"off-roading" - frame twisting in a C

nomad 289 wrote:
What is the maximum diagonal height difference that the suspension will accommodate without twisting the frame?
...
What's a safe off-camber diagonal height for a normal C?

Spent most of my life in Africa and South America so I would not consider a half metre to be "seriously off camber" but rather a decent road.

That said:

-- The diagonal twist supported will depend on the vehicle in question. I tend to favor extended wheel travel.

-- Frame stiffness varies from vehicle to vehicle. Unimogs are notoriously flexible; Chevrolet pickups less so. Just depends.

-- Do pivot frames help? They can, if well done. But they are also tremendous stress raisers and can lead to a broken frame if poorly executed or overloaded. As a friend just found out, they can also fail, annoying when you are on the road in Siberia.

-- In my experience, vibration, as from washboard and pot holed asphalt, is a much greater danger than the odd twist, especially as the washboard goes on forever and you generally get over a bank a low speed.

-- Most Third World trucks tend to have fairly rigid body to frame mounts, intended to spread, rather than concentrate, the weight. The Australians, who have a lot of washboard, tend to favor conventional frame mounting with "pull apart" mounts that allow flex when required.

-- EVERY camper that has screw on doors (as opposed to bolt on) will see them fail with long dirt/bad road use. How much are you willing to spend?

So the bottom lines is, there is no fixed answer to your question. Unless you spend so much time in the dirt that you are literally pulling your camper apart, I wouldn't worry about it.

And, if you are, then you need to be looking at Tigers, Earthroamers, GVX, Unicat, et al. And you will be spending two to three times what you pay for a conventional Class "C" and you will still have things break. ;)

Safe travels!