best setup 1 ton dually

my brother in law wants to bag his 1 ton dually quad cab long bed and he still wants to tow stuff what would be the best rear setup to use and what should he look out for thanks

For a tow vehicle you would be best off keeping the geometry very mild. For instance, I would usually suggest running the instant center around your bumper, but on a long vehicle like that you would put it around the back of the tranny or so. Being that you are wanting to tow, keep the IC around the bumper still.

A simple pannard bar is best for it's rugged simplicity.

Make sure that the link bars are near parallel to the ground at half travel.

Keep travel to a minimum, nothing over 10" probably even less if he plans to tow more often than not.

Be sure to use the right size bag for the application. If you want a bag on bar set-up, reinforce the bars and use a big bag. Not to big tho, then the bags acts too soft. A Firestone pn. 26c only about 1/3 the way down the bar from the rearend would be a good place to start. If you want to run a bag over axle set-up use the big sleeve style bags. There is a mid sized part from Firestone that can be purchased from Mac's Spring or other Big Rig type supply house.

GOOD SHOCKS! Spend the extra couple dollars for decent quality shocks. I don't mean $1000 resevoir shocks. You shouldn't need to spend any more than $200 on good shocks, but they will make all the difference in the world.

And obviously overbuild everything. Look how big the factory leafspring bolts are, you should try to run that same size bolt in your link bars.

thanks max he is planning on doing it in the next cople of months ,,(planing) if does do it ill take some pics of the build up

im running 26c's on my lower bars which will be made out of 2x2 .25 wall tubing. my truck isnt a dually but it is a 1 ton. i was planning on doing a wishbone for the top bars should i not do that you think?

As I have stated in the past, wishbones are tough to set up properly without taking up too much space. And many times the single point of the wishbone is mounted off center in order to get it to work. On a tow vehicle, that would not be a good idea. I would still suggest a pannard bar only for it's simple strength. If you still choose to run a wishbone, be sure to do your home work on stress risers, instant center and roll center

Edited: 10/22/2007 5:13:24 PM by Ben_shady

The setup I have put together for my dually but not installed yet is a Parallel 4 link with a wishbone/slide link in the center for a track locator. Will this work ok? I couldn't really do a panhard considering it's on 24's and even with a cab/chassis axle it's still very tight back there and really don't have alot of room for any side to side movement. I have some medium sized Sleeve bags for the rear and we are going to mount them behind the axle due to space constraints. The parallel 4 link seemed to be the strongest option I had.

Originally posted by Ben_shady



Edited: 10/22/2007 5:13:24 PM by Ben_shady

The setup I have put together for my dually but not installed yet is a Parallel 4 link with a wishbone/slide link in the center for a track locator. Will this work ok? I couldn't really do a panhard considering it's on 24's and even with a cab/chassis axle it's still very tight back there and really don't have alot of room for any side to side movement. I have some medium sized Sleeve bags for the rear and we are going to mount them behind the axle due to space constraints. The parallel 4 link seemed to be the strongest option I had.



Just narrow the axle you could probably just get it done and not ever have to worry about it and it will only cost about $300 or $400. I did it on my ford and it was the best thing i ever did. It clears the 26s easy.

I bought a cab/chassis rear alxe for it and it's roughly 8 or 9 inches narrower than the factory axle so the 24's will fit.

thanks for all the input

its so funny that this is on here today, i was just wondering what the best set up for a 1 ton dually was today. I just picked up an 86 crew cab chevy c3500 and want to get it bagged and bodydropped and still want to tow. I will be towing a 7200 lbs. travel trailer with the family, so strenght would be good.