2018 Roadtrek 210 Dually Conversion.

[valvegod]

Finally after 3 months of way to many hours of research and labor, I have completed the true dually and suspension conversion (11.5" axle) on our 2018 210. So far the handling and ride are drastically improved. Lifted 3" in front, and 2" in back. Added bonuses: No needed spare tire, park assist works, more pulling power, much higher load capacity, undercarriage clearance.

[mloganusda]

What was your cost to convert? I am think along the same lines for my 2017 Trend for better weight carrying capacity. Right now the Trend is not able to carry full tank of fresh water as it overloads the passenger rear tire (10 ply). The Trend is front wheel drive so no drive shaft connection needed.

[booster]

What method did you use to lift the front? I ask because once you get around that 3" mark, if you do it with just springs and stock A arms, you are getting close to hitting the frame with upper arm on downtravel, unless you limit the downtravel to a pretty small amount with the shock length.

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by valvegod

Finally after 3 months of way to many hours of research and labor, I have completed the true dually and suspension conversion (11.5" axle) on our 2018 210. So far the handling and ride are drastically improved. Lifted 3" in front, and 2" in back. Added bonuses: No needed spare tire, park assist works, more pulling power, much higher load capacity, undercarriage clearance.

Looks like a great upgrade. Too bad Roadtrek doesn't build them that way.
But I'm confused. Why do you think you no longer need a spare? How do you get more pulling power and higher load capacity? Did you replace the front suspension, spindles and rear axle?

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

Looks like a great upgrade. Too bad Roadtrek doesn't build them that way.
But I'm confused. Why do you think you no longer need a spare? How do you get more pulling power and higher load capacity? Did you replace the front suspension, spindles and rear axle?

Presumably, the duals permit temporarily swapping a bad front tire with one of the rear wheels.

The load capacity is increased with four rear tires. I don't know how the duals themselves would increase pulling power which would seem more a function of the axle ratio employed.

For increasing load on a 210 , there is a less elegant but also less complicated way of accomplishing this which is to go to 7 inch rims and using a 265-75-16 tires which increases tire load capacity by almost 700 pounds. Axle capacity remains unchanged but I think the 60S Dana is quite capable of handling this load increase.

[hbn7hj]

The plate appears to be Michigan. Must be an auto engineer to pull off such a fabulous mod so quickly. A little writeup with more detail would be really great.

Most of us take more time than that to lift the front end 3 inches and still get it wrong.

[rowiebowie]

Looks good. The main thing is you're satisfied with your modifications.

.

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by cruising7388

Presumably, the duals permit temporarily swapping a bad front tire with one of the rear wheels.

The load capacity is increased with four rear tires. I don't know how the duals themselves would increase pulling power which would seem more a function of the axle ratio employed.

For increasing load on a 210 , there is a less elegant but also less complicated way of accomplishing this which is to go to 7 inch rims and using a 265-75-16 tires which increases tire load capacity by almost 700 pounds. Axle capacity remains unchanged but I think the 60S Dana is quite capable of handling this load increase.

Running with only a single tire on a dually will overload the tire. You could do it in an emergency but the tire would be ruined. It is not a good alternative to a spare. Also many folks have reported that roadside assistance would not make such a swap for them.

Load capacity does not increase by just adding tires. Depends on many factors like tire ratings as you noted. But axle rating is often the limiter. Load ratings are established by manufacturer and anything an owner does won't change it.

It would be good to hear the OP's answers since they made the changes and know the details of their van.

[hbn7hj]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

Running with only a single tire on a dually will overload the tire. You could do it in an emergency but the tire would be ruined. It is not a good alternative to a spare. Also many folks have reported that roadside assistance would not make such a swap for them.

The van ran on one tire from the factory so it wouldn't overload the tire, assuming he was still within the original gross weight limit. I would certainly use it as a spare but would not bolt the flattened tire back on. Certainly get it fixed ASAP.

[cruising7388]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

Load capacity does not increase by just adding tires. Depends on many factors like tire ratings as you noted. But axle rating is often the limiter. Load ratings are established by manufacturer and anything an owner does won't change it.

There's no shortage of reports regarding rear tire failure from overloaded Chevys but what axle failures attributed to overload have been reported?

FWIW, the 60S axle rating is coincidentally 2X the 3042 lb E rated tire which prompts speculation that the 6084 lb axle rating assigned was more likely someone filling in the blanks rather than an engineering computation derived from a test bench.

[Hondo]

Originally Posted by hbn7hj

The van ran on one tire from the factory so it wouldn't overload the tire, assuming he was still within the original gross weight limit. I would certainly use it as a spare but would not bolt the flattened tire back on. Certainly get it fixed ASAP.

That all depends on the tire's load rating.


There are many tires of OEM or dually size tires that will fit but are rated to carry less load. If two lower rated tires are mounted and then one removed the remaining single tire may not be able to handle the actual load now imposed upon it.


If the dually tires are rated to RT OEM load specs then one tire should be able to handle the published OEM load on it's own. The important thing is that the right tires get selected.

[hardybob]

Valvegod, looks like a nice job with many improvements over stock. I have considered this a hundred times over the last 8 years. Are you able to say whether all parts are over the counter and approx cost and complexity?

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by hardybob

Valvegod, looks like a nice job with many improvements over stock. I have considered this a hundred times over the last 8 years. Are you able to say whether all parts are over the counter and approx cost and complexity?

I agree this is a great improvement. It would be nice if OP, Valvegod could give us more information on the specific parts used to make this mod.

[ICkNonDRon]

I have been contemplating doing a dually conversion to my Chevy van for quite a while. It seems that physically mounting it is a straight forward job, and any dually rear end from a 2003-current cutaway van will fit. Disconnect driveshaft, disconnect brake lines, disconnect parking brake cable, disconnect speed sensors, undo 8 U-bolt nuts and roll the old one away.
Few issues come to mind and I am curious how the OP handled that.
1) Gear ratio. 2010+ gasoline Express vans come with 3.42 rear axle ratio, Duramax vans come with 3.54. However, the dually axles 2003-current come in either 3.73 or 4.10. G80 locking differential was optional on all of them. I wonder if the OP regeared his rear end, reprogrammed the computers, or just got used to the speedometer showing higher speed.
2) Stabilitrak. Dually rear ends do not have provisions for wheel speed sensors. ABS (and most likely Brake) light will remain on if sensors disconnected. One "hack" around this issue could be wiring the rear sensors in parallel with the front ones, to trick the EBCM into thinking the rear wheels are spinning at the same time as the front ones, but in slippery conditions that may cause ABS to perform odd.
3) TPMS is limited to 4 wheels, so the remaining two will need to be monitored separately. Dually trucks aren't required to have TPMS and thus don't come with it (I had a 2017 and it didn't).

[ICkNonDRon]

Would the OP answer answer those last questions please?..

[valvegod]

Sorry never got a single notice on this thread that there was messages and not on this site much. Just started a new thread yesterday.