Daily Driving Your Tow Vehicle? Dually?

[Tom Traveler]

Well when we first bought our new 2018 Ram 3500 long bed DWR, anticipating the purchase of our current RV, the Wife did her last year before retirement driving it as a daily driver 50 miles round trip 5 days a week into downtown Austin 32 second street to the Hospital she worked at. Now granted she had to park it in the lower level parking garage next to the larger spaces reserved for ambulances, more to do with it's height but also width. She got real good at parking our "Behemoth". We also used it for shopping and groceries, but yes it was easier to park it out in the south 40 parking lots.

Now that we have been fulltiming since 2020, Behemoth has 87,000 miles on it and we have had it in some really tight places, but we wouldn't have it any other way, we love Behemoth as our only vehicle!

We bought the RV first then got a truck to fit. That turned out to be a DRW. I initially wanted to stay with a SRW as it would be the only vehicle available during our travels, but the numbers just didn’t work. It has turned out not be be an issue for us. So far, there hasn’t been anyplace we couldn’t go or find parking. On average, we walk a block or two more than otherwise, but as we try to get lots of exercise, the extra walking fits the agenda. I’m a bit of a door ding avoidance fanatic, so I’ve always tended to park in the more open areas of parking lots anyway. This truck’s length probably causes more issues than the width.

 

[jjbbrewer]

It has turned out not be be an issue for us. So far, there hasn’t been anyplace we couldn’t go or find parking.

Same here. I'm really puzzled by everyone that says there's no way they'd use a DRW long bed for a daily driver.

Seriously, I never have a problem maneuvering, parking, turning, backing, whatever, with my truck. And it's not small. Maybe I've just gotten used to it?? I know my wife's Volvo XC70 feels like a go-cart when I drive it around.

 

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Same here. I'm really puzzled by everyone that says there's no way they'd use a DRW long bed for a daily driver.

Seriously, I never have a problem maneuvering, parking, turning, backing, whatever, with my truck. And it's not small. Maybe I've just gotten used to it?? I know my wife's Volvo XC70 feels like a go-cart when I drive it around.

I used my Dodge 3500 SRW as a daily driver since 2007 and it has been fine. I'm similar to Tom as for parking in the outer areas to avoid dings anyway. BUT, there are various places with tight lots or drive throughs with tight corners meant for SUV's that I just stay away from. I won't say it's a problem, but a limitation. And it's all because of the 3500 Dodge's turning radius, not the size of the truck. Physically it's same as a half ton...at least within an inch or two.

 

[Keebler]

Towing with a dually is great, but you already know that; i just like to reiterate it; makes the trade offs worth it for me.

My dually is a daily driver and have no issues with the driving part. It's also not an issue in larger parking lots.

The issues I have experienced:
> Mine will NOT fit in my garage at home.
> Parking decks can be an issue with height (in addition to the length and width issues).
> Parking in some down town areas can be challenging.

 

[trailrydr]

We do alot of touring when we camp. Driving a "large and/or wide" vehicle of any kind in cities, busy parking lots, garages, malls, grocery store lots, tourist attractions, and not to mention narrow roads with no shoulders makes it "our" reason for using a smaller vehicle for every day driving.

Would agree that parking in the back forty or a block away (if available) was what I did 10 yrs ago. Even did it with my cars as well. But now would rather spend my time doing more touring then parking, and not having to worry about 3 - 5 point turns to enter/leave tight spaces which more parking lots are adopting and dealing with other impatient drivers wanting to ride my bumper doing it.

Note: Have seen to many fender benders because of impatient drivers wanting to dart around a large vehicle parking. Pulling right in cuts down on the ah-crap factor and keeps the vacation on the plus side.

 

[COGrandDes]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I was silly and walked in to a GMC dealership today..

Walked out with an order for a 2024 3500 SRW Denali. What can I say they had a provision available

The deposits fully refundable and they said they'd have no issues selling it so no hard feelings if I change my mind and order a dually.

