Dieseltech

Well-known Member
Location
Akron, Indiana
May be ending up with dad's 2002 Dodge 3500 dually. Like the truck, don't like the dually part. Would it be possible to convert it to single wheels, or more bother than it's worth? Thanks in advance.
 
Since it's an 2002 it has the Dana front and rear I believe. I have a 2002 2500 with the Dana 80 LS rear and Dana 60 front. There was a mechanic at our dealership that went the other way he wanted duals and had singles and he had to change the wheels and studs. He never said he had to change out anything else.
 
You can take the dual wheels off and put single wheels on. The fronts are spaced with removable spacers. Just take those off and put four single wheels off a 3/4 ton truck on.

What are you going to do about the "hips" (fenders) on the box? I imagine that's your main complaint about the truck. The wide aspect bothers you and you think it might be harder to drive/park, right? You could cut them off but that will leave a big gaping hole in the sides of the box. You could get a different box but good luck finding a good box for a 15 year old truck. You could get replacement panels for the box sides, but that's a lot of work.

If it has a flatbed, converting it to singles won't gain you anything. It will still be just as wide due to the bed, unless you go through a lot of work making modifications.
 

I would just leave it alone. I think you would need to swap the entire rear axle, and then you would need to find a different box.

Duallys are in demand. Unless the truck has sentimental value, maybe you could trade it for a 1/2 ton or a 3/4 ton?
 
I don't think it would be worth all the effort but that's just me.
Why don't you like the dually?
Only thing I don't like about my dually is buying two extra tires. Other then that its just like driving anything else.
 
Dualllys run smaller tires than a single wheel truck usually so tire cost is about the same as buying 4 tires for a single wheel truck .
 
just take the dang duals off and put the single on it aint rocket science like some are trying to make it out to be. I bet you have less tire wear and they will last longer as duals
 
There is a difference in the hub-to-hub width of a dually axle compared to a single wheel axle.
The wheel bearings on a dually axle are centered on the dual pair so they are loaded evenly and by
running with just the inner wheel there will be an overhung load on these bearings which isn't
desirable. If the deep offset dually wheels are replaced with regular shallow offset wheels to
center the wheel on the bearings the track width will probably be too wide to fit in the fenders of
a regular pickup box.
 
I don't think it would be worth all the effort but that's just me.
Why don't you like the dually?
Only thing I don't like about my dually is buying two extra tires. Other then that its just like driving anything else.
 
Just change the wheels and bed. No other differences in hub or bearings. May have to have a different wheel offset. I would leave it a dually myself but it's no big thing to switch it if you really want to.
 

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