2005 2WD 2500 Ram Crew Cab HD SLT SB Auto Cummins

Kayteg1 wrote:
Here comes the useless information about checking door sticker for payload. '
That info applies to paying registration taxes but not to what you can carry.
The proper way is to check your rear axle rating and weight the actual weight.
+- 90% of short camper weight goes onto rear axle, so that is how you can calculate what TC can you drop on your bed.
You will find that with SRW it ain't much for what is available on the market.
I had air bags on 3 of my trucks in the past and loved them, when I was using them for equipment hauling, but last 2017 dually carry 6000 lb camper with no modifications.
Coming to exhaust brake, I am not afraid to drive 75 mph with my camper so even on pretty steep grades I have all around, I just let the truck roll without braking. Huge frontal area will not let you gain high speed anyway.
In 15000 miles I used engine braking only few times and it was more for convenience than for necesity.

I prefer use my Exhaust Brake as much as possible, even just around town rather in order to save wear and tear on my truck brakes. Its america, every body gets to make their own choice:)

Here comes the useless information about checking door sticker for payload. '
That info applies to paying registration taxes but not to what you can carry.
The proper way is to check your rear axle rating and weight the actual weight.
+- 90% of short camper weight goes onto rear axle, so that is how you can calculate what TC can you drop on your bed.
You will find that with SRW it ain't much for what is available on the market.
I had air bags on 3 of my trucks in the past and loved them, when I was using them for equipment hauling, but last 2017 dually carry 6000 lb camper with no modifications.
Coming to exhaust brake, I am not afraid to drive 75 mph with my camper so even on pretty steep grades I have all around, I just let the truck roll without braking. Huge frontal area will not let you gain high speed anyway.
In 15000 miles I used engine braking only few times and it was more for convenience than for necesity.

Squattingdog wrote:
I am going to look at a few Lances campers this week. Looking for suggestions for those in the know regard what Lance camper 'models' I should be looking at. I'm am more than willing to add air bags, stiffer springs etc., for a safer ride. I would like to be a little more intelligent when looking. If my truck isn't safely capable of doing this, I can live with that answer and will pursue another avenue.

Regards,
-JW:

What ever Lance camper you choose, be sure and add an " Exhaust Brake system" to your truck for safety reasons. I would never driver a diesel engine truck without an Exhaust Brake system.IMHO

We have a longbox, 3500 2004.5, the only difference in suspension compared to your truck is a set of over load springs, have these
installed on your truck and it will be a 3500...

We haul the camper in the signature, 8 foot, the total gross
weight easily can go above 11,000 pounds.

SRW ratings from RAM those years for a one ton where 9900.

You will save weight with your 2WD, somewhere around 300-400 pounds ?..

Like some of the others have said, no problem to haul an 8 foot camper,
its all tires and wheel rating for safety...

If it is set up properly the truck(engine) will pull the weight like it is empty.

Swaybay for handling, some Torklifts for the sagging...

You’re gonna get a bunch of door sticker “weight police” people telling you your truck can’t carry more than three people and a sack of groceries, meanwhile you’ll watch truck after truck just like yours rolling down the freeway at 60 with a nice camper on it and maybe even a boat behind it.

The short bed is a big limitation because of center of gravity issues. You also can’t (or shouldn’t) hang too much camper off the back with the floor unsupported.
In general an 8-footer is about as long as you want to use on a shortbed.

As far as weight is concerned, there’s probably not an 8 foot camper on the market you can’t haul.
The main limit on weight capacity is your rear tires. Read the weight capacity printed on them. Twice that (two rear tires) is what your real working limit is. The AAM rear axle in your Dodge is rated at 11,000 pounds by its manufacturer, which is not Dodge.
You can upgrade to larger, higher rated tires and bigger wheels if needed.

2500 series pickups are vastly under-rated by the factories, not for engineering reasons but for paperwork reasons. They need to fit certain licensing classes. The exact same hardware goes into 3500 trucks and even those are underrated.

People will say if you exceed the door sticker weight rating you’ll be in for legal liability, denied insurance claims. and various other chicken-little stories, that not a one of them can back up with real world data.

On a truck like yours, with the right tires and maybe some air bags or springs and perhaps a sway bar. something in the 8-foot range and weighing somewhere in the 3000 pound range will work.

In the working world the same 2500 and 3500 trucks haul way, way more than what RV people do with their campers, day after day and year after year.

You need to look at the CCC not just the GVWR. With a diesel and crew cab, your truck is somewhere in the 7000 to 8000 pound range without passengers or cargo. That leaves you with maybe 2000 pounds CCC? That is way less than what you will need for a typical 8 foot hard sided camper. In addition to the CCC issue, you have a short bed truck. That makes carrying a camper even more difficult. The center of gravity needs to be several inches forward of the rear axle and that is difficult with a short bed.

Do I go by floor length when I look at the specifications? IF so that would be the 650 and 825?

Yes. You have a short box truck. The bed is about 6.5' long, right?
Any camper that has a longer floor will hang over the back of your truck's bed. Which can quickly become a problem, especially if your available payload and rear axle load are not very big to begin with.

My truck gets great mileage and the reason for wanting to stick with it. The GVWR is 9000#'s. What models are 8 footers? Do I go by floor length when I look at the specifications? IF so that would be the 650 and 825?

What is the maximum payload according to the decal on the door? Now subtract your wife, kids, dog, and anything else you pack in the truck. Now stay under that.
Ignore so called 'dry weight', it is meaningless for our purposes.You need to be concerned with the 'wet weight' loaded ready to go. My truck is very similarly configured, I would not consider anything over 8' as it will place the c of g to far aft resulting in 'porpoising'