Here's the deal. I need opinions for guys hauling 2 cars in an enclosed trailer. I posted this in the drag racing forum because likely this forum is the place that has the experience in this area.

I'm upgrading my tow rig. Considering a dually for a change. Before I just up and get a dually, who's towed a 2 car or triple axle trailer with a dually? Regrets? Happy?

I've maybe put 100k miles on towing 24' trailers over the last 15 years. Never with a dually though. Likely I'll be upgrading to around a 36' gooseneck as well.

I know there are down sides to a dually, harder to park, rear tires don't track in the snow with the fronts, non-dually road ruts.

But I'm told even a standard bumper pull trailer, not gooseneck, is better with a dually. But I have no first hand experience with a gooseneck.

No need to respond if you've "heard something". Just interested in first hand experience. I'm 90% confident I'm going to swing the deal for the dually. But I'm checking with those in the know, one last time.

 

duallies are a lot more stable on the highway pulling a bumper pull or a gooseneck trailer

if you are towing a lot it really is the best way to go, downside is if you have to drive it everyday it can be a pain since it is so big

i have first hand experience with a 2001 and a 2002 Ford F350, 7.3l diesel pulling 2 different 48' goose neck trailers (2 cars and support equipment in the trailer) -- we broke the transmissions in both trucks -- that is the downfall of the Ford 7.3l engines -- the engine badass but the oem trasmissions suck

but i am not sure any of the transmissions on a standard Dually from any manufacturer are really that great for pulling so much weight -- just the nature of the beast i guess -- weight is your enemy, keep that under control and you will have a better shot at getting drivetrain parts to live

 

We have put 2 cars in rota92's 40ft'r goose neck and IMO it was tight.

He has a 07 Chevy 3500 and a 1997 Well's Cargo trailer. The Dually with the Duramax and Allison tranny pulls the trailer nicely. I do find it a bit hard to back into the driveway and get the trailer exactly where we want it.

The only down side I've noticed with the Dually is back up the 18ft open trailer without the car on it. the truck is so high you must use the mirrors to back it up.

I'm sure rota will chime in soon.

 

Bob, with all the cars you have, why not just get a 18wheelercar hauler. LOL.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rota92 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">36 foot gooseneck - 8 feet of the gooseneck = 28 feet

Not likely to get 2 cars in there safely and be able to bring ANYTHING lol

</TD></TR></TABLE> we fit a vr6 jetta and mohlers neon in a 36 footer in 01' drove it from MD to CA and back and nothing went wrong. and if you use your space wisely youd be amazed at what you can fit with it.

 

I have a 48' 18K GVW tri axle pulling it with a Cummins with no issues pulling it through the city is a little scary, just plan your route before hand if possible. The rear swing behind the axle is like 10' so its easy to take out a sign or hydrant LOL luckly I havent yet high way is easy gets about 11 MPG loaded. The only thing I hate about it is Tolls for us to race in NJ it cost about $100 in tolls coming from Boston area with 5 comercial axles for example $43 to go over the George Washington Bridge one way gota admit it was unexpected. other then that I love it hold 2 cars all the tools, spare parts, golf cart, and sleeps 4 what more car your ask for, its a poor mans Renagade

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rota92 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Painted my wheels black finally, chevy dropped the ball on that one </TD></TR></TABLE>

Ricer. Needs a lip and a drop.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rota92 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Haha funny you say that actually, front lip is next on the list haha</TD></TR></TABLE>

What does a front lip for a truck even look like?

Are there any improvements in gas mileage with it?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ExospeedAMcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Bob, with all the cars you have, why not just get a 18wheelercar hauler. LOL.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm working on it... ...lol... If I could swing a decent deal on an FL-70 Toterhome, we'd be in bizness.

Where are my slicks? I got the skinnies. I'm sure they a day apart in transit somewhere.

 

Here's what I accidentally did to my good tow rig last fall... &lt;I'm a dumbass&gt; But you gotta get this kind of thing out of your system. Everybody needs a big truck... Just one time. It's on 40's. I bought it after our last tow for the season in late 2005... it's a 2006. So instead of leaving it alone, I lifted and modified it into a point of uselessness.

It's now actually a BIG, hard to get into "car", that can't haul anything, and gets shitty mileage. Mind you, I always get the right of way at intersections. And it's DAMN fun to look down on the top of cars at stop lights.

