I am guessing that this is the correct spot to ask this if not please tell me.
I am a farmer from Central MN, as part of my life I am required to drive in and thru the fields some of which have a nice ditch on them. I also tow alot (we have 2 horse trailers 2 stock trailers 3 equipment trailers 2 header trailers and alot of other trailers). My problems are the fact that I would like to have more clearence so it is a little easier getting into some of the fields. However I need to be able to pull all the trailers still. Most of which are goose necks and 5th wheel. O and by the way I do some side plowing in the winter.
This truck is an '05 Silver 3500 Dualie Crew cab with the 6.6.

 

yep this is the right place to post. since you pull goose necks i would say you cant put too much of a lift on it. I would say for the rear you can either put bigger blocks in the rear or put a add-a-leaf. for the front there are leveling keys for the torson bars and that will give you about 2" or so.

 

I was thinking something around 2-4" it will help alot with my frame hitting. Would there be a way to use bags that can keep me up higher but when I hook up a goose neck I can just put them into a kneel like function?

 

Hello fellow Minnesotan! Twin Cities local here.


The problem with lifting a tow rig that sees many goose neck and 5th wheel trailers is that the truck will sit too high for the trailer, making it unlevel for the horses and putting excess weight on the rear axle of the trailer since it's tipped backwards. Your best bet for ground clearance will come from the tires. You're only as tall as your lowest point, so a lift wont do squat without increasing tire sizes. Since you're a dually, you are extremely limited, sadly. The widest tire you can go with in the back is a 235/85R16. Do you still have 245/75R16's stock? If you're still rocking the stock 245/75R16's, the 235/85R16's will give you another 1/2" of lift since the tire is about an inch taller. I'd stick with lifting the truck using the torsion bars up front, probably 10-12 turns or so, which would net you an 1.5-2" of lift. You can lift up the back with a 2" steel block then, I'd leave your leaf springs alone. An add-a-leaf on a dually will just get flattened.

Visit the junkyards and look at a few Dodge Ram 2500/3500's and take the 2 or 3" block they have in the back and swap that into your truck. That way you know it's strong enough to handle the 3500's abuse and it'll be dirt cheap, $15 bucks at most. The torsion bar crank is free, since all you have to do is take a socket wrench to the torsion bolt and crank away. The expense comes from the required alignment after you mess with the front suspension.

So, torsion bars, blocks and 235/85R16's. You'll end up about 2-3" taller than you are now.

 

Howdy. I aint much of a city guy if it takes more then 20 miles for me to find horses cattle or corn I don't belong. Also most you guys down there are lets say . The problem I have is finding a yard around here, Right now if the sun was up id see corn corn corn o some soy out and that covers over 15 the next 3 roads. So what im saying is do you have any spots you can think of that would have them. Or I am assuming I will be in the cities in a week or two so any spots around either Forest Lake Hugo that would have some?

Inch up that is a nice looking ride I am wanting to do something with my S-10 frame and half body I got from a friend but that will start after harvest if something dont break.

 

Thanks. If you ever want to see it in person all ya gotta do is send me a private message asking for my phone number.

As for salvage yards, Blaine has a nice one. There's also one just shy of St. Cloud called Pam's Auto that I've bought from before, never been there though. Blaine's salvage yard is off of 65/Central Ave, called John's Auto Parts. I go there often for do-dads and nick-nacks. I'll be heading out there sooner than later if you wanted I could snoop around for the blocks I speak up and ship them to ya. That probably wont be until Sunday of this week or so, though.


By the way, I see that Pierz is just outside of Little Falls. I drive through little falls probably once a month, so I know what you mean. Corn corn corn...soy every now and then. I'm out in your neck of the woods hunting waterfowl all the time in the season.

 

I forgot to add this about why I want a lift. The problem I run into is getting into a couple of my fields the access is a good 15-20 minn outa my way on the far side of my field so i will go thru the ditch the ditches are avg around 3 foot deep and 4 foot wide on about half I will scrape my frame on the way in and out so I am looking at trying to stop that.

 

I know EXACTLY what you mean. Usually I'm hunting with a couple of buddies who have stock 1/2 tons, maybe with AT tires. We'll all pile into my truck and let me drive through the ditch since my truck has plenty of ground clearance (27" from level ground to bottom of frame to be exact with a 34" bumper height). I used to scrape all the time, until the lift.

A dually is limited for options. If you had a regular fleet side truck I'd say jack it way up and put 295/75R16's (33x11.50) on there but with the dually tires in the back your limit is how wide you can go, without the two tires in the back rubbing sidewalls when you're weighted down and towing.

 

Then I just gotta drive faster. get them tires ta spin up. What kinda field ya goin in and what ya hunting?
As for going fleet I need the help from dualies I think almost every day I am hauling a trailer(for some reason I wasnt smart enough to put the pastures next to eachother) So I prefer having a dual for how much hauling I do.

 

Depends on the season, I guess. If I'm out goose hunting I'm usually hunting corn and soy fields, coming in off the road down the ditch then onto the field. Of course if the farmer allows us to park on his land then we'll come in from the road, unload our hunting gear and decoys, then park near the farmer's home, but sometimes we've gotta park in the tall grass or in the ditch. If I'm out duck hunting then usually I'm out on the river or lake, where sometimes there isn't a boat launch so I'll get my truck and drive the boat and trailer off the road down into the ditch carefully and get the trailer submerged without sinking my truck down too deep. It's the 'getting back out' part that is difficult. Thank you locked front hubs!

I really put my truck to the test during the winter. I do more ice fishing in 2 months than I go hunting in 4 months. Sometimes I'll grab my homework and go study while setting up the tip-ups out on the lake. Getting on and off lakes is the hardest part, since usually the ditch is built up even steeper from the plows clearing off the road. I've had my truck damn near vertical a few times getting off of lakes.

Crappy cell phone pic, but you get what I mean.