I currently have a 1 ton pickup and a 3H LQ with 14 ft shortwall.   The one ton pulls it fine, but I am wondering if air bags would help vs having a dually.  I really don't want a dually and would prefer to go with the air bags.   Any experience/opinions apprecitated.  

I'd go with Air Bags. We had the ones that you had to fill yourself depending on your load but i think those are the thing of the past now...you can get automatic ones. Less tires you have to buy, better traction, and less expense overall.

With that big of a trailer a dually is going to handle it better. You won't be fighting the wheel as much. Just a nicer haul. With that being said adding air bags with single or dual axel with also help. It really just knowing weight limits of your truck and being able to disperse the weight. 

If you put airbags in your single wheel pickup, its gonna feel like an entirely different machine!  I had a 2013 F350 SWD and a 33' Platinum with an 11.5' LQ.  The pickup had plenty of power, and after I put airbags in it, the feel was CRAZY!  Now I have a dual wheeled one-ton, but a lot more trailer.  I have airbags in the dually, too.  If you have enough weight to squat any heavy pickup, I think airbags will make you SUPER happy!

Air bags have nothing to do with safety of pulling a big trailer.

Only ride height.

A dual wheeled pickup will always be safer.

Airbags make a huge difference. I run them on everything I pull with, including my 1 ton dually. 

Any area that you're going to live in will have some good winds at some point. I haul quite a bit, anywhere from 50 to 2,000 miles at a time and you will never catch me without a dually. It's so much safer and I'll never jeopardize my horses safety just so I don't have to buy a couple tires. 

We put air bags on ours and it made a huge difference.

I would like to mention I live in the Pacific North West and we get quite a bit of snow.  I have had a dually before and they are terrible to drive in the snow and ice   It's not that I dont want to buy 2 more tires. 

I currently have a dually with air bags and love it. But. Will never own a dually again. Unless I have a straight pickup and only drive the dually when I feel like it!

I think you would be happy with the airbags. 

Dually pickups were not disigned to be used as a daily driver. They are to live hooked up to a trailer. I think most people have smaller rigs to drive as a daily driver.  But we all have been at a point in our life that we can't own all the stuff we need and have to get by with what we can.  I have 2 F-350's. One is a CCLB dually and the other is a CCSB single.  If we are just staying local a lot of times we take the single wheel.  When we go to the mountains which is 900 miles away and mostly interstate we take the dually. Absolutly no comparison in safety.  South Dakota and Wyoming are 80 mph speed limits.

These are two completely different options.

Air bags only effect ride height.  They will help with squatting in the rear and that in turn might make for a better pulling truck.  But they do not change anything other than that and absolutely will not increase towing capacity.

Having duals gives you double the contact patch with the road which aids in braking, traction and controling the trailer.  Not something I would want to use as a daily driver but for hauling it is the best.

I'd get rid of my airbags before I got rid of my dually.

We only have a 3H with 10ft shortwall right now but have plans to upgrade in the near future to a 4-5H with 12-16' LQ, so went with the dually right away. The difference when I pull without it is unreal. 

Says the marketing team trying to sell the airbags.

They can raise your loaded ride height, nothing more.  You still have the same contact patch with the road.

Thats why  they act as leaf springs..... They help the ride which in turn makes for better control.... Have you ever rode in a truck that has stiffer leaf springs..... They ride like junk!!! To each their own. I will still add them to any truck I pull with including a dually. Heavy loads you need all the help you can get. 

I understand they are not designed for daily driving BUT I could sure drive my new GMC 3500 Denali EVERY SINGLE DAY ALL THE TIME!  It doesn't drive like a dually and it is super confy :)

I understand they are not designed for daily driving BUT I could sure drive my new GMC 3500 Denali EVERY SINGLE DAY ALL THE TIME!  It doesn't drive like a dually and it is super confy :)

Depends on why you are thinking about modifying to begin with -

Does the ride stink? Airbags will help.  So would duals.

Do you fight the wheel for stability and feel like “the tail wags the dog”?   In my opinion, duals are the way the go there.

it sounds like length wise we have about the same size trailer - I wouldn’t want to pull it with anything smaller than my dually.  

I'm on my 2nd dually. I dont think we will ever be without one. It's also my daily driver, I dont mind it one bit. We haul a 5th wheel camper, hubby hauls his tractor to a lot of places on the flatbed and of course I haul our LQ with it.