Arctic Fox 811 or Lance 855S

I love my AF811, it's a 2010 model. It's heavy, like all AF campers.

My 2009 crew cab dually, 4WD dually, empty, no tail gate, enroute to pick up the camper. 7/8 tank of fuel, no gear, driver only.



Loaded, ready to head home, mine is the truck in the foreground:



15-18 miles later, camper on board, 2 batteries, two full 7 gallon propane tanks, and somewhere between 1/3-1/2 tank of fresh water:

This shows that the weight of the camper is over 4000lbs, with NO camping gear loaded up yet.

Diver- You'll probably be happy with either the Lance or AF. We researched both extensively and went with the Northwood AF and are very pleased with it. It boils down to features/construction/styling that appeal to you and your SO. As far as dealers, AF has been very good with us regarding any warranty work and have said we can go to any RV dealer we want to get something fixed. Dealer proximity for after the sale service is not an issue with Northwood so don't let that influence you too much, unless you happen to like a particular RV dealer and want to deal exclusively with them.

This is the worst thread for sticking to the topic, total hijack. Anyway, my AF990 was vastly superior in construction to my current Lance 830.

Gman

Led 67 wrote:
OK I am stepping into this with a rather obvious yet as unaddressed issue... Watch your axle rating with most modifications you can and will be safe however if you exceed the axle "Not the suspension boys" you can break your axle and then all the modifications that were done are useles so you may be wanting to consider axle ratings also. Good Luck

I will definitely watch for that. If I find the 1-ton ride acceptable, and as a former Porsche/BMW driver I am used to tight suspensions, that is how I will go. The biggest headache is how far I will have to drive to look at campers. There is a Lance dealer within a 100 miles with decent inventory. The Arctic Foxdealer is closer, but apparently little inventory. I could end up having to hoof it to NH, a full day's drive!

OK I am stepping into this with a rather obvious yet as unaddressed issue... Watch your axle rating with most modifications you can and will be safe however if you exceed the axle "Not the suspension boys" you can break your axle and then all the modifications that were done are useles so you may be wanting to consider axle ratings also. Good Luck

SugarHillCTD wrote:
Have you read billtex's PM? (feedback on the camper, I would imagine)

As far as having a local dealer, there are lots of folks here that have bought TCs quite a distance from home. IMHO, I have very little use for a dealer after the sale.

Yeah...we had a good conversation on SB slide-outs currently on the market ;)

I'll add one more comment to this thread; when I was at Chevy dealer a little while back, the brandy new 2500HD had 3415# E rated tires OEM.
Those used to be offered only on the 1 ton previously...
Having said that, if you are in the position to buying a truck...get the 1 ton. No reason no to.

B

Blah blah blah blah. lets say you choose an eagle cap 850 with a 2013 chevy 2500. I'd do a HD super spring and call it a day. If you got a 2013 chevy 3500 and same camper i'd do upper stable loads and call it a deal. 3500 you will be spending less money on support equipment and can feel all warm inside knowing your are close to your trucks Gvwr.

If you have the choice, get a 3500 SRW for the overload springs. You'll still need additional suspension help with heavier campers with either a 2500 or 3500. Think air bags.
I haul my AF 860 which is basically a 811 with an older model designation. It's not light, but my 2500 srw truck with airbags does fine. I need to do a little more work to get it to load up the rear leaf springs after I air up, so it rolls a little more than I'd like, but nothing terrible. I've driven it up the Alcan Highway and all over AK this summer, not the best roads and it was never scary.
Plan on better than OE tires. You can get E load tires close to 4klb capacity vs the OE types that are 3k-3100lb cap.
Camper wise I have little experience other than my 05 AF 860 which ahs been flawless so far. It was pretty well taken care of, but was not owned by someone who was a do it yourselfer and he had no complaints or unexpected repairs. I think they are one of the more luxurious models of TC's. Full side slide out vs jsut the dining table slide makes for more room. Huge (by TC standards) 3 way fridge. We can easily fit 3-4 days of food for a family of 4, eating well with enough room to rotate a good selection of drinks. Haven't packed a cooler yet! Quality cabinets and fixtures, well though floorplan and use of storage. I'd reccomend the AF highly.

I hauled my EC 850 on my F250 4x4 with air bags for a 6 week vacation. It did pretty good but just overloaded the truck to a tune of 10,600 pounds, on a 8800 GVW rating. I sold the truck and bought a F350 4x4 DRW and have never regretted it, even as a daily driver. F350 SRW with 10,000 GVW are available as well.

We have the Lance 881 which has the full wall slide . If we had to go with a Lance or an Artic Fox811 . We would problem go with the artic fox . Simply because it has more floor space compared to the Lance 855c. That our 2cents for what it's worth! As for the dealer being close by , we made our purchase in Alaska and Montana and never worried about warranty work . Only once did we use it and was only a phone call to the mfg of the device that needed warranty!