New truck

[Faststreak]

I currently own a 2015 GMC 3500 single rear wheel. I carry a Hosts Cascade. I have done some significant mods to the truck, blistien shocks, heavy duty Timbrens, helwig sway bar, lower stable loads and 19:5 wheels. My question if I trade for a dually maybe a 2017, will I need any mods to carry the cascade?Those that want to know the Cascade is 4100 pounds dry. Those that carry a heavy camper, How much will a dually affect the mileage over the SRW? Thanks

[monkey44]

My thoughts after looking at both Ford (minimally) and GM (I'm a GM guy) the dealers seem to order work trucks with nothing in them, to sell at low price, and then high-end with everything possible added to get the highest prices from the guys with some money to spare. Not a lot in the middle -

Now, most of the high fancy stuff I could care less, but a high-end fancy everything turns me off. I want a truck that hauls what I need it to haul, and don't need or want a lot of the upgrades. So, we always spend lots of time just trying to find one equipped as we like it - without ordering one, which is sometimes less and sometimes more, depending on deals and incentives ...

[Kayteg1]

When I was shopping for new truck over a year ago, I search all inventory on West Coast.
Was focus on Ford but would not mind Dodge in right combo.
But all the trucks on dealers lot were crew cabs, 4WD with sunroofs, while they lack the options I like like lower differential, cabin heater or 360 cameras.
So wanting or not, I had to build the truck on Ford site and got good discount from CA dealer.
Bottom line, my dream truck come like $15 k lower than those deals from the lots.

[Faststreak]

My dealer has two 3500 gmc dually on the lot one was a work truck. The other was top of the line with many options I would not use hence pricey, dealer trying to talk me into ordering one. For fun I stop by the Dodge Place to look at Rams, maybe someone one this can sell on the merits of a 3500 Ram. I don’t understand the deal my dealer (which sells a lot of trucks) has two 2018. The Ram dealer has four left over 3500 2017 and two are top of the line trim. They also had 2018s. The salesman says that dually are in as much demand? I don’t think so. Even Other GMC dealers don’t have many 2018 and no 2017. Am I looking at this wrong? Probably a deal could be had on a left over. Always liked my GMC. Although the DEF tank just went out and it was replaced under warranty. Yea for emission add ons. Eddie

[Kayteg1]

Reddog1 wrote:

Silly you. :B Why do we buy most of the things we have? Simple answer is because we want them.

You should add "as long as we can afford them".
If not for that, this is what I'd drive


Click For Full-Size Image.

[Reddog1]

jimh425 wrote:
... I can’t think of any reason why you’d buy a SRW for a DRW job or vice versa.

Silly you. :B Why do we buy most of the things we have? Simple answer is because we want them. Fact is, all we really need is a shelter and food. Everything else we have is really not needed. We can always think of a reason to have more.

I used my SRW '96 2x4 2500 Dodge to haul my 4000 lb TC or about 13 years and 200,000 miles. The truck still does the job and runs great. I replaced it with the '04 because I like it's creature comforts, and its color. There are other reasons, but the '96 did the same job.

Wayne

[Reddog1]

I get about 2 mpg less with my '04 Dodge 4x4 DRW than my '96 Dodge 2x4 SRW. The '04 weighs 1000 lbs more than the '96.

My TC is 4000 lbs. My '04 DRW had upper stable loads on it installed by the previous owner. The '04 sits level with the 4000 lb TC. I was comfortable without a rear sway bar, but the wife was not. I installed a rear sway bar. I also installed airbags , but didn'nt need them and do not use them. I use OEM size tires. I also installed a 17000 lb Curt hitch.

I'm not concerned with the door decal weights, but I am below them if anyone is interested.

[Kayteg1]

jimh425 wrote:


It’s kind of mute point though. I can’t think of any reason why you’d buy a SRW for a DRW job or vice versa.

I was buying several DRW to do SRW job for only rare occasion when I needed DRW capacity.
That with negligible mpg difference made lot of sense to me as I could do jobs, that might be otherwise impossible to carry.

