tried out the dually I am sure the experience would be even more stable.

I've got both SRW and DRW and my SRW is just as stable towing the same load. The DRW can just handle my tongue weight.

Your SRW will be just as stable while handling the same load as long as it does not exceed the SRW load maximum. It also sounds like your SRW will not handle the tongue weight you need so the dually is required.
So are you telling me the SRW is just as stable overloaded as the DRW within its limits?

[mike_mck]

Trailering Texans wrote:
OH please don't . I'm so sick of these folks in a dually who don't know how to drive or park them. They are over the line alot and can never pull into a parking spot without taking up half the next one. Please do the math to figure out if you really need to make that purchase - plus think about the cost of replacing tires. I know some folks are great at driving these - but many are clueless.

So he should consider your feelings and how others drive on whether to buy a dually or not?

And yes I drive a F550 CC dually. Always use 1 and 1/10 of the parking space:W and burn a big hole in the Ozone. Let the prius drivers even out the parking space and Ozone thing. After all isn't that why they exist:B

[transamz9]

jmtandem wrote:

My father has a 2005 Dodge SRW 3500 with the low HP engine. He gets 24 empty. If you need duals I would choose the Ram over the Ford because with Ram I believe you can choose duals and still get a 3:42 rear axle so I wouldn't expect the fuel economy to drop as much. My srw Ford is not great on fuel and the 3:73 gears and smaller tires of the dually would likely make it terrible.

I know a lot of folks tow fifth wheels with pin weights of 2500 or more pounds with 250/2500 trucks; if they tried out the dually I am sure the experience would be even more stable.

I've got both SRW and DRW and my SRW is just as stable towing the same load. The DRW can just handle my tongue weight.