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Old 10-12-2015, 12:05 AM   #5
hot rod
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 527
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A. There is no such thing as too much truck. You find that out the first time you try to panic stop a 16000# trailer with inadequate electric brakes with a 7000# dually. Same story when you try to make that fast move to avoid an accident and you find out the trailer is towing you.

B. Assuming you use the excavator commercially, and let's face it every excavator is commercial unless you just like digging up your backyard for fun, that 16000# trailer already requires a class A cdl, usdot number, and every other dot requirement regardless of the truck you are towing it with. Only difference is you might (just might) get a tick less scrutiny with the dually. But they are looking at those pretty close too, particularly if you cross a state line. My buddy got busted 20 miles from his shop, but just across the state line, for no usdot numbers (and the ensuing anal exam) on his dually and small single axle construction trailer. So you might as well have a truck that is more than up to the task, and a better bargain that the dually.

I currently tow my 19000# fifth wheel with a GMC 6500 topkick, and am now casually shopping for a class 8 truck to replace it, and wishing I'd gone that way in the first place. The 6500 has plenty of brakes and weight (12500#) to handle the trailer like a dream compared to my old dually, just lacking in the horsepower department. For that same $60k that dually cost, you can pick up a class 8 truck with a half million dependable miles left in it for $50k, and spend the leftover 10 on singling, a nice bed, and any minor repairs(like any used vehicle you buy) needed to make it real nice.
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