[Grit_dog]

Carrying the camper I wouldn’t expect much difference in mileage srw to drw. Several other factors in play with the camper, namely wind resistance.
Truck wise you’ll be changing engine models, more power. But idk how the mileage is on L5P Duramaxes vs LMLs.

[Grit_dog]

donn0128 wrote:
Newer dually should do fine as is. Mileage? I would not expect any difference as long as everything else is equal. My 4.10 rear end Ram Cummins dually does a consistant 10.5-11.5 pulling my 13,500 pound fiver. I have a pin weight right at 3500 pounds and it hardly sags.

Which has virtually nothing in common with the OPs setup.
And coming from one of rvnets most prolific weight cops “fine as is”?
Op , camper will ride on the truck ok without mods, but you’re talking around 5000lbs.
You’ll very likely prefer some help from a sway bar and some sort of load carrying mod. Bags, Timbrens, etc. can decide once you see how she drives.

[jimh406]

Kayteg1 wrote:
It is not the footprint that has big effect on mpg.
It is the tire flexing that consumes the biggest energy till higher speeds add wind drag.
With SRW you will have bigger sag, while DRW (if you don't deflate) will ride with less resistance.

Deflection depends on how loaded each tire is. 19.5s don’t deflect very much at 100 lbs on a SRW. 4 of anything is more resistance both from rolling, movement, and wind resistance than 2.

It’s kind of mute point though. I can’t think of any reason why you’d buy a SRW for a DRW job or vice versa.

[Kayteg1]

It is not the footprint that has big effect on mpg.
It is the tire flexing that consumes the biggest energy till higher speeds add wind drag.
With SRW you will have bigger sag, while DRW (if you don't deflate) will ride with less resistance.

[Bedlam]

More wheels on the ground and wider footprint will have more drag with a DRW than a SRW on the highway. If you drive the DRW in the city or towns, you will feel more scrub on the rear wheels when making turns which will also hurt your city mileage. I think most of the mileage is affected by the wind drag of the camper, so your speed will affect your mileage more than how many tires are touching the ground.

I was comfortable with 8000 lbs on the rear of my F250 that wore 19.5's, but I had the OEM stabilizer bar, upper overload springs, upper and lower StableLoads, Firestone airbags and Rancho RS9000XL shocks to carry that weight and keep it under control. I had sufficient margin on the axle, rims and tires that I did not worry about the ratings and the upgrades gave me the anti sway and squat I needed to make 30K miles in trips.

I went to a much larger truck in anticipation of buying our Mammoth. The new truck did not need any modifications to carry the weight and was sprung a little heavy for the Arctic Fox. I actually had a more comfortable loaded ride in the F250 than the 5500. I know guys that drive the 3500 DRW typically add a stabilizer bar and something to address sag when carrying a Mammoth, but your Cascade is about 600 lbs lighter than my Host and may not need anything if you go to a 3500 DRW. Ultimately it is what you are comfortable driving and you need to choose the setup that will allow you to enjoy travel without having to think about the truck.

[Kayteg1]

My 2006 and 2017 F350 duallies make 16 mpg empty. Not sure about number on newer one as I drive it empty only to lumber yard short trips, but couple of times driving on those 35 mph highways I have seem computer displaying 25 mpg.
Hard to compare unless you have 2 truck with identical engines/differentials and only SRW to DRW difference, but I don't think the extra wheels lower mpg in % that you can easy measure. More likely wider body can make bigger effect, but with camper that doesn't matter at all.
The lower mpg in my signature is due to the fact that I made several trips to California with 7000lb cargo trailer.
Heading from Vegas toward San Francisco I usually had strong desert winds, that cost me 9 mpg. Coming back with 6-7k of cargo I averaged 12 mpg.

[Gary3]

My 2007 3500 drw ram didn't have a rear sway bar did some work on the springs and added rancho shocks still sagged but never had a problem with the ride or much sway. Ordered the new truck with the rear air bags and hoping that levels the load like they say it will.