I'm looking to make my truck a dually for a number of reason. First and formost better handeling and sway control, less likely to have a tire blow out and yes to dress the truck up a bit and make it look bigger. And as the Arrow Craft website points out for their conversion doing so WILL NOT increase the GVWR of your ride.
I'd love to go with a set of 19.5 steel wheel rims because around here the potholes on the highways will and has trashed aluminium, unless you have a meaty tire underneath. The other bigger problem is finding fenders for an 88 Chevy!
GVWR increase should never be attempted with adapters in my book either but where the springs and chassis are good for more but the wheels/tires are the restriction, such as in my case, the wheel/tire change can be effective for a GVWR increase. I have solid enough suspension plus my air bag stability will let me handle more but the wheel/tire rating limitation is not good for it.
I understand the pot hole reality. Growing up in the midwest winters and pot hole riddled roads I had to get out a ladder a few times to climb out of a pot hole. LOL
One thing about the aluminum wheels made for these conversions is that they are forged so there is not going to be any aluminum damage from the road unless the tire gives way. On a 19.5 tire rated at 4,500 lbs that doesn't happen much.
Corrosion is another problem though. Alcoa told me about thin plastic discs that are bolted between the steel and aluminum wheels, on duals that are in the salt, to prevent corrosion and electrolysis between the dissimilar metals. That is another deterent to the aluminum but with the forged materials they use the aluminum is definately not a weak point. Plus the ratings of the aluminum are higher than steel. Steel bends easier than forged aluminum which is a problem on my truck too. Three of the steel wheels were bent when I got the truck already so they had to go anyway. I am just biding my time to get up the money for the change out.
The wheel skirts are not too much of a prob for your project. There are after market skirts that are not bad on the pocket and some cool fabbed one that can be welded on and painted too. The new Ford dually skirts look just like an RV added on skirt; lame to me.
I liked the earlier look of the full flare on the Fords better than what they did in 2012. If I were a Ford guy I would change out my bed for the better looking stuff.
I know what you mean on the stiffer handling. I really like the stiff flat handling of my truck. It is especially rigid since I have the 5K lb Firestone air bags too.
Three sites I use are stylin trucks, truck accessories, and 4wheel trucks for shopping. If you google custom truck parts there are many more to see. The prices are not bad compared to finding something in a bone yard that has to be worked at more cost.
