I need help choosing a truck for a new camper. My wife and I have narrowed our selection of a camper down to one with a wet weight of 4368 lbs or another with a wet weight of 4774 lbs. We want a 4x4 truck with a crew cab and would prefer SRW, and recently rented a Ford SuperDuty F350 with the lighter camper in Canada and it worked great for traveling the Demptser Highway and some pretty gnarly B.C. forest roads. Unfortunately, the Ford’s payload rating is 3800 lbs, suggesting that the truck we rented was overloaded with our camper.Chevrolet’s 4x4 Silverado HD 3500 diesel’s payload is 4080 lbs, and Dodge’s Ram 3500 diesel’s payload is 4350 lbs.How important is a truck’s GRVW and payload rating and what recommendation would you give us for a truck to haul the camper we want to buy and use boondocking and traveling the US and Canada? Should we look at DRWs rather than SRWs?Thanks for your good advice to a newbie!

If you can make a DRW work, buy one. Sure, you can mod a SRW to haul a heavy camper and be really careful about what you haul ... I did, but the shorter more direct route is the DRW.

All the big three dually's would work. Dodge does come with factory airbag option that levels the truck automatically when loaded. Mine has it and it works great. The tongue weight of my fifth wheel is over 4100 lbs. and I also have a 50 gallon aux tank in the bed. The hitch is another 150 lbs. Handles it no problem. My advise is to drive all three manufactures and see what you like. Options, payload, etc. Keep us posted. Good luck.

I've been there. Chevy gas extended cab SRW. added Rancho Shocks, air bags it was a 2500 Silverado. Felt very uneasy with all the sway. Changed two years later to DRW Chevy 3500 crew cab long bed, diesel. Never been happier. Everything stock, no more sway and lots of power. Don't really feel like I'm hauling anything.Even pass cars going over Snoquamie Pass. Getting 12-14 MPGs. Camper 10 ft OKANAGAN about 3500 dry weight. A 3/4 ton GVW IS 9200# a 1 ton SRW is 9900 GVW while a DRW 1ton is 11400 GVW. I was always at 9900 to 10000 pounds loaded ready to go. Even had to not carry water just fill up at Campground. Now I carry water, and every thing including firewood no problem. DRW IS THE ONLY WAY TO GO. Come by a see my rig. I live in KENT. PM me if you want. Dennis

Get the DUALLY, in whatever brand you like. :)

SoCalDesertRider wrote:Get the DUALLY, in whatever brand you like. :)Ditto. With a camper as heavy as you are looking at, I am pretty sure dually is mandatory.

Best Truck for New Camper? | Good Sam Community

59 Replies

Vinsil
Explorer
Jul 01, 2016
SoCalDesertRider wrote:
Yeah, definitely don't overload your tires (and wheels)!!

You likely may need to upgrade the wheels, to match the higher tire rating. Stock wheels are typically rated about even with the highest rated factory stock tire that is available for the truck on that wheel when new. Don't go assuming the wheel is rated for some other, unspecified higher number and think it's fine to overload it...

Yep. I carry 8200+ on my rear axle. Wheels got me 9k rating and tires good to 13,000 lbs. I have a confidence now.
SoCalDesertRid1
Explorer II
Jul 01, 2016
Yeah, definitely don't overload your tires (and wheels)!!

You likely may need to upgrade the wheels, to match the higher tire rating. Stock wheels are typically rated about even with the highest rated factory stock tire that is available for the truck on that wheel when new. Don't go assuming the wheel is rated for some other, unspecified higher number and think it's fine to overload it...
FireGuard
Explorer II
Jul 01, 2016
Grit dog wrote:
FireGuard wrote:
My camper weighs around 4800 lb wet and I carry it on a 16 Ram 3500 SRW.
Full of water and everything except personal items, I am 20 lbs under my RAWR with the stock Firestone tires.
I plan to upgrade to tires with a 4060 lb rating which will give me a pretty good margin.
With Stabil loads and Helwig Big Wig sway bar it handles pretty well. Much better than I thought it would.
With that said, if I knew I was going to have a TC this heavy and didn't have a truck yet I would get a DRW.