The box sides hit right about the forehead and if you can step onto your kitchen table, you can step on the running board. Can't throw groceries in the back, or load a 4-wheeler, can't make a dump run. Old people can't get in it (actually, that's a positive, my mother law can't get in it...) I believe at this point it's cheaper to sell this as is, than to convert it back. Early estimates are about 6 grand to redo all the body work and all the labor on the suspension.

Turns out it's so bloody stiff nobody wants to ride with me. 800 pounds of tongue weight drops the bumper of the truck about 1"... Tears up **** in the trailer something awful. I bought an airhitch, but haven't used it yet.

Anybody need a big lifted *** truck on the cheap? Has a grand total of 4500 miles on it. Never been chipped.

Local Ford dealer is offering me a new 08 dually, loaded, with a $56k sticker, he gets my truck, and he pays to remove all the crap, give it all back to me and convert it to stock, and I boot him $17k. I can sell most of the upgrades and get back another $5k pretty easily. So I'd be out about $12k to do it, and a 2 year newer rig with better towing manners.






Buy it, and I'll throw in the MONSTER WAGON I made for it. Looks great together at car shows. I've been offered $2500 for the Wagon.



Modified by vectorsolid at 12:10 AM 8/5/2008


Modified by vectorsolid at 12:12 AM 8/5/2008

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rota92 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Never said it wasn't possible, or anything would go wrong, but lets be honest lol

I had 2 feet in between cars, 2 feet behind and 6 inches in front.

If you're going to do it, get at least a 40 for resale purposes too. The truck won't know the differnce, and in todays used trailer market neither will your pockets </TD></TR></TABLE>

Shows you what I know. I thought 36' meant the floor, not overall. I haven't been serious enough yet. Just in the "gather information" stage. Although I hope to own a gooseneck in 6 weeks or less.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Vw1320x &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Nice stuff. With a crew-cab truck and the 24' bumper pull, I can "kind of" get away with a standard park job in say a Walmart or Home depot. Even most fast food places and hotels. That big SOB has gotta be a trick to get around parking lots.

I'm guessing you don't accidentally find yourself making a u-turn in the middle of a 2 lane very dang often.

I can still do that with the 24... But my days are numbered, I'm afraid. Longer stuff is on the horizon.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vectorsolid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Local Ford dealer is offering me a new 08 dually, loaded, with a $56k sticker, he gets my truck, and he pays to remove all the crap, give it all back to me and convert it to stock, and I boot him $17k. I can sell most of the upgrades and get back another $5k pretty easily. So I'd be out about $12k to do it, and a 2 year newer rig with better towing manners.





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That sounds like a sweet deal. Just looking at the #s the new 08 Ford get's the worst gas mileage of the big three though. But I doubt that's one of your issues b/c you haven't brought that up.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BLK JDM &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

That sounds like a sweet deal. Just looking at the #s the new 08 Ford get's the worst gas mileage of the big three though. But I doubt that's one of your issues b/c you haven't brought that up.
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Not worried about gas mileage (well, kinda but it's not the biggest concern). Ford dealer is a buddy of mine, and I get good service with Ford. Can't forget about service.

 

I have a couple friends that have an auto transport business together(5 guys actually) and they all had the Dodge 3500 until this year. They buy new trucks like every 2yrs religiously. One got the new 08 Ford F350. I called him and asked why he switched up and he said he heard the power of the new 08 was unbeatable once chipped.

Well he's had it for a couple months and he said he loves the larger and nicer interior of the Ford but he said the motor is nothing spectacular. He says there is a little difference in power difference when it comes to towing-the power difference is nominal but overall the truck is just nicer.

He says if he could do it all over again he'd go back w/ the Dodge b/c of the overall gas mileage and for some reason he feels that the Dodge is a little more stable at high speeds w/ his 4 car trailer and 150 gallon surplus diesel tank in the bed. I think he's just comfortable w/ the Dodge since he's owned like 4 or 5 over the years.

He does like the drive the Ford as a daily now whereas before you'd never see him in a Dodge so I guess for double duty the Ford is nicer but if you're just looking to tow and worried about gas prices then get the Dodge.

I know the Cummins motor is tried and true. That turbo inline-6 is used in most large box trucks and tow trucks. The tranny isn't the best but none are when you're towing that much weight.

In a perfect world I'd have the Ford chassis(best looks, fully boxed frame), with the Cummins motor out of the Dodge(ungodly reliable, best gas mileage, makes huge power w/ upgrades), and the Allison tranny out of the Chevy.

