I've been throwing around the idea of turning my truck into a dually. what are my best options. Buy a kit or go to the junkyard? what kits are good? bad?

 

If your buying a kit, I dont know of a good one. Do youhave a 1 ton now? If you do, you wont need the springs. Otherwise, your correct, go to the boneyard and get er. then your going to need wheels. What are your plans about the front axle then? You satying with STD hubs?

 

mines a 3/4 ton. I know my springs are 3" and the duallys have 2 1/2" but why do i need to change springs? can't i just change my hub? I think i'll either will use adapters or swap for adually hub
I saw kits here and asked for quote. Are they any good?
http://www.wheeladapter.com/CompleteKits.asp

 

I dont know if the spring lengths are the same on 3/4 and a 1 ton truck, but the mounting perch for the two are def different. Not to mention that the ubolts would have side to side play in them from being larger. you dont, I repeat DONT want to put a spacer in there to prevent side motion. It either fits, or it doesnt, those are the only two options. If your not trying to haul dually loads, then a kit would be fine. Just make sure that you always keep that in mind. Its a kit, not made for actual use like a 1 ton. Atleast none of the kits I have ever seen are made for use. Be sure to advise anyone that is ever looking at your truck to buy it from you too. You dont want that following you around. Thats for sure.

 

will you tell us what all it takes if you really do this... i am interested in converting mine to...

 

The kits are just timple bolt ons. Any monkey with a wrench can do it in an afternoon. All you have to do is to remove your wheels, bolt the adapters on, then bolt the new wheels to it. Same if you do the front conversion. You dont have to do a brake blead or anything for these kits. They are JUST for looks imo. The other way to do it if you plan on using it like a dually is to get a REAL rear end from the factory. Since the axle hubs are forged on real 1 ton duallys, and these are bolt on you can obviously see where there is a difference. One thing I didnt notice in the kit was lighting. I know that law requires them to have yellow marker and red markers on the fenders designateing it as a wider than STD vehicle. I didnt se that in the kit.

 

I called the guy and he said $750 for just the adapters. I think I'm hitting the junkyard

 

Don't forget that cab lights and the three red rear lights are also required on a DRW

 

i,ve got teh cab lights and plan on adding the id bar either way so i,m covered there. what do i need to do title wise to change it to a dually?

 

A kit would work fine if your looking for the dually look. The kits will do nothing to actually increase load carrying capacity because they do nothing to increase the springs, or the strength of the axle itself. The larger footprint (dual wheels in rear) will allow you to carry loads that your truck was designed for, a lot better. A big plus if you do a lot of towing too. To actually convert it to a dually, you would need a dually axle (not cheap unless you know somebody) and you would need to replace the springs. Also, as Todd says, what about the front wheels? They won't be the same if you go with a true dually conversion. I have seen bolt on kits from j.c.whitney that uses the 3/4ton wheels. These would be fine for looks, but they won't increase your load capacity.
As for the title, that would depend on the state you live in.

 

I thought the 3/4 and 1 tons used the same rears

 

One ton rearends are a little longer to set the inside wheels away from the frame and springs. A single rear wheel 1 ton axle could be the same, but a dual wheel axle is longer. A cab and chasis axle is different from the dually and the single rear wheel axle too. It could be that the main difference is where the spring pads are welded to the axle, but I don't know that for a fact.

 

What about spring length? I am not sure about this, But I dont think that the spring hangers are the same. I think there is something like a 6 inch difference. I could be wrong, not sure

 

I don't know about the spring length.

 

Yes, the 3/4 ton and the 1 ton SRW use the same axle. But the DRW axle is different. The axle is longer so that the inside tire is in the same place (remember the DRW wheel offset is huge so that both tires but up against each other).

The hub is completely different. The bearings are the same, but they are spaced farther apart. If truck has drum brakes, the drums are bigger on the DRW (larger diameter and width). If the truck has discs, the brakes are the same save for the rotor offset. The SRW wheels are lug centric and use tapered lug nuts. The DRW wheels are hub centric and use flat two peice lug nuts.