Box Truck back roads ability

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Bonobo said:
With all this in mind, how well will a 14ft box truck fare on rough back roads compared to full-size 2WD cargo vans that seem popular here? 

For me driving off-road is more a function of driver experience than it is vehicle configuration.  An experienced driver can take a sedan where a newby will get stuck in an customized for off-road 4X4.  Size is your biggest concern as box trucks are generally wider and taller than a van.  Weight vs. floatation can be an issue also but that goes back to experience.  Track can help or hinder; again experience.
As for SRW vs. DRW: the only condition I know of where dual rear wheels is a disadvantage is in untracked, slippery, snowy conditions.  One does a lot of fishtailing as the rear wheels seem to fight each other to get into the front wheel track.  I would guess that slimy mud would present the same problem (think Utah dirt roads after a rain), but I never have driven a dually in those conditions.

 -- Spiff
 
"humorous" huh?

It's a matter of pressure per square inch of contact patch. Each rear tire will have less traction per tire when compared to a single with same weight on it. That is a fact.

My 88 3+3 dually sucked in low traction situations when empty. When loaded it got better but I learned to stay ON the beaten path.

Duals have merit in sand where you want flotation.

Spiff gets it.
 
yeah I am not saying each tire has better traction but you have twice as any tires. my experience is I get excellent traction. I have plowed through mud up to my cab for a 1/2 mile. if I am in snow and ice I chain up I don't slip and slide. I have heard all this before that duallies are no good off road because of this or that. I say that has not been my experience, in fact I have never owned a truck with such good traction. like I said I have the narrow dually it's no wider than a standard axle. I would hate to take a wide dually where I go. highdesertranger
 
dually was on my list of must haves
traction,weight distribution and safety
just need to add a posi of some sort
n.w. oregon,soft,soft,soft valley dirt and gravel mountain logging roads

so hdr,are your axles custom? no wider than my 85 k10?
 
the GM 14 bolt full floating axle came stock as a dually on cab and chassis models. those are the narrow duallies. my first one came from Edison, the guys at Edison called them line road trucks, because the were driven off road on the service roads. some of the service roads in the mountains are down right scary. highdesertranger
 
highdesertranger said:
the GM 14 bolt full floating axle came stock as a dually on cab and chassis models.  those are the narrow duallies.  my first one came from Edison,  the guys at Edison called them line road trucks,  because the were driven off road on the service roads.  some of the service roads in the mountains are down right scary.   highdesertranger

That rear axle setup must be somewhat rare.  I'm pretty sure that I have never seen one.
 
I did some digging, looks like offroad fire trucks are going Super Single. That really muddies the waters.

I have had different experiences then you. I guess it is best to agree to disagree.

Can you post a picture of your truck, is it a old railroad truck?
 
HDR, I'm sure your truck is heavily loaded. I bet the people who say duallys are bad offroad are comparing mostly empty trucks.
 
OK, I just have to weigh in, because this is America! Having driven many many miles in loaded trucks, both single rear wheel and dually versions, I can honestly say, it depends. As HDR alluded to, some duallys can get you in a bind due to width. But in soft stuff that extra width can be an advantage also. I once drove a dually van towing a trailer right through a sand bog that our other single rear wheel van not towing a trailer almost got stuck in. Empty duallys can also be a little bit of a handful on ice, but by then you had better be going slow in a single rear wheel truck or you'll be in a ditch anyway.

As for the Turtle V truck, I'm actually friends with Gary and Monika and have traveled with them. Doing what most on this forum are doing, and comparing it to them, is not really a fair comparison. They switched to singles for a couple of reasons - They travel internationally on very remote roads for long periods of time. There are very limited size tires available for the 19.5 inch rims that came on their truck, and they needed something taller to get through the river fords etc they expect to see. Also, many of the tracks are very tight and they needed their truck to be narrower - most duallys approach 8' wide and their truck is only 7' wide - 6'' on each side may not seem like much, but it makes a difference some of the places they go. They also need a tire that is available anywhere in the world - 17, 18, and 19.5 inch rims are not found in places like Mongolia, or even much of South America. But the tire they chose also needed to support the almost 15,000 lb truck. So they went to custom made 20'' rims with Michelin 40'' tall XZL military tires.

If you plan on traveling like they do, shipping your truck all over the world and driving through jungles you might want to consider doing as they did, but you better have deep pockets, or a sponsor. If you plan on traveling in the American West, in the deserts and the occasional mountain forest road, a dually will give you much greater capacity and be more stable. My current truck is a dually, after driving my previous 3/4 ton single rear wheel truck around overloaded all the time. The dually handles the weight so much better, and with it loaded I actually find it seems to do better on the ice than my previous truck. A couple weeks ago I drove on ice from Denver to Colorado Springs, passing numerous accidents and roll overs, and never felt the need to put it in 4 wheel drive.
 

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