I find myself in a similar situation to the original poster. I have a 2008 Chev 3500HD DWR. The weight of the truck, wet, is around 8161 lbs at a Cat Scale. That includes tools and a bed cover (150lbs), and my tailgate. The GVWR is 11,400 lbs. This means that I have a max payload of 3,239 lbs. However, there's an additional sticker inside the glovebox that says I should never carry more than 3,100 lbs in the bed.
I have my eyes set on the Lance 1172. The main reason because it was the only camper that my wife went into that she said she could tolerate. Unfortunately, it weighs 3,900 lbs dry. That means around 4,900 wet, which would put me 1,661 lbs over my GVWR when wet.
Reading all of these above, and doing my own research. I'm seriously on the fence. I don't think I'd actually break anything with this camper in the back. I know that these trucks are grossly over-engineered to withstand more weight. The simple fact that each year the GVWR goes up and up, with very little chnages being made to the vehicle has a good indication of that. But, would I want to stand up in civil court and say that "Yes, I purposely loaded my truck 14% / 1400 lbs overweight"? Probably not.
Then again, do I think that they're going to throw my stuff on a scale when I crash? No.
Do I think anyone (Police or otherwise) would harass me and my truck camper? I doubt it.
So that has me looking at many 5th wheel options. I think even most of the larger sizes I've seen would be fine, but that is a entirely different style of camping. Unfortunately I'm not sure that it appeals to me nearly as much as Truck camping.
