SRW vs. DRW???

I'm wondering what are people's experiences, and what might be better for longer-haul expeditions. (3+ months)

My personal trip will take me down to S. America, and wondering if one setup would be better than the other. Are DRW really hard to change on the trail?
I've never really looked too closely at how they are mounted, and how much work it would be to change a damaged/flat tire that was mounted on the inside...

EDIT: Sorry, i didn't include enough info the first time around...
I want to have a 1-ton Dodge or Ford with a slide-in camper. I know the duallie will ride better, and be more stable with the wider track, but i don't want to be stuck for a long time changing the inside tire. (If it is a pain in the a##)

The first question would be whether you are going foreign or domestic as the domestic duals do not track in the same line as the front tires and can be bad in ice, snow and dirt. Next, how are you going to load you vehicle? Heavily loaded vehicles perform best with duallies unless you do serious SRW mods. Yes, the inner tire on a dually is a pain to change and some people complain of rocks getting wedged between the two.

It will really depend on the type of trip and payload requirements. What sort of vehicle, camper, and payload are you considering? What are your trip goals and areas of interest?

If you're looking at lots of mud and narrow two track "roads", then SRW is the way to go. If you're looking at mostly pavement and gravel roads the DRW would be fine.

Srw

People prefer SRW because the rear tire follows in the track of the front. That makes it easier to keep your forward progress going in soft sand, snow and mud. Also, the DRW setup tends to follow ruts more readily, moving the rear end of the truck around.

The problem with SRW is getting enough carrying capacity in the tires for the load the truck is carrying. This usually means high tire pressures, which can cause traction problems (you can't air down the tires as much). High tire pressures also can mean an uncomfortably stiff ride.

To provide the same carrying capacity as DRW, SRW tires usually are wider and taller. This can create interference issues, and change the effective gear ratio.

Dual rear wheels allow the use of smaller, lighter, less expensive tires. This makes it easier to physically handle the wheel and tire combination when changing a tire. It also makes it easier to find a space to carry the spare.

Sticking with the stock dual rear wheel setup will make it easier to find tires and wheel replacements when traveling.

One problem with dual rear tires is making sure you check the pressure on the inner tires. This can be a pain unless you have extensions installed on the inner valve stems.

Chip Haven

you say domestic duals don't follow the same track? is that true of cab and chassis dually set-ups as well? I have always heard the cab and chassis set-ups rear axle's were narrower than a standard truck dually but I never knew why, is this where is comes in to play?

sorry, for a little off-track (no pun intended) discussion

spacer

You're right, if you simply remove the outside wheel from a domestic pickup's dual rear wheels, then the remaining rear wheel is inboard a few inches from the track of the front wheel. To fix this, people either swap in a wider rear axle or add a wheel spacer. The axle swap gives longer bearing life.

Chip Haven

Personally, I'd make the SRW vs. DRW choice based on the following (1) will it safely haul the camper that meets my needs, (2) will the overall truck/camper combo be able to travel to the places I want to visit, (3) does the truck allow enough remaining payload for all the stuff needed for an extended trip? I'd place tire changing far down the list of priorities.

When are you planning to head south? Have you determined what size camper meets your travel needs? Any make/model preferences? I'm going through this process myself now (albeit for a shorter series of trips in N. America). Would be happy to swap ideas and help if I can.

Bob

Well, the whole "idea" is to go from northern most N. America to southern most S. America, but that trip is years away. (Approx. 7.5 years, when i turn 40.)
I figure i could start piecing the parts together in the next few years, and that way i don't wake up in 2015, and have to drop $70,000++ on a truck 'n camper setup (and equipment) that i want at that time.

As well, this setup could be used as our way of summer vacationing over the next few summers as well. I also might get back into the snow-plow business, i have a whole one season of experience in that. lol
Kind of killing a couple of birds with the same stone/truck.

