All were diesel. The dually rode better than the short bed with the plow package. Get it if you need it, but certainly skip it if you don't. You can get a leveling kit if that's important to you without degrading the ride.

 

Mine ride fine

 

I test drove another F350 DRW Platinum tonight to see if the relatively rough ride of the dually that I test drove a couple of weeks ago (compared to the long bed SRW) was due to a snow-plow package like the short-bed SRW I test drove. (The dealer sold the dually before I could check the window sticker online.)

The truck was a 2016 F350 with the 4.30 axle, 55 PSI in the tires - no snow plow or camper package. It was about a rough as the other one I drove. The dually and short bed (with the snow plow package) rode about the same. Both were much rougher than the cadilac-like ride of the F350 long-bed.

I did this test to see if I should consider a F350 dually, or F450, if the SRW does indeed keep the 11,500 GVWR for 2017. If the 2017 short, long, and dually trucks have a similar ride characteristics, I'll stick to the SRW long bed.

I also repeated the parking test, parking the dually in a single-wide spot between 2 other trucks. If the SRW short bed scored a "10" parking, the long bed SRW would be an "8" (maybe a "9") and the dually would be a "2." Even with the wide-track's tight turning radius, the rear fenders make it harder to see and much tighter to squeeze into a spot and pull out of the spot.

 

Well yeah!

 

I have a 2016 wide track F350 drw. The jiggles are from the stiff springs. I did 2 things, Bilstein shocks, which made a ginormous difference and 4 80lb sand bags. Runs much better empty. Still a heavy duty dually, but much better. I also pu steel belted sidewall tires on it. This makes it handle a 20k lb trailer like a dream. Even in heavy winds.

 

I would never own a dually without wide track. I'm annoyed Ford won't offer a 350 with it in 17. I'll never tow over 13ton so I don't need a 450.

 

I understand that is obvious for people who have owned dually trucks; hopefully my observations are helpful for those who haven't.


Before trying this test, I thought that the wide track axle might make the dually parking experience similar to a regular front axle long bed SRW - clearly, this is not the case, not even close.


It is also worth noting that I found that driving in traffic with sharp turns, the dually fenders block much of the view from your outside rear view mirrors - in particular, cars behind you on a turn. I'm sure I'd get used to it if I end up with one, but it was a bit unsettling.

 

I haven't owned one either, but I've driven them. Last one was a 2005 F-350 Crew Cab Lariat 4x4 V10 dually. Nice truck. I think you just get used to them. The Blind Spot system probably will be a nice help on the new trucks if you order it. Its rare I back my SRW 350 between two cars to park now; I just drive further away and look for a more open spot to park.

Yeah, the new trucks don't offer the wide track (unless 450) which is a little bit of a drag, but as long as you're not driving in tight areas its no big deal.

 

I'm clearly in the minority, but my test drive thoughts with two F-450 were that it rides not much stiffer than my 2015 Ram 2500 with 60Psi/ 72 psi rear. I'd say for me and my wife, we thought the ride as similar, and totally acceptable. Maybe we are losing our minds ?

Also, I though the wide-track made really nice turns and the truck was easier to drive than my Ram. I have a 2015 Ram 2500 4x4 MegaCab, and it's about the same length as the f-450.

 

I test drove two more trucks yesterday - Ram 3500 megacab shortbed dually and the crew cab short bed. Both had the 6.7 Cummins and Aisin transmission. I would like to have test driven a long bed, but the megacab dually is the longest truck they had.

The Good:
1. The front seats were very comfortable
2. The "ventilated" seats work about as well as the air conditioned seats in my F150
3. The Cummins was much quieter than some of the videos out there indicated
4. The turning radius of the Ram felt roughly as tight as the F450 - maybe tighter. Significantly tighter than the F350 crew long-bed.

The Bad: (I did come at this with an open mind)
1. The ride.
- The dually was much rougher than any of the Ford trucks I tried. The constant jiggle was a little worse than the F350 short bed and F350 dually and the bumps were significantly sharper.
- The short bed crew ride was rougher than the ride of the f350 short bed with the snow plow package.
2. The power - and this one surprised me
- The higher torque at 1600 RPM doesn't matter much when you press the pedal down because you aren't down in that range when the transmission downshifts. The Ford 6.7 felt way, way, more responsive and fun to drive. The Aisin was very conservative with the gears. When I hit the pedal at 65 MPH it gave me a gear at 2100 RPM. The Ford gave one gear lower. Now, the most fun truck to drive from a throttle response is the 4.30 geared Ford 6.7 - that truck is a blast to drive on the highway. Just touch the pedal and you'll jump from 65 to 80 in no-time-flat.
3. The shorter middle back seat with the hump in the floor isn't nearly as nice as the ford crew cab. You get a full-size middle seat with more space before the hump in the mega cab, but then you are forced to get the short bed. I could get over it, but the short-bed dually looks goofy to me.
4. The mirrors on the Ford are so much nicer than the Ram. With the Ram mirrors in tow mode (vertical), the view is too narrow to see over your dually fenders and to the side. This is a problem when my camper blocks my main rear view mirror.

Conclusion: I don't like the Ram. To be fair, I'm set on getting the Ford, but with a $75,000 expense, I thought I should practice due-diligence and try the next-in-line competition. I tried to keep an open mind about the test drive. I don't understand it, but the Cummins, even with 900 ft-lbs of torque, felt very sluggish. The turbo has much more lag than the Ford, but even after it spun up, the Ford felt much more responsive. I'm looking forward to one more test drive pair. The 2017 F350 crew long bed and a 2017 F450 - both platinum (with all of the extra goodies), 6.7, 4x4, no snow-plow or camper package.

 

Good observations. Most people echo your thoughts on the high output Cummins. Objective tests also reveal it is the slowest. When the engine fan does engage on these trucks, the Cummins is by far the loudest.

 

Is it possible since Ford isn't offering the wide track for the 350 DRW, that these new trucks will have a smaller turning radius in the first place? It seems odd that as popular/beneficial as the wide track is/was that Ford would drop it for the new trucks unless they've improved the turning radius otherwise.

 

I'm pretty sure the turning radii for the '17 have already been published and are a little worse than before thanks to the longer wheelbases.

 

I was hoping they'd improve a little, but the opposite happened. The turning circles are quite large, except for the relatively nimble F450 - per Ford chat a couple of weeks ago...

SRW & DRW Crew Long-bed 57.8 ft. (Curb-to-Curb) and 59.7ft. (Wall-to-Wall)
SRW Crew Short-bed 53.0 ft (Curb-to-Curb) and 54.9 ft. (Wall-to-Wall)
F450 50.4 ft. (Curb-to-Curb) and 52.5 ft. (Wall-to-Wall).

 

Now that we can finally see the payload and spring specs, I noticed that the front springs on the f350 6.7 4x4 crew short bed is 5200# and the long bed is 5600#. Now I really need a test drive of the 2017. The main reason I want a long bed is for the better ride. With a 400# stiffer front spring, perhaps the long won't have a better unloaded ride for 2017.

It's also interesting that the s/cab gets the same front springs for short and long bed crew 6.7, yet the crew and r/cab get different front springs for short vs long. Maybe that won't be the case when the final spec sheets come out.