I have the above dually with plain stock wheel/rims on the front. Is there any real mechanical advantage to buying spacers for the front so that I can use a dually rim?



I've been told this was a converted pick-up. I have the 7.3 idi.

 

the only advantage to converting the front to a dually rim is that you will only have to carry one spare tire.
since that is an 84, it will have IFS front end. and it looks like a F-250, so that will make it a Dana 44 IFS front axle.
the D-44 never came in a dually, so you are stuck with either using Arrowcraft adapters, or switching the front axle to either a Dana 50 IFS and using Dana 60 dual wheel hub adapters on it. or better yet, putting a Dana 60 dual wheel solid axle under it.

 

It has the VIN # listed as a F350. So, I think the flatbed was hand made, and the rear end was changed to a dually transaxle using what from what year?. The IFS front end is what came with the truck F350 as stock. So, what can I use as a reference to check/verify what was put in as the dually rear end, and what was the stock front end on a 84 F350 pickup? Help my brain is about to explode!!!

 

if it is a 350, than it will would have a D-50 IFS front axle from the factory and you can use the factory Dana 60 dually adapters.
as far as what rear axle is in it, that is one you are going to have to figure out yourself. it could be a Dana 60, Dana 70, Sterling 10.25, Sterling 10.5, or GM 14 bolt. they all will fit under the truck.

finding a tag on the rear axle with numbers on it will really help in this situation.
they are usually placed under one of the axle cover bolts.

 

Well, there are a few things you can do here. First, your truck either was converted to 4x4 (Very Unlikely), or somebody put a Dually Rear under it (Somewhat Uncommon), lastly somebody might have bought spacers for the rear end and made it a dually (very common). So you have IFS, and yes... you should get a solid axle. Join us... we have Articulation. Although the ultimate point is you would hope to save a bundle by being able to rotate your wheels without paying an arm and a leg for Dismounting and Mounting your tires every time. Also only carrying one spare is nice. The disadvantages are, that you will be very bouncy in your ride quality after. Dually rims are the literal worst when it comes to balancing. No joke, a car tire might balance to .25 grams on both sides at the most for a good ride. You will be lucky if they can get you to 1.5 grams on the outside and 1.5 grams on the inside too. And not at opposite sides of the tires, were talking at like a 15 degree angle so you get a nice "fwomp, fwomp, fromp" when they get to speed. Good dually rims don't exist, trust me on this. Stupid duallys and their wobble rims... IMHO the advantages are greater than the disadvantages. But still, expect to have the mother of all shakes when you get to speed, especially if you get anything over a mildly aggressive tire.

 

I own 3 duallys. At the moment only one shakes at speed and that's because it's my welding truck and the wheels are full of mud because of all the rain we are getting. 8 have a 78 ford dually rwd, a 93 dually rwd, and an 02 4x4. I've never had a problem getting my wheels balanced and have never ran beads but that is also an option. I think you are greatly exaggerating the ride quality of drw.

 

Not at all. It comes down to shape and materials used. Dually rims are rough riders. They are cheap and never balance well. Put them on a machine and step back. You will see the wobble.

 

Well I don't own a tire machine all I know is when I take any of my trucks to the local tire shop in town they all come out riding like they are on rails. And the owner had never once mentioned having a tough time balancing my wheels. The only time the truck bounces is going over rough spots on the road but that's what you get for having heavy duty springs in the rear 😀

 

Next time ask them. I promise you. Dually rims ride worse.

 

Define worse? Is it perceptible in the cab or at the steering wheel because it isn't on any of my trucks. My 93 and 02 ride nicer than my wife's Cherokee. I did a Google search on problems balancing dually and the only thing that came up was guys with damaged wheels or improper wheels for the type of hub or lug nuts. heck when I had my 08 with 37x12.5 and a 2 inch spacer those were tougher to balance but still no perceptible affect in the cab. Are you just talking about adapter duallys or all dually? got anything to back this up? Ever road in a brand new dually? they are like Cadillacs now.

 

Look, im not here to say my truck is better than yours. I really could not care less about how well they ride compared to mine. But larger rims, with more surface area, with spacers, are harder to balance. Its just more metal to have forging imperfections. He will get a noticably rougher ride with dually rims. Its just a trade you make for more rubber on pavement

 

i have to agree with this. i run duallys all the time, at speeds up to 80 mph and never had any that bounce around due to out of balance unless there was mud in the rim, or a bent rim.

 

First off wheels (rims) aren't forged they are stamped or cast and machined.

Secondly no he will not get a noticeably rougher ride if it's done correctly. Sure when you start talking over sized mud tires and spacers they get tougher to balance and keep balanced but that runs true for srw and drw. You still haven't substantiated your claims.

Those same manufacturing errors would show up in single rims as well.

 

Ok. Take a weight, then put it on a balance. Like say a board sitting on something so you can support the resistance and measure effectively the increase as it gets farther from center. Now take that weight and push it out about 5 inches from center... that is what dually rims do. A weight close to cemter of mass is easier to deal with than one outside of it. There is no arguement against that. Srw wheels are ver close to center, the entire rim fits well within the rotating mass of the tire. On duallys they have an almost cancer sized mass of metal to deal with. And the forging issies I was referring to, are thos in metal demsity due to alloys amd such. You are trying to balance to .25 grams. One spot of dense iron (or the derpy wheel spacers people put on the outside of fronts) will effortlessly make a gram or more of rotating mass. This rotating mass will be enhanced by things such as tire wear, over all camber, amd caster (for stability in controlling the wheels). Simply put, weight outside of the center of a rotating mass is the maker of "fwomp". By nature they get off balance. All wheels do to some degree, but dually rims are the worst at it.

 

Duallys are far more likely to get bent rims too. 2 reasons for this, 1 the rims are usually cheap and rusted because people are lazy. 2 people often say "hey its a dually, I bet it can carry the whole house, lets try it... hold my beer". Then one small bump of overloaded with a flat later, bad stuff. I have simply never seen a dually rim ballance well. It is always a fight to the death, due to shape, tire selection, tire wear, and even pars failure wearing say an edge (super common on Dodges and Chevys). I dont hate duallys, they serve a purpose, I simply wouldnt own one as a daily driver.