Seems you'd be heavier than the 7klbs the tires are rated for with that big a camper, unles the CG of the camper is waaay forward of the rear axle. But if you've weighed it then you have a well balanced setup.

Yep, 7320 on the rear axle at a CAT scale. Tires are rated at 3670 for 7340 total.
That is w/o any personal items so figure a few hundred more lbs plus more if I tow anything. Looking at tires with 4060 lb so that will give me over 8k lb.
SoCalDesertRid1
Explorer II
Jul 01, 2016
I've seen a few 18-wheelers hauling box van trailers, overturned in the roundabouts we have on your 2-lane highways around here. Those circles come up quick and at night, they are hard to see until you're right on top of them, if you miss the 20mph warning sign..
FreebirdFlies
Explorer
Jun 30, 2016
One thing to note is that not only heavier weights require the dually, but the TALLer the TC (higher CG) the more important the stability that the width of the dual rear wheels provide.
Some people can be comfortable with a lot of side to side sway, but not too many......

Side note caution:
If your running TALL with the blessing of a solid tailwind at your heels on a divided highway,
be sure to be real careful/conservative on your cloverleaf speeds. The side of the TC is a BIG sail in a wind, and if you add significant centrifugal force to a high CG plus wind...... It can ruin your day..... No mater dually or SRW.
Pete_k
Explorer
Jun 29, 2016
I hauled our Okanagan 811-SL on my 2004 2500HD crew cab 4x4 short bed for years. I did have air bags, along with Rancho 9000 shocks, and Rickson 19.5 wheels and tires. I for one with it did not ever want for a extra set of tires in back. While pulling a 20ft boat behind it. But when we sold the T/C and got the 5th wheel. After 2 years I did go with a Bigger truck. And still have the 19.5's because I still want a T/C again. Along with a single wheel 3500 truck.
But now if I go with a T/C it will never fit on a single wheel truck. Or for that matter a 3500 for me. As the Host Mammoth should be on a 5500 that I have. Now to figure out how to get it on the bed that's on my 5500 now.

I love having single wheel truck. No issues of going anywhere I want to go. But after swapping to the 5500 over the 2500. No way would I ever go back to a single wheel truck for any big load again.
Pete
Mattyd
Explorer
Jun 29, 2016
Sounds like you are on the right track.
I too wonder if your wife's exercises could be preformed on the floor instead of in bed. Coming from a 2012 Northern Lite to a 2016 AF 990 like you are considering...I think the NL had more head room than the AF. Feels that way at least.
My 990 loaded puts me right close to the max on my 2013 Ram Dualy crew long bed 4x4. I ended up wth Stable Loads and rear air bags.
If I wasn't set on having a built in gene this time I would have gone with the 811 but still would keep my dually.
Steve_in_29
Explorer
Jun 29, 2016
jimh425 wrote:
Those smaller lighter popups aren't very light unless you are talking about the stripped Four Wheel Campers. Shorter yes. :)

It's relative. The same size and options in a hardside would put me over the limits of a stock F350 SRW. Yet my truck carries our Outfitter without any suspension mods that so many have to add.
Steve_in_29
Explorer
Jun 29, 2016
Jimster wrote:
Steve: We started out looking at Outfitters and Hallmarks, but they don't offer enough space over the bed for my wife to do her back exercises each morning; she needs to be able to lay on her back and extend her legs out a bit. Without these exercises, she's toast all day with pain and tightness in her back (moral here: don't blow out your back if you can help it!!). We just about popped for a large Outfitter or Hallmark after touring their factories, but were surprised when we found that we enjoyed the space of a small slide-out that was also capable of getting up the Dempster and back into some of northern BC's logging and mining roads. I still like the idea of a pop-up TC for getting into the wilds, but that won't work for the two of us.
We also looked at Northern Lites, which are attractive for their weight, craftsmanship and good resale value, but they also don't offer the headroom above the bed that we need.
Does your wife HAVE to do the exercise in bed before moving at all? Or could she possibly move to the dinette to do them?
SoCalDesertRid1
Explorer II
Jun 29, 2016
The best thing you can do with a dually on any low traction surface, is load it up! The more weight you put on those 4 rears, the better traction you have.