Question about types of trucks

**JunkyBusiness** · 06-11-2011, 07:25 PM

I was wondering if anyone could tell me why I would want to use a dually compared to just using a regular truck.

Say both engines are the same but one is a dually and the other is not.

Thanks!

**KzScrapper** · 06-11-2011, 07:41 PM

Dually should be able to handle more of a load since it's is distributed over 4 tires instead of 2. Never really cared for the fat a$$ you have behind you when driving tho. Had a Chevy 1 ton single axle that handled many a big load without a problem.

**MilitiaMetals** · 06-11-2011, 07:42 PM

Dually can haul more payload without wrecking the truck, If you want to pull a big az trailer get one, like a 20 foot flat deck, but if you have a smaller trailer say, 12 footer, just get a 3/4 ton

**Mick** · 06-11-2011, 08:19 PM

I've had both - one ton Chevy Siverado dually with 6.5 turbo diesel and 3/4 ton Chevy Silverado 6.0 (gas). MUCH prefer the 3/4 ton. Using a dual-axle trailer, I can even more of a load. Less maintenance and equipment costs (ie: 4 new tires vs 6), fuel mileage under load is a little less with gas but the cost is less to start with. I was plowing snow when I got the 3/4 ton and expected it wouldn't push as big a load but I was surprised. Granted, the 3/4 ton was brand new when I got it (the one ton was five years old).

**easyrecycle** · 06-11-2011, 10:33 PM

Take the dually.

You CAN pop the 2ed wheel off and run it as a 4wheel truck an when you have a large load just pop on the two other tires and go.

If you do that tho..Make sure you switch the tires around every now and then so they all wear even tho but if you have a air tools an a good air tank..that is nothing but alittle bit of your time to move your tires around for a good even wear on them.

Another + with 6 over 4 tires is over ice, snow and dirt. If you need more grip...the 4tires back there really help dig in and help get that rubber to bite!! Down here having a 4x4 dually even with street tires...can go right up in some good mud pits an get them selfs out just fine even pulling a boat trailer

Just my two cents.

**c4f5** · 06-11-2011, 11:05 PM

The 2 biggest advantages to having duals....

1. Added payload with additional tires.

2. There is never sway or fishtailing in the rear, like there can and will be with single wheel trucks, especially with a bumper pull trailer that is loaded heavy at the front or rear....even a trailer house delivered 350 miles down the interstate. I've had the rear of single wheel trucks whipping pretty good a few times. It's not a good feeling.

I scrap a little of everything but mostly cars and big iron, so I cross the scale @ over 30k# on a regular basis, so I like my duals. If the job is too big for my 6 cyl F150, then it's big enough for the big pickup.......but like others have said, if the jobs you are asking the truck to do are mostly smaller, then a single wheel truck should do fine.

If I lived closer to my pick up & delivery points, I'd probably settle for a smaller trailer and pickup. The down side to a dually....as most of us know, 10 ply tires are not cheap and every time it's in motion, 6 of them are wearing out instead of 4.

**Focker** · 06-12-2011, 12:18 AM

Yeah a dually would be the way to go.I am looking to buy me one here soon i hope.

**IdahoScrapper** · 06-12-2011, 12:49 AM

I miss my dually. Had a gooseneck and when the occasion arose that I needed a GN flatbed I'd rent one for the day. This was a few years ago when I was buying up Dorito's step vans and reselling them. Made okay money until other people caught on.

If you get a dually, I doubt you'll regret it, but they are heavy trucks built to haul a lot.

**MilitiaMetals** · 06-12-2011, 01:29 AM

one thing to remember, they are awesome loaded, but if you get stuck with no load, they're so stiff and rigid its a pain in the arse to get out

**Mick** · 06-12-2011, 05:44 AM

It is illegal to run an ABS-equipped dually without all six wheels here in Maine and very well may be in Texas and other states. Duals are somewhat better on ice but worse in snow due to snow packing between the duals. It'll actually "ride up" on the snow rather than dig in like a single wheel axle. (How much ice & snow do you get in Texas?)

**easyrecycle** · 06-12-2011, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by Mick

It is illegal to run an ABS-equipped dually without all six wheels here in Maine and very well may be in Texas and other states. Duals are somewhat better on ice but worse in snow due to snow packing between the duals. It'll actually "ride up" on the snow rather than dig in like a single wheel axle. (How much ice & snow do you get in Texas?)

Not very much but when it did snow here the dually seemed to help put more rubber down...maybe it was just in my head...

Here in Texas it may or may not be illegal to run like that or not but when I pop the dually wheels off it looks like I am running on 4wheel truck with long studs. I just have stud bots made to "cover" them up to keep them nice an clean. I will take a photo of that sooner or later an show you what I am talkin about.

**Mick** · 06-12-2011, 12:51 PM

I think I know what you're talking about as I'd done the same for plowing snow which I did commercially for 12 years. Taking the outer duals off let me get a better "bite" and, especially with studded Discoverer M&S tires all around and a full 2-yard sander, I could push ALOT of snow. Then a State Trooper saw me at our local restaurant one day and told me what I'd done was illegal. Fortunately, he told me to leave it parked till he left so he wouldn't see it on the road and the next time he saw it, there better be two wheels on each side of the rear axle. With commercial plates on it, I wasn't about to argue.

Another thing anybody who does this needs to be aware of is that taking those outer wheels off drastically narrows the wheel track and makes your load much less stable due to that narrowing. In other words - slow down with loads, especially on turns and curves.

**Mechanic688** · 06-12-2011, 01:16 PM

What the camper toters used to do was pull the duals and put an empty wheel on the inside then the full wheel and tire; that way you have your wider track(it looks normal from the side) but still only carrying 1 tire per side. Just rotate every so many thousand miles to keep the wear even(and you have 2 extra's to rotate with). If they picked up a specially heavy camper trailer they could just add the two extra tires/wheels back on to take up the extra load. If I was hauling heavy loads with or without a bigger trailer I would opt for the dually; but if everything is lighter kinda like now for us, I'd stick with a half or 3/4 ton.
I had a 1 ton single wheel and that thing was the roughest riding truck I ever had, unless you had a load on.

One time coming back from out east thru Penn. the 1 ton actually shook one of the running boards right off the truck. I had to stop and walk back and pick it up.