Why don’t they make dually truck beds the same width as the fenders? With a topper it just looks like a little truck ran into a big truck.
Could you take off 2 wheels to save on tires?
Inquiring minds want to now.
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Last time I looked, been quite a while, one ton pickups could be ordered with either single or dually rear wheels.
I can only guess that the standard width boxes are to keep the lines of the 1/2 & 3/4 ton trucks. Cab over campers are designed for standard width boxes. I have heard duallies provide more stability for cab overs.
I think you’ll find that dually trucks have a larger payload than SRW trucks.
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Taking 2 of the rear wheels off a dually reminds me of folks around here that have “customized” 4x4 pickups…that have been lowered the ground and/or equipped with low profile wheels/tires that have no business going off the pavement.
The older I get, the less I understand why people spend so much money making their vehicles look stupid.
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Duallys totally within the fenders requires a different bed design with the wheelhouses far into the load floor. That’s a big reason you don’t see this
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I assume they’re able to share more parts this way (such as the tailgate), which I’m sure reduces costs.
I have a 2001 Dodge Ram 2500, 4x4, Short Bed. The bolt pattern for my truck is 8X165.1 or more commonly called 8X6.5. This is the same bolt pattern as the Dodge Ram 3500 Dually.
When I bought, my truck I asked the truck manager at the dealership what the differences between the 2500 and the 3500 were, he replied that it was the wheels, tires, suspension parts (coil springs front, leaf springs-rear), fenders, and the emblems…
As for the Rear Axle, my year alone has over 10 variations just for the 4-wheel drive, with 4 of these variations if the axle had disc brakes (mine has drum brakes) and 12 more variations for the 2-wheel drive (some for drum and some disc brakes…).
So, the rear axle would also be different and there are even more variations than on mine, and to accommodate the longer lugs…
And then there is the Outer Fender Liner, the Fender Skirt and the inner fender splash pan…
But other than that, it’s much the same…
In other words, the 2500SRW and 3500DRW are COMPLETELY different 
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No reason to capitalized “COMPLETELY” different…. Almost all body parts are the same, the engine, the transmissions (automatic and manual), and transfer case (4-wheel drive), interiors, are all the same… Really, only the except the outside bed fender liners and the rear axle are different to accommodate the dually setup.
Like I wrote, there really is not all that much different that one could not change in their driveway to convert one into the other…
My Ram is the Heavy Duty, 4X4, Quad Cab, SLT Laramie Plus. The only option my truck does not have is the Snow Plow Package (I bought it in Tucson, AZ… That option put heavier duty springs, and a special wiring harness from the engine compartment to the cabin.
If you look at just about any non-bottom of the line vehicle, you would have an option of engines (electric and gas), low to high output (econ or high performance), you have choices of various transmissions (auto 6-10 speed, or manual 5 or 6 speed), various grades of interior (cloth up to leather), various rear axles (standard to limited slip/posi-traction and a whole gambit of ratios), paint schemes, and performance enhancements (air dams, wings, etc…). And these are just one model of one car or truck, and there are more differences in this one model than you will find between a single Dodge Ram 2500 and it’s counterpart the 3500.
So, I would say they are NOT “completely” different. In fact, there are more differences between the low-end (strictly utilitarian version) Dodge Ram 2500 and its high-end brethren…
In the attached photo of my Ram, I could probable change out the rear axle and add some fender skirts and I would not even have to cut the fenders to accommodate the extra tires since my truck sits to high (it’s at Factory Height, no lift kit…) L 
L . . .
Funny how some of our minds work, “Stream of Consciousness”, where one’s memory brings on another memory… I think I heard it called “Geezer Think…”
I’ve written about my Dodge Ram and about 15-years or so ago, I received an email from the dealership where I bought my Ram…
The email explained that they had sold numerous Diesel Rams to a local business and the Rams stared having fuel mileage problems, they suspected someone might be siphoning the fuel when they were closed at night and installed locking fuel tank caps and that did not change anything. The business had the drivers note the fuel level at close of business and sure enough, some trucks would be lower levels in the morning.
They installed security cameras and did record someone around the trucks and they would disappear for a while and then be seen again carrying what looked like large gas cans.
They went out to inspect the particular trucks and what did they find; but the plastic/poly fuel tanks all had petcocks installed in them. Apparently, the thief had drilled into the plastic tanks and then screwed petcocks into each tank.
They noted what days the thief was his most busy and stayed late and when they saw him on the camera drop out of sight, they ran out and caught the thief under the truck draining diesel fuel into those oil drain containers with openings in the side to drain engine oil and seal up and carry off. The thief had a couple of containers with him and several more waiting to be filled next to the back fence…
The email was a warning to all of us and if you ask the wife, she will tell you that the Ram gets bad enough mileage without someone stealing it…
The mileage for my Diesel Ram is about 15-17 mpg in the city and 22-25 on the highway…
And still keeping it real, Kroger wanted $4.02 a gallon for Diesel in York County. Virginia, on 23 Oct 2023…
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They start them young as children! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiexEcfQ1vE
Just so there is no misunderstanding, my Ram pictured above is 99.999999% Stock, as it came from the factory… The only modifications are the bed liner, and the camper hold down brackets installed in the bed. I’ve been asked numerous times, why did I lift it so high? I did not, that is the factory height…
New truck buyers don’t want a cargo box that is 2 feet wider than the cab, a flat surface sticking out 1 foot on each side would be unappealing and add noise. Aftermarket suppliers offer truck bodies to fit dual rear wheel truck widths.
The cargo box on my truck has an inside width of 5’ 3", there are no truck accessories to fit a 7-foot-wide cargo box.
I do not think this is correct. Sure, a dually pickup might have more in common with a standard 1.5 ton “work truck” pickup than say a Chevrolet Cavalier, but the differences are more than superficial.
This is actually not true, and the truck as pictured would be used as a construction “work truck”. It would make a great HVAC install truck, as you could fit an entire split system, or package unit in the bed, and still enjoy the utility bed configuration with lockable cabinets for your tool, parts, and materials.
I have worked for companies which used trucks like this, however they were always single-cab. The double-cab offers no advantage in my industry, but might offer an advantage in other industries such as landscaping, where a larger crew is often used.
I very much prefer utility-bed pickups as a work truck, though I now have to drive a large cargo van instead.
The work truck is a different buyer. The question was: why isn’t the stock cargo box as wide as the fenders/wheels? That would look silly.
Saw this short video and I remembered the discussion on the differences between the construction of a single and dually…
Here is one way to add a dually axle…
