AF992 EC995 or Lance 1050S - what truck?

Welcome to the Truck Camping Forum, Capt Skip.

There is some really great advice here and not a single one that I would disagree with(not always the case). Buzzcut breaks it down best. It really comes down to the margin of safety, not just the numbers only. With my truck, it came with 19.5" wheels and tires. But I was within a few hundred pounds of exceeding the weight limit of the tires. Also, my sidewalls were bulging. So everything was great, by the numbers. But since most of my travel is off pavement, I wanted and expected a much better safety margin afforded by going up to the next tire size. So I made the change, not because I needed to, but because I wanted that extra comfort zone. Pay attention to the numbers but use common sense too, not just cherry picking what someone else was doing it and it worked for them.

Plus, speed kills tires too. You never know what injury a tire has incurred during a recent adventure and impact how a tire case handles this heat. The faster you travel, the more heat will be captured into the tire. Most heavy camper drivers use the rule of thumb of 60 mph and your fuel mileage will be better too. If you are wanting to go faster 70+, well a top heavy camper is probably not your best choice.

By the way, good choices on the Campers you are looking at too.

Safe travels.

b

Skip just show her this

I learned the hard way, tire was rated at 3750# Damage total to the truck from the tire shredding the wheel well and bed side panel was $3500. at least I kept it upright when it blew

Thanks all. I prefer the advice of all of you here over the salesman at the truck or camper dealer. They just want to sell the product, you all are living with it.

OK, based on what I'm hearing, my SAFEST way of handling one of the three campers I want is to bite the bullet and go with a DRW. My gut tells me this is the safest most stable method of carrying the camper. By the time I upgrade a SRW 1 ton I'll end up sinking more money into the truck than the added cost of the DRW. Thinking about it, bad things do happen on occasion....like a rear tire blowing out while doing 65 on the highway. I don't think I would want to trust my life or my wife's life to a single tire on a camper that heavy. I would imagine it could end up on it's side or back very easily. At least with the dually there's a safety margin with the second tire on each side.

I appreciate the input. It's time to start looking for a dually.....or else convince my wife that she can live with a wet bath model!

ok this is my current loaded for the road, kayaks on the roof (125 pounds) fridge stocked, clothes loaded 35 gallons of water, black and grey tanks empty, 38 gallons of diesel. in my F350 Crew cab 4x4 Diesel long bed with a non slide dry bath Lance 1055 with 19.5 wheels at a cat scale. no way no how a LT tire on a SRW is safe

Skip, I would listen to Buzz, that is the voice of experience. You are fully in dually or SRW/19.5" territory.

The weight of our Lance 1071, very close in size with the 1050s is 4120 lbs. fully loaded ready to go, I have no problem on a Dodge 3500 SRW

My Lance 1050S wet weighs out at 4,800 lbs. Must be the things my wife carries.

Truck camper magazine estimates the wet weights of these three campers as:
AF992: 4,948
EC995: 4,533
Lance 1050S: 4048

Maybe with a gas engine in a low trim regular cab you could carry the Lance and not exceed your GVWR. Probably not the EC and certainly not the AF.

A dually can do any of these safely. As pointed out if you want to push the GVWR in a SWR the 19.5 rims and tires are the best bet. Some just replace the tires with higher rated E load tires but at least be sure your rims are up for it.

As also noted the AF1140 (5,286 lbs) and AF1150 (5,179) dry baths do not weigh much more and since you are in dually territory you might want to consider them.

Ok right up my alley. The truck that is. I don't care which brand of SRW you choose You will need to upgrade to 19.5 wheels and tires. My non slide Lance 1055 which is close to the same size tc as the 1050s with minimal gear pushes 7500 pounds on the rear axle. That is a no margin for error load on 99% of the LT tires out there. With 19.5s and Vision wheels and 245/70R19.5s you are at 9000 load capacity, and up to 9600 with Rickson wheels. Lots of sway and blow out risk with LTs not much with 19.5s. Go Dually if you can or go SRW with 19.5 as a second choice.
none of those 3 TC's in your list is a lightweight

Anything is possible. Its just math.

But look at the specs....
If you want a Crewcab long bed 4*4 Ford, about the most payload available is around 4,220. You just need to study the charts and options.

The AF 992 claims a dryweight of 3,235, which is pretty much a lie with some options. So went loaded up to camp you'll be well of the payload capacity.(add 1K plus the humans traveling)

The Eagle Cap claims a dryweight of 3,471 dry.

The AF 992 dryweight is only 130 less than the claimed dry weight of the AF 1150. Would I put my AF 1150 on a SRW truck...heck no. I'm running just over 9,000 on just the rear axle. Can't imagine something only a couple hundred less on a SRW truck.

I like campers with slide outs so I'll be sticking to duallies.