Truck contemplations....

[deltabravo]

I have two trucks. I am getting tired of an excess fleet of vehicles - one as a daily driver and the truck camper hauler.

I've contemplated going to an SRW truck for camper hauling duties.
The 2011+ GM trucks have higher GVWRs than 2010 and prior.

Case in point:
2015s I've look at: SRW 3500HD = 11,600. DRW = 13,025.

My 09 3500HD DRW = 11,200.

A camper dealer I talked to said they have never put an AF811 on a DRW. They actually thought it was odd that I was hauling mine on a dually.

I also suffer from something called "SOS" (Shiny Object Syndrome) and have gotten sucked in when looking at shiny new trucks. The new ones have lots of whiz-bang features. The Exhaust brake would be awesome.

Even though the GVWRs of new trucks 3500 SRWs surpass that of my dually, I have this gut feeling I will kick myself down the road if I went to an SRW.

I almost always tow a trailer when I have the camper on the truck.

I can't see myself getting a huge camper. If I went with a different camper, it would be an 865 AF (no slideout on those, but they are slightly longer than an 811)

Your thoughts? SRW or DRW?

[arto_wa]

Grit dog wrote:
I haven't been around new GM 3500 srw trucks, but can say the new Ram 3500 srw leaf spring trucks are stout in rear suspension. Hooked a large tag trailer to a new gen F350 dually and it bottomed it out. Hooked to the ram, it squatted about 50%.

That's a ram tough truck eh!
Sounds like it would take about two F350's to do the same job as one of those.

[805gregg]

I was overweight before I even loaded the camper with gear. This is on my way home from buying the camper back in 2009.



In the photo above, I had about 2/3 a tank of water, 2 full propane tanks and two batteries.

The dealer I bought my camper from is not the same dealer that recently told me it was odd I was hauling it on a dually

Wow those AF are heavy my much larger Lance 1071 is 700 lbs. lighter fully loaded

[deltabravo]

For the last few weeks I've been going gang busters transporting RVs in my 06.
This week I delivered 6 and have #7 in my driveway ready to finish the short trip to a local dealer on Tuesday.

I was up and down I-84 along the Columbia River multiple times between this week and last week. (6 total one way trips I think). Sometimes it was windy, other times not.
It was a real eye opener dealing with a tail wind that hits from different angles as the road goes around curves and changes direction slightly.
This scenario convinced me to stick with a Dually!

[jimh406]

Kayteg1 wrote:
It is hard to understand the difference in hauling between DRW and SRW unless you drive both.

As noted on the thread, many of us have or have had both. I didn't see the night/day difference that some people have noted, but maybe that's because I did the same modifications on both the DRW and SRW.

Or maybe, I didn't try to make the SRW carry as much as the DRW.

[Bedlam]

When you "singled" out the rear, you were probably over tire and rim limits. What got you home was that the front tires were fairly new but I would not doubt you caused some damage to those carcasses as well.

[Kayteg1]

It is hard to understand the difference in hauling between DRW and SRW unless you drive both.
I've been having duallies for years since I haul heavy equipment and stuff.
Once I was pulling heavy trailer on the freeway when my aging tire on the rear blow. Being that Friday night and 100 miles to home, I gave it try to drive on single rear on one side, but that blew few miles later as well.
In desperation - having new tires on front, I put them single on the rear where I had heavy load. and put aging tires on front.
That instantly made for white knuckles driving even I drove 45 mph.
Made the 100 miles home, but took me almost 3 hr.

[brholt]

Besides more tires, more load capacity, bigger axles, and more stability the DRW's give you (at least in Ford) bigger brakes. That should count for something too.

[jefe_4x4]

'Tis a quandry. If you can afford what you want to do, do it. The basic law of TC's is
always buy more truck that you think you will need. I was trying to remember anyone on here who said, "I have just too much truck for a TC." Well, maybe Less Stuff would be the exception; as he makes it a point to travel with a cap on a striped down one series.
The biggest difference ( and weakest link) between a SRW and a DRW truck GVW is the combined capacity of the tires. Six tires have more load carrying capacity than four. However, to find a way around that you could go with 4100+ pound, G- rated tires, on a SRW, or if you never get off-road, 19.5's with narrow sidewalls. With the stiff sidewalls, and stiff carcass you get less deflection from a side wind.
Further, you can keep going up the truck food chain and consider a 4500 or 5500 for all purpose use. The main difference here is a stouter frame, bigger brakes, stronger axles with lower gears. The downsides are higher registration cost and lower mpg.
I cannot answer to the SOS (chuckle) as I am afflicted with DAPOD (drive any piece of dung) and consequently my truck and TC will be worthless when I'm done with them.
Good luck in your quest for TC/TOW/DD equilibrium. Your job is to find out if that even exists in one package.
jefe

[blueglide]

Crossing the Mackinac bridge a few days ago in high winds made me very glad I had a dually with my TC in the back. Never felt it move and it wasn't a white knuckle moment.

[Bedlam]

Sell both your trucks and the TC and step up to mega TC and truck. We're half way there (I now have the truck) and have a list of TC's we like once we can save up for the camper upgrade. Once you get into the large double and triple slide TC's, you start to forget that you are in a truck camper and the comfort goes way up when you have a choice of seating locations and even a bath tub.

[deltabravo]

ooops, duplicate post. please delete

[deltabravo]

Then there's this thread too.

Shiny Object Syndrome has hit me hard the last few weeks.

[deltabravo]

I've even gone as far as reconsidering a toy hauler, to eliminate the RV and Trailer aspect of my adventures, combining both into "one unit" and moving to an SRW.

But, there's too many other things that I use the trailer for, so I think a truck/camper/trailer combo is still my best option when I want to camp with my motorized toys.

[Bedlam]

I made my paid off SRW work well hauling an AF811 while towing a 20' enclosed trailer. However, I don't think I would buy a SRW knowing how many modifications I needed to make the ride safe. Unless you are constrained for space when using the truck without the camper or have homeowner rules that prevent you from keeping the truck at the house, a DRW will do the same job with less modifications. Any cost saving of buying a SRW and modifying it to handle the weight properly with wheel and suspension upgrades will end up costing you as much or more than a DRW. The SRW will save you in insurance and fuel costs but some items will wear faster than in the DRW counterpart which may eliminate those savings.