New truck question - SRW or DRW?

[Mick9064]

The new Ford 2005 F350 4 x 4 Super cab SRW with 18" wheels has a payload of 4,300 lbs. This would put me just under the max with my Bigfoot 10.6. I am 500 lbs over with my present 2001 SRW.

I drive the truck 4 weeks a year with the camper on. My question is the DRW that much more of a pain for every day city driving to work?

I welcome some thoughts. Thanks.

[Mick9064]

The new Ford 2005 F350 4 x 4 Super cab SRW with 18" wheels has a payload of 4,300 lbs. This would put me just under the max with my Bigfoot 10.6. I am 500 lbs over with my present 2001 SRW.

I drive the truck 4 weeks a year with the camper on. My question is the DRW that much more of a pain for every day city driving to work?

I welcome some thoughts. Thanks.

[CyberVet65]

I never owned a dually before this truck. It does require a little more care when parking. But I usually back in to the spot and this allows it to fit. Width? Not a problem. It took me about a week to get used to the "hips" sticking out.
But what a difference when towing or toting a camper. IT provides superior stabilty for these big units that we haul around. With the duals you eliminate much of the sway on some of the mountianous roads that we travel.
There will be folks who swear by their SRW trucks. But I suspect they have never driven or hauled with a dually.
I have towed and hauled with a SRW and I will never do so now that I have a dually.
Chet

[clecogirl]

My son had a one ton Ford single rear wheels and a 10.5 camper. He had a tread seperation and blow out on the rear and came close to killing his entire family. Go with the duals!

Dewdo in the other Washington

[TXiceman]

Quiet frankly I find the long wheelbase of the crew cab and long bed to be more of a problem in daily driving than the width of the hinney. It takes a big area to turn this sucker. You do learn tomake a two point turn into a parking place and same getting out, or park out at the edge and hike in. My DR. says I need the exercise anyway. The wife drives it as well and is not reluctant to take it shopping. That way she can haul way more than she can afford to buy.

She came in once with a 2800# pallet of rocks setting just inside the tailgate and from there forward filled over the bed rails with bags of mulch. She said it rode and drove better than normal.

Ken

[nodine]

I don't have a TC yet but add me to the dually fan club. I have been driving one now for 5 years and just ordered the new F-350 CC Longbed 4x4 dually. Like everyone said, you get so used to it that you forget about it. When it comes to towing there is no substitute for the stabiltiy of dual rear wheels. From what the Lance dealer near me says I assume that also is true with truck campers.

Bob

[Don and Sarah]

The widest part of the truck is the mirrors. The dually isn't any wider than the mirrors on a SRW truck. The long wheel base of the trucks are the hardest part to get use to not the width. I vote for the dually.

[CD]

Mick9064
Is the 4300 lbs. payload an actual figure or from the Ford brochure? On my Dodge the printed # was something like 5000 lbs. but the real world # is more like 3500. When you add more than a 150 lb. driver, 4X4 etc. the payload shrinks. Have your dealer weigh one like you want and add passenger weight etc. and see where you are at. I also agree with the above posts.

[CyberVet65]

Oh, boy. Here we go.
GVWR= this is the max that the vehicle can weigh with mulch or a camper on board. This is just the truck and the stuff in the bed and cab. My 2000 F350 dually is rated for 11,200 pounds. My truck with a load of fuel and me and spouse tip the scales at 7850 pounds! This means that I can only haul 3350 in the bed of the truck and be legal. My Lance 1130 weighs that much empty! So I am usually overweight.
GCVWR= This is the total that the truck and whatever you are towing can max out at. Ford says that is 20,000 pounds. But over the years they have raised the weight.
Hope this helps.
Chet

[LarryFR]

Mick,

I vote with the dually guys. If you are that close to the capacity of the truck you will most certainly have degradation of handling and braking with the camper up.

The extra width and lateral stability of the dually rear end will make a big difference.

I think that the hassle of arranging your jacks so that you can back the dually under the camper is a bigger deal than driving it empty.

Of course, the differential + tires weighs a lot more so the rear end rides much stiffer when empty.

Larry

[Ron in Colorado]

If carrying a large slide-in or towing a big fifth-wheel are the uses, then a DRW truck is what is required. One's family and the safety of others is a prime consideration, not the truck fitting the drive-in bank lane.

Most campers over 10 ft. will weigh around 2800 to 3500 lbs. dry without special accessories. Ready to go (with all your stuff), they will come in about 4000 to 5000 lbs. An F-350 DRW crew cab 4X4 diesel will weigh about 7700 lbs. Add the 4000 you have 11,700 lbs., which is a little over the GVWR of 11,500 lbs. A single rear wheel CC diesel will have a GVWR of 9700 and a curb weight of about 7200 lbs. Add 4000 lbs. and the overload is 1500 lbs. Most trucks with slide-ins are overloaded but most seem to survive, depending on how much the overload is. The question is do you want to be a beta tester to see how much is too much.
The rear axle of a SRW 2002 SD is rated at 6830 lbs. and the Dana 80 in the DRW is 9750 lbs. My rear weighs 7080 lbs. (ready for travel), which would be an overload on a SRW. Tire loading is another problem with SRW trucks.

[Sixgunz]

I had a 1997 F350 SRW & an Alpenlite 11' Cabover (which I thought was HEAVY). For times when I wasn't hauling the cabover, which was most of the time, there is no way I would drive a dually (which I have driven in the past) However, when that cabover was on, I'd have given anything for those dual rear wheels. I suppose you need to ask yourself if driving a dually day and day out for four weeks a year of hauling is worth it. It's a tough question...however I don't think there's any arguing that a dually isn't the safest way to carry a cabover.

FWIW, the '05 Ford F250 SRW and F350 SRW have identical bumper pull and 5th Wheel hauling capacities. The only difference between the two is payload. DRW's is a different issue.

[nodine]

Ron in Colorado,

Very good post. My only comment is that the 2005 F-350 comes in at around 13,000 GVWR. If he orders a new 2005 Ford he can pick up about 1800 lbs on cargo carrying capacity over pre 2005 Fords. I am sure that Chevy and Dodge will follow with higher payload capacities to compete.

Bob

[Mick9064]

Thanks for all the imput. This is a tough one for me. The new Fords beefed up their payloads. Link attached http://www.fordf150.net/superduty/index.php
Thanks!
Mick