Yikes. Haha

I did something similar just over a year ago. I loved the new 2022 GMC body style and wanted the 10-speed trans so I sold my 2017 Sierra 3500 with 35K miles on it and ordered my new 3500 AT4 CC LB truck. I put $1K down for the ordering deposit and then eight weeks later my new truck arrived. I have nearly 8K miles on it now and couldn't be happier. I sold the 2017 for $10K more than I paid for it three years prior. The new truck is a SRW and the CC is 3836 lbs. I was pulling a 16K lb 40' Montana with it all through the mountainous West. We since downgraded to a Reflection 303RLS that's much easier to get in and out of the woods where we boondock through the summer and fall. You will love it I'm sure!

 

[pappcam]

The only drawback of my F-350 being my daily driver is I have to park a little further away for work as the parking structure I was parking is too low for my new truck. It fit my old F-150 but my new truck is 4-5" higher so it's a no go. It's only a couple of blocks or so though so no big deal and extra walking at my age is always a good thing, at least for me as I'm still fully able-bodied.

 

[ManageIT]

I daily drove our dually for about a year until we bought a new car for my wife. Kept her her old car (Toyota Avalon) and I drive it daily now. I miss driving the dually and never had a problem with parking. We live in Oklahoma so everyone has trucks and seems like spaces are bigger here to accommodate. I daily drive the car due to fuel costs and to keep the mileage down on the dually. I easily get twice the mpg driving the car. More than pays for the extra insurance and maintenance on the car.

 

[Wandering5thwheelers]

In my neverending quest of hating money I'm doing the slow dance around upgrading my tow vehicle and wanted to poll y'all on your experiences.

• How many of you daily drive your tow vehicle?
• How many of you that daily drive it do so with a dual rear wheel and how is that?

I've looked at enough capacities decals to go absolutely cross eyed and come to a few conclusions. Upgrading from a 2500 SRW to a 3500 SRW gets me almost nothing in extra capacities (listed at bottom, identical optioned trucks). I'd jump at a DRW in a heartbeat but I daily the truck for work and domestic life. I'm at exactly 11 months from taking delivery of this one today and hanging out at 29.2k miles so some significant time will be spent in the drivers seat.

We've had a less than stellar experience with our first trailer so we're strongly considering taking it on the chin and flipping it. (It's gotten bad enough I've stopped posting about it here. Suffice to say now we're taking it to a third party for eval. GD has been mostly great about dealing with the issues but we're exhausted with this unit and have some serious concerns about its long term integrity. It's got a July build date and the pre-refresh interior so we're thinking it was a last minute slap together before the changeover) Everything we're considering as an alternative has a pin weight that gets just outside of my capacities on the 2500 so we're on the hunt for the next move.

Differences between identically optioned 2500 and 3500 GMCs, all to the favor of the 3500 but only just:

GVWR: 800lbs
GCWR: 2200lbs
RAWR: 650lbs
Curb: 50lbs heavier
Cargo: 750lbs
Max Pin: 501lbs

You don’t state if your truck is diesel or gas.
We towed a 18000lb 40 ft Rushmore with our 3500HD Chevy diesel SWD with zero issues.

 

[BZiegler3]

We are full time and our tow vehicle is a F350 dually and it’s our only vehicle. No issues other than occasional tight parking lots made for econoboxes! We’ve been FT for 8 years.

 

[smullinax]

I drove F150's for 40 years (sounds crazy, but I just did the math), but needed a bigger truck to pull our new 5ver. So far I have been very happy with the 3500 SRW Silverado LTZ. It has the long bed/wheelbase which I wanted for full timing. The Duramax/Allison combination is very smooth with plenty of torque and hp. I was even more surprised by the ride quality, much better than I expected. I actually prefer to drive it rather than my wifes 23 Subaru Forester. Parking in a strip mall can be touchy due to the length, but I usually park out away from everyone anyway to avoid door dings. I was thinking the other day whether I would ever go back to a half ton even if I didnt need the cargo capacity.

