Agian I ask
should I convert my 78 to duals
pro's and cons of each???
What is the best way I was thinking about getting 16 LONG wheel studs, and 73'-87 chevy fenders and 4 new rims/ tires----So I'm thinking about $1000
aNY AND ALL advise welcome
PS NO flatbed the are UGLY in the 73-79 ara

 

Anyonw know???

 

I dont think longer wheel studs are enough. All add on duallys I have ever seen require a spacer betweer the wheel and the hub. Otherwise the inner wheel will rub you leaf springs. There are company's that make a kit , but I cant think of any names right now. Maybe someone on here will know.

 

Yeah, the dually axles are completely different. I think you're going to have to swap in a dually axle.

Also, you're going to have to carry two spares (the rims are different) unless you do something with the front as well.

 

Here is my opinion about duallie trucks. I own a 1985 F-350 standard cab with a 460, 4 speed and Dana 70 rear duallie axle. It also has a 10 foot flatbed which is awesome for hauling. The first time I towed with this truck, I said to myself, " I don't know how I would ever be able to tow with out duals ever again." Basically I loved how towing felt with the duallie. I pulled a 79 Thunderbird 60 miles with an average speed of 65-70 MPH and had absolutely no sway problems or anything at all. I don't know if there is really a difference between towing with a 1 ton SRW VS. DRW since this is my first actual heavy duty truck, but so far I love it. The bad part about the duallie is definately maintenance. You always will have to buy more tires, and duallie wheels are not light. I had to change a flat on mine once with 2 yards of fill sand on the back and that was not fun. Then there is the fact that it is still a full floating axle and there is the brakes and so on and so forth. All I can say is, if you don't really need the Duals, it may be best to just stay away from them, regardless of how you plan to convert. If you think you need them and are prepared to deal with all of the stuff that goes along with them then hey, more power to you and good luck.

 

Arrowcraft is one of the names that comes to mind.

 

cons mostly apply to gas mileage, buying tires, and taking it off road. Even just taking a dual wheel truck to the dump you get things stuck between your tires and rip the sidewalls. Worse is getting a rock stuck that you can not get out without jacking up the truck and deflating the tires or taking one off.

On the other hand, you can usually get a lot of traction for pulling things out of the ground off-road if you have a big enough engine. On my truck I would be straining it, get in the boss's DRW diesel Dodge and you can not even feel the things getting pulled out of the ground because it does it so easily in 4x4L.

I think the biggest thing that can go wrong is you not hitting cars, but, people hitting your DRWs coming down the other side of the street over the double yellow and blaming you or ramming them from behind while you are parked.

 

You shouldn't have a problem with hitting cars with the rear tires/fenders unless you currently have a problem hitting cars with your mirrors, as dual rears are not any wider than most truck mirrors. I have run over a few curbs with my old dually though.

On the converting, I would forego it and just buy a whole dually truck instead.

 

I'm not a proponant of doing the conversions anyway because when you sell it you are still selling something that most people won't consider buying. Also, it's a 78, so is it really worth doing the conversion or simply getting another used truck. There should be plenty of used dually trucks on the market for reasonable prices.

 

I have had two 97 powerstrokes, and one 95. one was a dually, and the next expensive truck I buy will have six tires. once you go there, you may never come back.

I also have two F-600s and two B-7000s obviously DRW vehicles.


btw, use ford stepside fenders, it looks a lot better, same amount of work to mount on these bedsides.

 

you can buy dually hubs that you install 2 tires on as a conversion kit but dually's have axles that are actaully narrower to keep the dually wheels backspacing. swapping in a dually rear end isn't hard at all and i would do that before going the cheap-o route and potentially tearing something up

-cutts-

 

Hey i have a dually that i want to convert to singles. Anybody know what the deal is, the fenders will unbolt. Its a 2001 f350 4x4. The duals are no good in the winter here. Any coments before i puller apart would be great.
cheers
shawn

 

The best way is to get a dually rear end from a 80-96 dually and bolt it in.
73-79 duallies used a narrower frame then the single rear trucks. so you need to use a wider axle or put some LONG adapters on it.

are you against just bolting a '80 or newer dually bed on it?