Ram (Dodge), GM and Ford One Ton Dually’s Or Freightliner, Peterbilt and International
Then there’s braking, though one ton dually’s from the big three have improved their braking ability, they still aren’t great with big trailers. In the tests and reviews I do with trucks, we run trucks on a race track with and without trailer brakes. Without trailer brakes, you’d be shocked at how far and long a new one ton dually diesel takes to stop without trailer brakes. It’s hundreds of feet at 60 mph. Then take a class 5 or 6 conversion truck like the Freightliner M2 or Pete 335 and do the same thing with the trucks air brakes and engine brake and it will make you smile. And with air bag suspensions, they don’t squat when loaded. Engine brakes are the same in over-the-road semi-trucks, which are dramatically more powerful than an exhaust brake in a one ton diesel. Each new model pickup truck year has an increase in towing capacity. What is the limit? Truck manufactures don’t know, they work off demand. The new You need to know the GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) of the Now the other category of medium duty trucks, the 2-tons. I have worn out my share of trucks. No I really mean I wore them out! When I was done with them they were worth about $20 a ton for scrap metal. The springs were arced the Being a rancher/farmer meant my truck had to pay for itself with use. Being overloaded most of the time is what got the job done. I hauled livestock, hay, wool, tractors, balers, backhoes, buildings, trees and whatever “kind of fit” the trailer. I was overweight, over width, and under trucked. No not me, the truck! After I replaced another set of u-joints in the drive shaft, I thought maybe I’m working my 1-ton dually too much. It had 300,000 miles on it and my Korean replacement door from the last time I jackknifed the trailer, was leaking so much air I couldn’t hear the weather report on the AM radio. So time for my next workhorse. I saw an ad for some furniture van body 2-ton trucks. They had 90,000 miles on them so they were already broke-in. My neighbor and I each bought one. Mine was a C65 Chevy. I took the 18 ft. van body off, leaving a flatbed and added a recessed gooseneck ball to the rear of the rear axle. In the above picture you can see how much taller the M2 Freightliner is than the one ton’s, with more glass for visibility and a larger wheel cut for out turning some one tons. On dirt roads, a big truck can take more caution with the front axles as wide as the outside dual. This can make the truck steer toward the ditch on a soft road shoulder. One ton pickup trucks front axle is inside and matches it’s inside dual wheel. One ton dually pickup trucks win the battle with speed and acceleration. The larger cab and chassis trucks on certain models will have less horse power and torque with the same diesel engines than 3/4 and 1 ton diesels. Manufactures consider pickup trucks to be loaded 10 % of the time and let the engineers have their fun competing with other brands for top power. Cab & chassis trucks on the other hand are designed to be loaded 90% of the time and are made for a longer life cycle. The two ton trucks can have larger diesels and more towing power, but aren’t designed for racing but for more controlled slower lift offs. But with large air brakes, engine brakes and weight, win the contest for stopping a trailer. Most of the 2-ton trucks will have 6 to 10 gears in the manual transmission or 5 or 6 speeds with an automatic transmission. These trucks are made to be loaded all the time. My 2-ton gave me the least amount of trouble hauling Another consideration is drivers license. I had a Class A drivers license in Colorado, which would let me drive anything in the old days. Now I have an CDL for multiple trailers. But the one ton dually pickups starting in 2011 model year have a GCWR of 30,000 lbs, so a CDL maybe needed for both. Unless you’re disguised as a RV. This is a gray area for the whole country. Pickup trucks pulling trailers and big trucks pulling gooseneck trailers seems to confuse the DOT, (Department of Transportation.) I know some people who get tickets because they are over 26,000 GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) and don’t have a CDL and log books and I know people who have never been pulled over with rigs that look totally commercial. Even with national CDL’s you would think there is some kind of constant rule but several states law enforcement seems to not know what to do. 10 years ago in Colorado when I pulled everyday, I never stopped in a port with a loaded trailer even when I hauled large round bales 12’ wide. But when I went threw Nebraska even with a stock trailer, I had to stop at the ports. Now the portable ports in Colorado Another problem with a big truck and a short wheelbase and a single rear axle is the bounce. Some people ad 1000 lbs weight to the rear frame so when not pulling a trailer it will bounce less. A nice heavy flat bed will help. If you always are hooked to a trailer it won’t be a problem. My truck had a 18’ flatbed, so I did use it without the trailer to haul things. It worked well for me but not everyone wants that long of a rig with a trailer.
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Class 3 one ton or Class 5-6 two ton? One class wins acceleration, the other wins braking
July 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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