Im looking at buying a used dually to pull my Bobcat around with.

My F-350 crewcab 4x4 pulls it OK but you know your pulling something.

Whats your opinions on a dually , it should make it more stable?
On icey roads Id like a little more something .........

The dually reg cab has a higher GVW than my Crewcab.

The truck Im looking at has a torque lockup button on it , not to sure what it does but its supposed to be better than a engine brake.

The truck Im looking at also has a engine brake.

Heres what im pulling...................

 

i dont know about ice but a dually will get stuck on mud fast.
but a dually will handle better.
the torque lockup button is so you can us the engine brake.
i do not like the idea as this is hard on the motor.

 

I was told the oppisite , they said not to use the engine brake it was hard on the engine.
Only use the torque lock up going down steep hill while loaded?
It has a engine brake and a torque lockup switch.

 

A dually seems overkill for that. That load is way less than 10K.

 

The dually only gives you approx 500#'s of additional gcwr. On ice, you will have more surface area on the ground with four tires than two, hence less bite or friction per square inch.
I agree with Senix, more than you need and not as good on ice.

 

Actually its an exhaust brake, and with an automatic you should use both, the exhaust brake + torque lockup, to not harm your engine or tranny.

 

Can you add a torque lockup switch ?

 

that is what i was saying do use the brake.
from PHP
"First, in order to transfer the energy of the moving vehicle to the engine during deceleration, two things must occur: the torque converter must remain locked, and the coast clutch must be engaged. The problem with this is that the coast clutch on a stock transmission only has 3 friction plates, and these are smaller than the standard forward clutches. On 2001 and later transmissions, you also run the possibility of damaging the intermediate sprag or "diode," which will result in an immediate transmission teardown. Again, lightly loaded vehicles would have less of a problem with this, but the general idea of an exhaust brake is to be able to slow larger loads without overheating the standard brake system. It is these types of loads that can cause transmission damage. Obviously, a manual transmission would be free from these types of situations.

Second, whenever you increase exhaust backpressure, you need to make sure that the exhaust valve springs are capable of preventing the pressure in the exhaust system from lifting the exhaust valve from the valve seat, as this would result in a collision with the piston. Normal valve spring seat pressure is 70-75 PSI for NEW valve springs and deteriorates from there. Given that the surface area of the back of the exhaust valve is approximately 1.9 square inches, it would take only 40 PSI of exhaust pressure to lift the valve off the seat, even with new valve springs."

 

Well I pull it almost every day and my 02 F-350 doesnt handle it very well.

Its not way less than 10000 , the machine weighs 6200 , the pounders about 1500, tracks 1000, bucket 200 so its over 10000 including trailer.

 

i tow 15000+ in my dump trailer with my 250 and dont have a problem.
what dose it not handle good? swaying stopping
not to be dumb but do you have enough tung weight? in the pic all the weight looks like it is on the trailer.

 

I think the issue is the age of the truck and it's capabilities. Keep in mind that when you change the truck...I would assume to a newer year the ratings and capabilites change as well.

My 08 F250 is rated to tow 15K gooseneck/5er. I tow 14K coast to coast with it.

 

How far and how fast are you going?

It pulls it OK but I have to be driving at all times , you cant relax.

Good brakes on trailer and truck but it wants to push it pretty bad going down hill or when stopping.

I fool around with the tongue weight and have found that a few inches either way makes a diffrence.

I just wuld like to feel more in control if it came to a emergency situation.

 

i can tow it at 80mph if i wanted to but most of the time 65mph.
with the trailer brakes i can stop just as fast as empty.
i would try to put a little more tongue weight and see if that will help, sound like there is not enough weight.
if that dont help if it is pushing you might try a higher gain on the brakes and see if it helps.

 

I'm not sure how the tranny is different on a later tranny than my e99, but I've hauled up to 22k on my car hauler, and with the truck it grosses 31k. I drive in 4th whenever on flat ground, and when going downhill I usually take it out of OD so it's locked in 3rd, and sometimes go down to 2nd (Cajon Pass in SoCal). What I'm getting at is I feel alot of towing is just in driving habits. Make sure you're trailer is loaded as best possible, and take your time going where you need to to get there safely. As for speed, I usually keep it under 60 just to save fuel. Tried doing 65 grossing 29k in a headwind, and didn't like my 7mpg I was getting!