Hello,
I recently sold my 96 F350 regular cab 7.3L (couldn't fit a car seat) and purchased a 2006 F350 Supercab Dually 6.0L. I have never had a dually before, but this was the only truck within 1,000 miles that was both diesel and a manual transmission. I parked on a slight hill today, drivers side of the truck was about 8" higher than the passenger side, and here are the things that I noticed:
1. The tailgate was difficult to open.
2. When I closed the tailgate, the drivers side of the tailgate closed and latched, but the passenger side was about 1 1/4" from reaching the latch.
3. I opened the passenger side door, and when I closed it, you could feel the door contact the door latch, and had to lift up 1/4" to ride over the latching pin.

When I moved the truck to a flat location, everything was fine again. I have never had this happen to a truck before, and I have parked on much larger grades. The truck had 35000 miles on it, is 4 wheel drive and had a clean carfax. I guess my question is, is this normal for a dually? I am guessing/hoping that there are more twisting forces in a dually since the forces are coming from farther out beyond the frame rail, but it just doesn't seem normal to me. Thanks for the help!

John

 

Did you happen to get any pics? Doesn't sound normal to me. Also, Carfax can be great at times but a good friend of mine is a DMV Investigator and he has told me in the past that there are a lot of things that don't show up on it. The issue with the doors can sometimes happen with the supercab. With the supercab, you don't have any "B" pillar between the front and rear doors for rigidity. Had it happen to a Ranger supercab and the cab on it is a lot smaller - same thing parked on an offset incline and the doors didn't want to shut well.

As for the tailgate issue, that almost sounds like the bed has been sprung. Did the tailgate issue go away when you moved to level ground or just the door issue? Have you checked under the truck to see if all the crossmembers are secure and not missing any? Might be a good place to start. I can't imagine an SD frame being weak enough to cause the issues with the tailgate anyway. I've had mine on all kinds of weird angles and never had a problem.

 

I have a 99F350 sc dually,I do notice a little bit of binding in doors & tailgate when on uneven terrain but nothing like you described.

 

I will check the cross members tomorrow and try to get a picture of the tailgate. Both problems happened for the first time while parked on the hill, and both problems went away as soon as I moved the truck. I had an 02 Ranger supercab and never had any problems like this before. In fact, I parked that truck on the same hill. I could kind of understand one problem or the other, but to have both happen at the same time, on two separate parts of the truck makes me worry.

 

Check your bed bolts for tightness.

Your 2006 F-350 has a MUCH stiffer framer than your old 1996 F-350.

 

i have had three crew cab srw's never encountered this. I thinks checking cross members, body mounts is best place to start.

 

I Parked the truck on the same hill today. Passenger door still binds, tailgate doesn't bind when opening like yesterday, but when I close it, the uphill side latches, and the downhill side sticks out 5/16 of an inch. Not as bad as yesterday, but yesterday the truck was sinking in some mud and today the ground is frozen. The tailgate both times would fully close if I slammed it. I checked the bed and cab mounts and all of the cross members, everything seemed tight. The only thing I noticed under the truck was the leaf springs say made in Mexico. The truck was built in KY, and it seems like all of the OEM bar code stickers are still under there. The paint on the rear bumper mounts and the hitch are a slightly different color than the frame, but that didn't seem unusual to me. It is hard to say, there isn't much rust under there yet to be able to tell if parts have been replaced. I bought this truck with the intention of putting a plow on it, now I am having second thoughts.

 

well just wonder if it is because of the length of the truck that is is having this much flexing?

 

I thought about that too but his wheelbase is 158" and ours is 156" and there's not much difference in overall length. I think the biggest factor may be his longbed. I can see where the 8' bed may have more flex than the 6.75'. Still though, that's awfully flexy for a 1 ton dually.