Biggest truck camper not for f450 550

I have a 2003 Lance 820 which the sticker said 3000# wet
no gear. I did alot of mods to carry the load
But the best thing I did was put 8 piston calibers
on the front by SSBC and slotted rotors all the
way around she stops on a dime now with the load
truck is a 2000 4x4 c/c 7.3 F250 $$$$$ well spend :)
P.S. White trucks rock

jimh425 wrote:
This thread has been all over the place except for color, so here goes. White, Silver, or Grey trucks are required for the heaviest of truck campers. Who agrees? :)

I'm In!

My GMC (1996), two F350s (1999 & 2003) and one F550 (2008) all have been the same color as they are noted to have higher capacity than other colors offered by the big three manufacturers.

Any light brown, beige color. The colorists seem to call it a different name each year of production.

But yeah, brown in any shade has higher payload capacity! Trust me, after 4 trucks I have field testing results to provide data for this hypothesis.


b

I cannot say which of your colors do better. Two of my trucks have been brown, one red and one black. Only one was a gasser.

3000 lb trailer with 500 lbs in the bed


4000 lb boat with 500 lbs in the bed


8000 lb trailer with 4000 lbs in the bed


8500 lb trailer with 5000 lbs in the bed

This thread has been all over the place except for color, so here goes. White, Silver, or Grey trucks are required for the heaviest of truck campers. Who agrees? :)

Reality Check wrote:
Personally, I like to be able to stop.

I offer this simple statement, as a lead in to the obviously, not so obvious. All this diatribe about 100 pounds over or under weight, fails to address the other important factors in driving. Stopping being one of them.

The 450 pu is built heavier, including those all important brakes. Step up to a chassis model and the differences are stark.

Momma always said, just 'cause you can doesn't mean it's a good idea. Carry on...

Finally, someone gave us a Reality Check! It is not all about the payload. Tires, brakes, steering and gearing are important too.

Ultimately it comes down to getting that payload slowed down and even, stopped.

b

Personally, I like to be able to stop.

I offer this simple statement, as a lead in to the obviously, not so obvious. All this diatribe about 100 pounds over or under weight, fails to address the other important factors in driving. Stopping being one of them.

We've got trucks that are legal at 80,000, 105,500, etc. Even when at full legal weight, they're not anywhere near the actual max load they can carry. Axle's aren't maxed out, tires aren't, brakes aren't. Yet, this RV worlds pushes the limits, trying to squeeze out enough to get one more six pack loaded. Weight police I'm not...I find that just as ridiculous. But not taking into consideration all the differences between vehicles when comparing is a bit to simplistic I think.

The 450 pu is built heavier, including those all important brakes. Step up to a chassis model and the differences are stark.

I've had 350 p/u's, have a Chev 3500 dually; the brakes are adequate for their average loads. Running around maxed out though, they don't stop as I would like.

Keyboard jockey's can argue all day long. Makes good reading sometimes. But some of us have owned and driven these rigs, and can base their statements on reality.

Momma always said, just 'cause you can doesn't mean it's a good idea. Carry on...

GVWR of the F450 pickup is more than the F350 DRW pickup, but more things are standard on the 450 plus it has heavier running gear. The end result is that the 350 can carry more because it is slimmer in build.

Sorry, I'm on this forum every day and I have not once heard that you need an F450 for the heaviest campers. Some people USE them but that is a far cry from being told that you "need" them.

In your apples to apples comparison, there's a whopping 131 pounds of difference between the payload of an F350 and an F450. I thought you were talking about several hundred pounds here... That's not even enough to quibble over. If an F450 collapses on a pile from being overloaded by 131lbs, you've got way bigger problems.

My expectation is that the F450 will handle its 5069lb payload with no "helpers" while the F350 will sag badly under 5200lbs without airbags or some other form of helper.

I agree with the the above. When I was looking, I wanted maximum payload and it was in this order:

F550 chassis cab, F450 chassis cab, F350 DRW chassis cab, F350 DRW pickup, F450 pickup

The selling point of the F450 pickup is its towing ability and not its payload.


I do not agree that you need custom fabrication to use a chassis cab. You can choose an off-the-shelf utility body or flat deck and be done. My only limitation was using the SuperHitch Magnum which required a bed with a low enough skirt to clear this monster and something that had a headache rack under 4' tall so it cleared the the truck camper cab over. Because I used the low sill model of the deck (to bring deck height lower), the rear skirt had to be notched to clear the receiver vertical supports.

But if you really need a diesel!!...... The F350 dually still trumps the F450 in payload. The F450 has a slide in camper allowance of 5069lbs based on all available seats being occupied by 150lb persons. Can you say read Fords official documents?? If you wanted to get the max slide in camper allowance for a 6.7 diesel F350 dually, you would choose a 4x2 regular cab allowing 6,600lbs or apples to apples a F350 dually 4x4 crew cab with almost 5200 lbs. Like I said from the beginning, The F350 dually has the highest payload from a truck you can go buy off the lot without having to start all the custom fab BS for a simple truck camper. You don't need to nor should the average person think they should. If you want to, that's great!! I started this because I hear people saying, "you NEED an F450 for the big campers" BS! In fact you might find yourself overloaded with F450 and if you have an accident, you might be in for a major lawsuits. The F450 is an awesome truck and can legally tow a sh$t load, but that doesn't mean it has the highest payload.