I am considering a dually to replace my current F250. I recently bought a 4000lb arctic fox slide in camper to replace my much lighter older camper. I had to add airbags to my F250 and it carries the big camper ok but I am over the legal rear axle weight and I do have to pay attention while driving or it can get "twitchy" at highway speeds. I drive a company truck full time so the truck will only see about 4000 miles a year as my camping and hunting rig. What pros and cons can I expect?

 

The dually will definitely be more stable and handle the load better. Fuel mileage will drop a little and getting into tight spots will be a pain(atm, garage, etc).

 

The con is daily driving due to width/lenth. It was the only thing that I didn't care for. We had a lance on ours and it was so sweet for the camper. The truck handled the camper so well, I had none of that swaying/unstable feeling. Big campers need a dually IMO. I have a friend w/a 2015 F350 srw that gets by w/a arctic fox that is 3500 dry. He would rather have the dually but drives his truck daily for work. You won't regret a dually for that camper, plus its not your daily driver. Here's a pic of what I did with direct bolt on 19.5's.

 

I towed a very large slide in camper for years with my dually. Never appreciated the dually until I sold it and bought a single rear wheel truck. Long story short, I sold my camper for a smaller one because it sucked bad hauling it around compared to the dually! Its hard to park either of the trucks, so the only draw back I ever saw was when I had to buy tires! If its a big heavy camper, no questions about it, you want a dually!

 

With a backup camera on my dually ('04 Sierra 3500 Cab&Chassis Flatbed), I can park better than I can with my F150 extended cab longbox. Sure I can't get in the narrow spots, but I can get nice and close without touching lightposts, signs, vehicles.

Best investment I've made for the truck.

 

If you need it for a big slide in or 5th wheel, and it sounds like you do with a 4K camper, then you should go for it. Just be aware of its limitations that the others have posted. I didn't buy one simply because it wouldn't fit my garage space - and really haven't felt I needed one with my truck and long/fairly heavy trailer combo.

Why not first give your SRW and camper a test run first before spending lots of money - it may work just fine.

 

-tire rotation is a challenge
-it is rare that you will not need "the speacial tool" to remove the inner wheels
-the weight class may change your inspection requirements...especially with emmissions
-becareful about winding up with a deisel, went from 08 V10 to 2010 6.4L and I am starting to wonder what i was thinking....like the truck...hate the issues around ford deisel's right now.
-make sure the truck as antisway bars in front and back...not all do
-a 4.X rear end would be a plus
-there are differences with 99-04 and 05-pres dually rim stud spacing....so watch out for that.
-a dually on 17's rides very well, 18's seem a little bouncy to me
-I think the brake rotors got bigger in 08...check into that
-the wider truck is a little more difficult to drive in metro areas and narrow bridges....folks in other lanes seem leary of trying to pass me.
-mud flaps in the front a must or your going to be spray debris all over your rear fenders

 

I loved my Dually when I had it, I miss it a lot.
Towing is so much nicer (I imagine the same would be true for a camper).
I got used to driving it in town very quickly.

 

Another thought would that no single wheel truck is rated to hold that much weight. You have to have the dually to keep it legal. Over weight tickets are $$$$$$$

 

What are the specs on those wheels and tires? (Make/size)

Is there a lift on that truck?

I definitely want to look into 19.5" wheels as I'm burning through tires way to fast. Plus I like the look better.


To the OP I love knowing the fact that my dually can handle the loads I put on it much better than a SRW could or should. Stable as can be. I don't own a slide in camper but tow a 14k dump and often load my truck bed in addition. The F250 I had would have bulging tires, severe squat, and be very squirrelly.

 

The truck I am looking at is a spittin image of this one right down to color. Its on an 8" BDS lift and is a full load lariat. The 6L only has 85,000 miles and recently was gone through with all the updates. Lots of other extras too. Sounds like I might need it!

 

I owned it back around 2008. I believe it was a 4" front spring lift with a add a leaf in rear plus slightly taller block. The wheels were eagle direct bolt on 19.5" on 8x170 lug pattern. The tires were kumho appx. 34.5x10.5 16ply. It looks like the size I had is no longer on their website, but here is the link of the tire that they were:
937 - Kumho Tire USA, Inc.

 

An 8" lift is going to **** away any benefit of a dually. I hope you're considering putting it back to stock if you got that route.


That said I love my dually. I don't "need" it for my trailer, but my trailer rides level with plenty of bed rail clearance I wouldn't have with a SRW. I'll drive it anywhere, the length is more of a challenge than the width in reality. Mine is not a DD, but I wouldn't hesitate to use it as one. 6 17" tires VS 4 20's comes out to pretty much a wash stock for stock.

 

The 8" lift is a bit much but I would leave it in. Its also rolling on 38s but I would swap them for e rated 35s. My trucks are always lifted and I realize its not the best for a camper rig but its what I do. My current camper truck has a 6" suspension and it really isn't too bad with that big heavy camper. My truck use is 90% off road, even with the camper. It will be a hunting/camping rig with a bit of highway between off road locations.

 

I love the "EarthRoamer" look, it's kind of what I had in mind. You can adjust your truck to handle the camper when lifted. I chose the dually w/19.5's as part of that adjustment. It really handled awesome. The unloaded ride did suffer with the tires though....