 

[Band1t]

In my neverending quest of hating money I'm doing the slow dance around upgrading my tow vehicle and wanted to poll y'all on your experiences.

• How many of you daily drive your tow vehicle?
• How many of you that daily drive it do so with a dual rear wheel and how is that?

I've looked at enough capacities decals to go absolutely cross eyed and come to a few conclusions. Upgrading from a 2500 SRW to a 3500 SRW gets me almost nothing in extra capacities (listed at bottom, identical optioned trucks). I'd jump at a DRW in a heartbeat but I daily the truck for work and domestic life. I'm at exactly 11 months from taking delivery of this one today and hanging out at 29.2k miles so some significant time will be spent in the drivers seat.

We've had a less than stellar experience with our first trailer so we're strongly considering taking it on the chin and flipping it. (It's gotten bad enough I've stopped posting about it here. Suffice to say now we're taking it to a third party for eval. GD has been mostly great about dealing with the issues but we're exhausted with this unit and have some serious concerns about its long term integrity. It's got a July build date and the pre-refresh interior so we're thinking it was a last minute slap together before the changeover) Everything we're considering as an alternative has a pin weight that gets just outside of my capacities on the 2500 so we're on the hunt for the next move.

Differences between identically optioned 2500 and 3500 GMCs, all to the favor of the 3500 but only just:

GVWR: 800lbs
GCWR: 2200lbs
RAWR: 650lbs
Curb: 50lbs heavier
Cargo: 750lbs
Max Pin: 501lbs

2 yeas now that I have been driving my 2021 Ram 3500 DRW as a daily driver here in Portland. No issues other than I avoid going downtown due to parking, etc. No issues at all. I do watch for some of the older areas of town with narrow streets.

 

[LMagelitz]

Seems like there's a fairly even split on opinions with the DRW. I'm pretty torn.

We're looking at something like the 310GK. Listed as 2300lb pin but 20% of GVWR puts it at 3k which would be pushing it with an aux tank and the family.

The 310 can get fairly pin heavy when you load it up, since most of the storage is forward of the wheels. I’ve got a genny up front, washer/dryer, lithium batts, and a couple of inverters. Ready to camp it’s about 3400 on the pin. Add an aux tank, a hitch, and the family, and in my case, I’m in dually territory.

 

[jbailey]

I purchased a 2022 F-450 and it has been my daily driver since delivery in February. Its a DRW and I love the truck. I have about 6000 miles on it. I went from a 2004 Dodge 3500 so everything was a huge improvement including technology, ride, comfort, everthing, but that may not be your expereince if you are going from a late model truck up into DRW territory. Parking it is the only issue that I have had - I have been through bank drive through, fast food places, etc.. with it and it handles and turns much better than my old SRW.

 

[ardvark16]

I drive an F-350 non dually short bed as a daily driver and I don’t love it. It stinks to park and it is a cumbersome vehicle to drive. I also drive a huge commercial truck all day long here in NJ so I’m pretty much over not having something fun to zip around in.

 

[tjndsa]

When we were looking at upgrading to a Momentum toy hauler, DH wanted one that was 43 foot long; I was looker at the shorter models because there was no way I wanted to drive a truck with a fat rear. He was adamant he wanted a DRW. He was looking at Ram but I liked the Chevy models better. So we did something we don't usually do and test drove them. We both agreed the Chevy drove/felt smoother/nicer than the Ram. So I compromised by telling him if he wanted DRW, it had to be a Chevy. Didn't take long for him to find a good deal and we had it within a few days (we found/purchased it one month prior to covid shutting everything down). He was away at work when it arrived, so I was first to drive it for several hundred miles before he even laid eyes on it. At that time, our Volvo XC90 was locked in our garage three states away, so the DRW was my daily driver for a good long while. I love it! So glad we did it. I even bought a hat that says 'I love my Truck1" No matter which vehicle we're parking, we always opt for the spots furthest away to avoid door dings, etc. so that is not really a big deal for us. Right now, I'm in a RV park in Southern Colorado while DH is at work and have to use it as my daily driver. No issues.

