2014 3500 Duelly driver fender spreading
I had an ODD experience with my 2014 Ram 3500 duelly 1 Ton truck and my Lance 1172. On a recent trip after unloading the camper, I noticed that a rear panel under end of the truck bed had bent, and w...
Forum Discussion
The way many of these campers are built, pretty much all the weight is carried on the outside edges. The truck frame is narrower than that, so the weight is carried by the overhang of the bed sheet metal outside of the frame. If you look under there, there are small, light, tophat sections of sheet metal carrying this load. A sheet of plywood may help a little with local denting, but is still pretty floppy. Block a sheet up by the edges and bounce up and down in the middle, and that's only 200 lbs or so.
If I was seeing this problem I would put something more substantial across the bed. A few flat 2x4s would be much stiffer than plywood, better still would be some 2" square or rectangular steel tubes. They could be pretty thin wall and would still be far stiffer than the bed. That would transfer the weight across the bed and more directly down to the frame.
These trucks will carry 5000 lbs - evenly distributed, meaning like dirt or sand. Balance all that load on the outside edges of the bed and bad things may happen.
If I was seeing this problem I would put something more substantial across the bed. A few flat 2x4s would be much stiffer than plywood, better still would be some 2" square or rectangular steel tubes. They could be pretty thin wall and would still be far stiffer than the bed. That would transfer the weight across the bed and more directly down to the frame.
These trucks will carry 5000 lbs - evenly distributed, meaning like dirt or sand. Balance all that load on the outside edges of the bed and bad things may happen.