I've been researching a dually for the last year and I can't decide. I love the look of the Fords but fear the trannies and the problems w/ the 6.0L and I can't afford the 08. I hate the looks of the Chevy and the power doesn't impress me even though they are supposedly the fastest. I love everything about the Dodge except everything about the interior. The Dodge is super cramped(unless you go MegaCab) and the interior looks sooo cheap!!

 

Manual transmission is the solution to the porblem.

I'd rather deal with that then spend lots of money rebuilding transmissions.

 

Well... Went up and swung the deal for the new Ford today.

I was leaning HARD toward dually. On some race dates my wife comes along and they unhook the tow rig and go shop or visit or whatever. She was NOT happy with the thoughts of a dually, not one bit...

Soooo.... In order to keep the peace I picked up the 08 without the dually. My truck and 17k swung the deal. Anybody that's married knows if your wife ain't happy, you ain't happy.

We have an event this weekend, I'll get a nice 650-700 miles of towing on it. Then the 13th, I have to go out to Tacoma to pick up another Civic, and that'll be a nice little 2500-3000 mile event.

Bumper pull this weekend. Gooseneck next weekend. I'll post up a pick.

I totally appreciate the time of everybody that posted. You guys helped a lot. I was leaning toward Dually. Ended up not. But more family friendly.

 

Did you take her for a test ride in a dually ? I'm thinking no. If it's not to late, you need to do that. You owe it to yourself and her.

It's not the truck she may think it is. They really do tow much better. I can tell by your post your alway's going to be second guessing, did I buy the right truck...Look at all the pro's that tow those 3 and 4 car haulers, what do there use?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rota92 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Congrats!
Can I ask why she thinks a Dually is bad? I drive mine like a honda minus turning radius lol</TD></TR></TABLE>

Appreciate it guys. It's not that she's not capable of driving it. She just does not like large "feeling" vehicles. Just doesn't feel confident in them. We've had maybe 8-9 Suburbans as our main traveling vehicle over the last 10 years, and she just isn't comfortable in them (from a driving perspective).

She's happiest in stuff like a Jeep Liberty and stuff that size. We had 40' Pace Arrow...she never did drive it. Happy to be in the back watching a DVD with the family on long trips, or up front with me.

As you get older you know better than to try to force something on somebody that just isn't happy about it. We've been married 25 years... I know "the look" and what it means, and how to avoid it. If she's comfortable driving it, I stand to be much happier at home.... That won out. And I'm glad I can make a bit of a compromise to make her happy as well.

For the longest time I tried to get her in a race car of any kind, she's just not interested. She's happy to go, hang out, shop, but not interested in seat time. And I know that. Same with big cars. Just not her bag. ALTHOUGH. I did get her to make about 10 passes last year in one of the family cars. Mostly it was to help "empower" my younger daughter, but she did it. Toughened up for the better good of the family. "...I don't get it..." was her response to drag racing. But I think it's because she didn't get to do a hairy, smokey burnout, and have a "real" race. Just driving the family car down the track ain't the same.

She did drive our tow rig home "one time" from a motocross event, I cased a double and wadded up pretty good, tore up my shoulder and collapsed a lung... She cowboy'd up and drove the family home, trailer and all, while I whined like a little girl from the back seat... ...lol...

She's just not interested. But very supportive of my and the rest of the families "automotive retarderie" . I'm a lucky man.


Modified by vectorsolid at 4:18 PM 8/5/2008

 

Enjoy your new truck. They are nice

 

I gotta start kissing *** to dump 20g on a gooseneck trailer now.... Anybody need a chopper? ...lol...


Modified by vectorsolid at 5:41 PM 8/5/2008

 

rota found a nice used one. Look around there out there. He even found one locally.


Oh yea, your in Glasgow Montana, just checked the map...

 

Hint, get the diamond plate floor, very durable. The winch is also a plus and good lighting.

 

get a duramax with a allison and chip it. Im the programmer and i developed all the Evolutions for Edge Products for the d-maxes and Superchips is currently using my tunes for there flashpaqs. PM me if i can help with anything but get a dually there bad *** i love mine

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rota92 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Buck do you tow a gooseneck by chance? How does it tow lowered? Looks nice </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes i towed a 36ft gooesneck last year with 2 cars in it with no problem. it has a 3" front 5" rear drop. I do have helper bags on the rear to keep the *** from ridding on bump stops. but it rides like a caddy.