What Is a Dually Truck?

by Matthew SuedkampUpdated July 12, 2023
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A Dually Truck is a pickup with dual rear wheels on either side. Dually trucks are used for a wide variety of jobs, including construction and other commercial applications. They’re known for their towing capacity and they may be an added expense, but are often necessary depending on the work.

Technical Breakdown of a Dual Wheel Truck

A dually truck is a pickup that has extra wheels on its rear axle on each side. These pickup trucks are fitted with heavy-duty brakes, heavy-duty shocks and heavy-duty springs. Furthermore, they often run the largest and most powerful engines that the manufacturer offers. DRW trucks are called one-ton pickups because of their ability to carry heavy loads more than 2,000 pounds in their beds and tow large trailers.

Dual Rear Wheel Truck Models

As of right now, six different dually pickup truck models are available in the market: Ford F-350 Super Duty, Ford F-450 SuperDuty, Chevrolet Silverado 3500hd, Ram 3500 HD, GMC Sierra 3500HD and the Dodge Ram 3500 Heavy Duty. All four trucks offer gasoline and diesel engine options, and have options like Power Stroke or Cummins engines. Dual rear wheel trucks come in varied cab configurations, including extended cab and crew cab models, and some may feature long bed models too. However, there are some downsides to some of the models: The Ram 3500 HD doesn’t have a great fuel economy, and the Chevy Silverado usually has a slightly lower maximum towing capacity.

Heavy-Duty Pickup Uses

Heavy-duty trucks like these are usually outfitted with gooseneck or fifth-wheel trailer hitches. They can be used to tow very large trailers that can weigh over 20,000 pounds fully loaded, such as horse trailers and fifth-wheel campers. They can be driven on the highway or taken off-road for heavy-duty work. These haulers are also used in construction to tow heavy machinery and materials, as well as bring workers to the job site. The flexibility of these trucks to complete a variety of different jobs makes them so useful.

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