about the chains thing......gm says it voids your warrantee so I dont use them...(when I do venture towards the mountains)

 

Come on guys. I drive and have driven my Dually in snow for the last 5 years...I do not add sand bags, weight or anything else to the bed. In fact I have driven in 1-2 foot snow drifts without issues. I have only put the truck in 4wd a couple of times. I winch people out of ravene's and ditches on and off through out winter on the hwy 168. I have been in 2500HD's that have gotten lose and they had larger tires and wider wheels. Bottomline....Good tires. Proper driving skills are the key to driving in snow or icy conditions. The tire patch physics and all that other propaganda are well...just that.....

 

The initial question was not about driving skill, although I agree 100% that this is the key to getting around in the snow, the question was is a dually better or worse than a single wheel....and I believe the single wheel will do better than the dually all things being equal.
JP

 

http://www.mattracks.com

 

wonder what the MPG is with those??

 

Heartbeat,

I agree. I think I answered it fairly. I honestly do not believe there is any difference. I think it may be a perception by some and belief by others but at the end of the day it really does boil down to tire choices and quality driving practices. I personally think the weight of my dually has been a key to me driving through drifts of snow. But again.... Just an opinion.....

 

Heartbeat,

I agree. I think I answered it fairly. I honestly do not believe there is any difference. I think it may be a perception by some and belief by others but at the end of the day it really does boil down to tire choices and quality driving practices. I personally think the weight of my dually has been a key to me driving through drifts of snow. But again.... Just an opinion.....

Yeah, you're probably right that the difference...if there is one....will be offset by tire choice and driving technique. I just figured that more wheels in back means the weight is distributed over a larger contact patch (25% over each wheel) with the dually, where as the single wheel has 50% over each wheel.
JP

 

This thread just proves the old saying: "Opinions are like a**holes. Everyone has one."

:lol: :lol: :muahaha: :muahaha:

 

Getting stuck

I worked on a farm where we had a 2wd dually, and I would get that thing stuck as soon as I got off the gravel when I would feed on a rainy day. I would tell a co-worker (who drove a dually as his personal truck) he would wait untill I was not around and dirve it out like it was on concrete. He would laugh and tell me you just have to know how to drive a dually. Of course he never told me the secret.

Now I own a dually one day this young grasshopper will learn the secret. Of course it is 4wd I quit buying a 2wd's when I got stuck in my yard I get too agressive.

BTW my truck ways 7500lbs. If I need sandbags for additional weight there is something wrong.

 

My neighbor had a duelly and he now has a 2500hd and he thinks that his srw is the **** in the snow. he said that his duelly was a pain because the rear was always fighting to stay in the tracks of the front. he said the back would fishtail constantly. he loves being able to run the same tracks as everyone else without having to drive the thing to keep it going straight. from that alone i would say srw's are easier to drive in the snow. all my uncles seem to think that srw's are the setup for plowing snow. they love the cclb becuase of the wheelbase, but also hate turning them arround.

 

dura,
I agree with everything your neighbor commented on. I have felt all those occurences. Turning around is a driving technique that takes time to get used too but still is a pain at times. Everything has sacrifices I guess. I still say that I have not had any issues in the snow or mud with mine. I have driven a 2500HD. other than the ride being a bit more soft on a 2500HD the overall seemed about the same.

 

I had identical 2001 2500HD and 3500 Silverados. Hands down, the 3500 rides better empty or loaded. The overloads give a better loaded ride and the extra weight give a much better empty ride with a lot less axle hop.

 

Duallys in snow

Well I have lived all my life in the snow belt at the sothern side of lake michigan, in northern Indiana.
I have owned all types of pickups, and I can tell you that in deep wet snow a stock empty 2wd dually is worthless outside of town, and an extended cab is even worse. And if you really what to do less driving in the deep snow try a crew cab most of the time you can't even back them out of a driveway.
Now as some of you people that have not owned both types of trucks are hopping mad at me for telling the facts slow down and re-read the mans question and re-read what I have said about (Stock empty trucks). We get snow around here in feet not just inchs, and we get high drifts of snow from the lake affect.
Now with all of that said "I" like many others here love the dually and understand the laws of " Pounds Per Square Inch" that is needed to gain some type of traction. Or at least to do as good as a factory empty jeep cherokee. We add weight,Lots of it,(1,000lb) is about right for a crew cab dually, keep good tires on the truck, buy the four wheel drive option. But remember when these trucks do get stuck with that much weight off of the pavement you will need a pay loader to dig them out. But I still love my dually and would not go back to a SRW 4x4. And I will drive my truck in the winter, that is part of the fun of owning it.

 

I would agree. Now on my 3rd dually, I wouldn't go without the 4x4 option for anything. First was an '88 with an open diff. That thing could get stuck empty in a plowed parking lot. The locking diff in the '02 and '05 dmax duallies is better, but if unloaded, fairly worthless in a few inches of snow.

Now, put these things in 4x4... that's a different story! I left headlight prints in a snow drift in my backyard a few years ago. I didn't want to dig my way through to get some parts out of a parts car out back, so I drove the big boy out to the car. I backed up to the car with the parts inside and climbed out to the bed of the truck. When I dropped the tailgate, it left a mark in the snow too.

We get some really crazy lake effect snow here sometimes, and the drifting can be huge.