 

[ajg617]

The 310 can get fairly pin heavy when you load it up, since most of the storage is forward of the wheels. I’ve got a genny up front, washer/dryer, lithium batts, and a couple of inverters. Ready to camp it’s about 3400 on the pin. Add an aux tank, a hitch, and the family, and in my case, I’m in dually territory.

Interesting - not denying the 310 is heavy up front. Same options - genset, solar, Splendide separates, slide toppers, Battleborns plus dual panes and a 55gal fuel tank replacing my 32gal in TV. I run a Goosebox which saves me a bit of weight. But fully loaded for a 40 day trip, 2850-3050 pin weight at scales. I scale each trip. My SRW Ram is stickered at 4014, but a couple options and fully loaded drops me to real payload of 3250 or so with the larger tank, 3450 with the 32gal tank. Love the rig but my one complaint is no storage behind the axles. Been toying with Morryde IS but so far I'm happy with my 8K discs.

 

[Mannyjt]

The 310 can get fairly pin heavy when you load it up, since most of the storage is forward of the wheels. I’ve got a genny up front, washer/dryer, lithium batts, and a couple of inverters. Ready to camp it’s about 3400 on the pin. Add an aux tank, a hitch, and the family, and in my case, I’m in dually territory.

Wow thats insane. I've been reading around and find that you're on the high end but it's not at all unbelievable. An aux tank is one of my big motivators. We've been finding our travels and desires lead us through paths with rural stations with questionable lot access and fuel quality so being able to put 100gal in the TV somewhere reputable and then only have to worry about bathroom breaks and some random romps for the dogs seems appealing.

You don’t state if your truck is diesel or gas.
We towed a 18000lb 40 ft Rushmore with our 3500HD Chevy diesel SWD with zero issues.

Apologies, its a diesel. Eats up some of my payload but will never look back, no more gassers for me.

I was silly and walked in to a GMC dealership today..

Walked out with an order for a 2024 3500 SRW Denali.

So this dealership "Didn't have time" to take my deposit that day as we were close to closing time and has utterly blown me off ever since. Seems like a them problem now ��

I decided to go to the dealer that I have my service done at and the difference in service is night and day. Far friendlier, attentive.. and when they didn't know the answer to a few of my questions Friday they set up a meeting on Monday with the local GM truck rep.. (Let me know if y'all have anything you want answered, happy to ring his ear off for ya!)

I'm leaning heavily towards the DRW as I don't want to wind up being undersized again in the future and the aforementioned aux tank wishes.

The only concern I have is our last trip out we would have fit on all of the two tracks and forest service roads I was willing to take a brand new truck down.. but some of the trailheads were really tight in a SRW. We primarily camp for access to hiking destinations so this is my big reservation before I pull the trigger this week.

Wifey wants to keep the '22 Denali Black Diamond.. cause I mean cmon look at that thing.. but two mortgage sized truck payments is a lot. Decisions decisions.

 

[OshawaDave]

My 2500 is my daily driver.
When gas costs got stupid a year ago and through the fall and winter, I typically would use my wife's car for errands and the truck sat more than I drove it. I have that luxury as we're recently retired.

 

[Brother_Bluto]

My F450 is my daily driver and absolutely love it. Even though the F450 is a LB, the wide-track front end gives it a better turning radius than the last two 3/4T GMC CCSB's and the last 1T F350 CCSB SRW. I back it in to park 90% of the time, but I think it parks better than my wifes VW Atlas. I have no issues at bank or pharmacy drive-through's - the mirrors are my guide if it is unfamiliar territory. I do try and avoid downtown Nashville but will do it in a pinch and use a surface lot.