But, back to the BIG trip...
From the top to the bottom, with a truck and camper. It will be my wife and I, and up to three kids. (We want 3, the first is due June of this year.)

So there will be 5 residents in this thing, one of which will likely be under 3 years old. I'm thinking crew cab, cab 'n chassis truck with a flat bed built onto it to mount the camper to.
As for the actual camper, i have almost zero ideas what company or model to go with.
I heard of one place in California somewhere called "Callen" (sp??? i think??) that does sort of custom camper toppers...
Got the link from another site i'm on a lot:
http://www.callencamper.com/

I'm still looking for a Canadian company that does the custom sliders as well, that would make life a lot easier for me when getting it fitted and mounted and everything. (Proximity, and having to deal with customs/taces.)

Anyways, i'm thinking of doing a custom camper because then it will fit what i want it to do as damn close as possible, and i will have to compromise very little.
I have read a bit about the Turtle V and that seems to be a pretty great guide...

And back to the original question of SRW vs. DRW, part of why i'm asking how hard it is to change a dually is due to a disability i have. In 1997 i had a bad motorcycle accident which has left me with a paralysed right arm.
Obviously doing ANY mechanical work is very hard for me, and lifting a 150 pound tire+rim combo off the hub when i'm stuck in the mud would be darn near impossible.
So, with a dually, if i get one tire blown/cut/damaged/whatever, i could limp out of the area and just take it to a shop, but with SRW, i'd have to change it at the spot where it got damaged.
(And i know the weight carrying capacity of a tire in a dually setup isn't the same as a SRW.)

I dunno, lots of questions about this, and lots to consider. That's why i need all your guys' help and experience!

What wasn't mentioned so far is that DRWs have the problem that stones can come between both tires and destroy the tires.

My old motorhome had DRW and once we were driving a road with gravel and we got a pressure loss. When I changed the wheel I saw that a stone stuck between both tires and punctured one of them. Good that I had the SmarTire monitor to recognized the pressure loss imediately. Otherwise I would have been in real trouble when the second tire would als have been destroyed through the overload. I had only one spare with me. Changing was no big problem because the two rims are separated and can be removed one after each other.

All people that I know have converted their truck to SRW. Of course, this may not always be possible because of the load limits.

So, if you have a DRW and you go offroad or drive gravel roads with large stones , keep an eye on stones between the tires, and have at least two spares with you.

BTW, I recommend to have a tire pressure monitor like SmarTire with you. So it is easy to control the tire pressure an you can see immediately when something goes wrong.

Please place a lot of weight to what egn stated in the post above. Out here in the outback where I live almost no one runs duals because of that very reason. A fist-sized rock wedges itself between the duals and destroys one of the sidewalls (which are thinnest and weakest right in that spot). That type of flat is fatal to the tire - it cannot be repaired! If you've ever read the diaries of the Turtle (and other) expeditions, all of them converted their trucks to single rear wheels for this very reason.

Another thing - if you're in the rural areas of any of the countries south of the US border, don't expect to find a tire shop in the next little town. It most likely won't be there, so don't expect to drive on that flat until you find someone to fix it for you. YOU will need to have a tire to replace the flat one, and most likely YOU will have to mount it.

But if you just plan to stay in populated areas and drive on paved roads then a truck with duals will be just fine.

I'm in the tire business, so i totally understand how a tire is constructed and the load limits and all of that. I just don't have first hand knowledge or experience with running different tire/wheel combos on long trips.
And that's why i'm thankful for all your guys' input!!! :clapsmile

And i am taking the advice of the board members to heart, and it will factor heavily into my decisions.

I have been thinking about using a crew-cab cab 'n chassis and building a flat deck for the rear and mount the camper to that. I've been looking at Dodge, because i like Dodge, and they have an option to buy that truck with a SRW only. I think it reduces the GCVW to around 10,000 pounds, vs. 12,000 for the DRW setup.

I'm just in the very earliest stages of planning this whole trip so it's good to get these basic ideas thought out now.