Phil

 

Well I Only Drive A 2500hd 4x4 To Get Me To The Job Site. I Think A Dually Would Be Just As Good!
But Then I Get Into A Tandom Axle Ih With Abt 10 Ton Of Salt On It, Front And Under Belly Plows And A Wing.(side Plow ).. Needless To Say, We Are Over Loaded Before We Put The Salt On.. There Are Conditions The We Can't Get Down The Road On, And Have To Wait For Weather To Break..
Most Of The Cars And Trucks In The Ditches Are 4x4 Pickups And Suv's.. Mainly From Speeding On Bad Conditions..
We Have 24 Hours To Clear The Roads Once A Storm Breaks. We Seldom Use Tire Chaines And Always Carry A Long Tow Chain To Pull Each Other Out Of The Bad Spots.. Even The Most Exsperenced Get Stuck Sooner Or Later..

Arm

 

duallys suck when it comes to winter and unloaded, had one a few years ago, and once the snow got hard, that dam thing would get stuck all the time, ended up parking it and using the single wheel 4wd, as for the ride, if it was empty, hang on and make sure to have your coffee lid on, road like a tank

but then the purpose for duallys is not the same as a single wheel, wife also found iit to big for her liking

 

I have never see any one take off the inside wheels to plow. All I use are mason dumps to plow with. I have some 2wd mason dumps that I plow with too. I have never seen and one plow with a 2wd SRW truck.

 

My dually worked as well in the snow as anything else I've had. Put a little weight in the back and all is well.

 

Well I own both, The dually is a 91 and the 2500HD is a 05. I have also had An 01 1500 and a 03 1500, All 4x4. I also have a 9' plow on the dually. When the snow in deeper then about 3" the dually feels like I am pushing the snow with the arse end sliding a bit. Wile plowing it is a whole different game. The single wheel trucks go through it much better. As for plowing I couldn't tell you with single wheel. But just driving in the snow the single beats it duall hands down. This is just what I have experianced with the trucks I own. Now with 4x2 and duall rear wheels they just suck. I also have a 03 F-450 tow truck that is horrable in the snow. That has more weight in the rear then 1000lbs of salt or sand or whatever you put back there. If you are going to drive in the snow, and when I say snow I mean more that 2 or 3 inches. 4x4 is the way to go. If you need a dually then it is better then haveing a truck that can't handle the weight you are haulling. Also the guy that said locked diffs are even worse is right. Once you start slipping you are sure going to slide out one side or another.

 

Just move down to florida and you wont have any problems with snow. lol the only thing you have to worry about is all the hurricanes blowing you house away:ro) :ro) :lol:

 

Always had good luck with my old dually in the snow. Especially with the 9' Sno-Way on the front.

 

duallys suck in snow 4x4 makes it alittle better

 

What is this stuff you guys talk about? Snow?

 

While I do not live @ 10,500 like some of our brethern here, I do live @ 6,000. I get enough snow yearly to comment about how Doolies handle in the snow, not to mention driving to Vegas a couple of times during snow season!

My rig does just fine. I have never gotten stuck, nor had problems with fishtailing, cuz I know that I need to feather the go pedal to keep on track. So, yes Virginia, Santa does need to know how to handle his rig. As was commented earlier, there are other vehicles that handle better in the snow, but I'd rather push my doolie than be seen in a Accord.

Adding a significant ammount of weight to the bed right over or slightly behind the doolies is helpful as well...that is all!

 

My 2 cents.

My dually is definately worse in the snow compared to my 83 K5 diesel Blazer which had it beat by miles. That truck has a heavy diesel engine in the front and three fuel tanks, 57 gallons, to anchor the rear. I've never driven a better performer in snow, and have driven in power over 3 feet high except that if I stopped I needed to shovel a 6' runway to get started again. I can't imagine my Duramax Dually ever being able to handle that unless I had chains on all six tires.

The problem is the pounds per square inch on the rear tires means that if the truck is lightly loaded the rear end can break free very easily. Narrow tires, or tires with big lugs will improve this pounds per square inch issue. Both are good ideas in snow but suffer from wear issue in the summer.

On the freeway, a drunk girl hit me in the rear quarter in the rain and broke my rear end loose. I was empty at the time--but she did not hit me hard either--she hit with her side view mirror and broke that off.

This is one reason I put a set of Revo's on the truck. I feel I need the best tire possible. Revos are not the best for snow, but a good compromise between all season and snow.

The other point is you need weight in the back. 1000 pounds is a good mininum. My plan it to put several 55 gal drums in the back that I can fill with water. Given a choice I'd want at least 1500 pounds in the back over the rear axle. I made two 2x12 board to fit in the slots in the bed. These work great to keep stuff from moving to the front of the bed. My idea is to use these to keep the weight were I want it over the axles and still leave me space to put stuff near the tailgate.

My brother has a mason dump body on a regular cab. The weight of the dump body makes a huge difference for him in his plowing ability.

My feeling is you would need twice the weight in the back to get similar performance out of a dually if you don't have a mason dump body in the back. The added weight might be a penalty though if you want to stop when sliding down a steep hill.

 

Physics class teaches you that there is no difference because surface area and weight are poportional. There should be no difference between a srw and a drw truck. If you give up surface area (single) you gain weight/area and if you gain surface (dually) area you lose weight/area.