Broken Frame on a RAM 3500

I find this whole thread hilarious. This forum has been dedicated to beating down "weight police" for years... "You don't need to worry about weight! GVWR is meaningless! It's a DUALLY! The AAM axle is rated for 11,000lbs! Just add up your tire capacities, slap in a set of airbags, and GO! If the tires don't add up to enough, get 19.5's! Nobody that's anybody pays attention to weight! It'll be fine!"

Now all of a sudden everybody's a weight police. "Oh he was 10lbs over GVWR! That's why his frame broke!"

If only a device existed with which you could find out your actual vehicle and axle weights... oh, wait...

When you are running a TC on your truck it is always a good idea to have the rig weighed. Most of the stated weights are optimistic and disregard certain details. And you can make optimistic weight assumptions and calculations about your rig all you want. None of that will alter physics.

Surely the numbers on the door sticker are no hard limits. But they are there for a reason.

Grit dog wrote:
Another good point. No one knows how his rear suspension was set up. But one thing is certain, that camper won’t haul on that truck without something else besides the stock springs.

Unless you are bottoming out the suspension going with stiffer springs adds stress to the frame. The suspension is there to absorb the bumps. Making it stiffer reduces that capability.

Another good point. No one knows how his rear suspension was set up. But one thing is certain, that camper won’t haul on that truck without something else besides the stock springs.

Groover wrote:
40 years ago many of the truck campers I saw had shock absorbers on the front of the cabover going down to the front fenders. The point of these was to absorb the frame damaging stresses that lead to fatigue and also control a bouncy ride.

If you read what Lance says about their shocks, they were to improve the ride. They made no claim that they helped with frame stress.

In any case, anything you can do to soften bumps/ride is probably good. When I bought my truck used, one particular bump on I-90 was pretty brutal. I installed Bilstein shocks and that bump wasn't very noticeable after that. I don't know how the stock shocks performed when new because I didn't own it then.

It's possible that the suspension added to the stresses on the frame. You can easily watch how much your TC moves when you hit bumps. Big movements compared to the same road without a TC are probably not a great thing.

While we are on suspension, I feel the right amount of air in airbags can also smooth out the ride, but nothing will smooth a very bumpy road other than slowing down.

valhalla360 wrote:
Does RAM provide a separate weight rating for truck campers?

I know Ford does. On my 2008 F250, the payload capacity is 2700lb on the door jam but per the Ford towing guideline document, I'm limited to just over 2200lb with a truck camper.

I believe they do. Although I could be confusing with Ford. But no matter traditionally the TC ratings are downgraded from the over all Ccc based on the gvw. Couple reasons I surmise.
1. Because campers generally only load the rear axle without any significant weight on the front, sometimes negative which increases the bending moment in the direction of that failure.
2. There is probably an algorithm designed for the lawyers taking into account a typical higher load center and the cantilever weight past the rear axle.

Also the added weight to the front of that truck over stock was plainly evident. It has a welded steel bumper with welded brush guard at a minimum. Can’t see if it has a winch too.
Avg weight of those bumpers is around 250lbs. Avg weight of the foldable tin can OE bumper, maybe 30 lbs. I just r and r the bumpers on my 4th gen. Rear weighs about as much as 2 sacks of groceries. Front is worth maybe 3 bags. If one has bread and chips in it.

I’m not the weight cops either. And I would consider hauling a camper that size on a new dually, likely without issue. But I just wouldn’t be so ignorant as to assume and publicly state and publish that the truck wasn’t overloaded! Lol.
And just like my overloaded trip to Alaska, if the roads in Meh hee co were similar, I’d be doin my flat best to not tear the truck up on them.
Bottom line not the trucks fault. Not the roads fault. This one lands firmly in the lap of an owner who just learned an expensive lesson.
But hey, I participate in activities where if you’re not breaking stuff you ain’t trying, as well.
I’ve just gotten smarter about breaking less stuff less often as I’ve become a bit wiser. I predict this guy will too.
I snapped the rear skid in half on my snobike last year. About 15 miles from the truck with a big climb to get out. I should have known better but I pushed an inferior design that I was aware of because “it hadn’t broken yet”. Bit different scenario as I wasn’t overloading anything. But totally the same as I knew I was pushing my luck. I should have been wiser.
But the one thing I didn’t do was get on the internet and complain about it. I got on the internet and ordered new parts!

valhalla360 wrote:
Does RAM provide a separate weight rating for truck campers?

I know Ford does. On my 2008 F250, the payload capacity is 2700lb on the door jam but per the Ford towing guideline document, I'm limited to just over 2200lb with a truck camper.

Yes, Ram does include a camper sheet. I have a truck identical to the broken truck, except mine is a 2022.

From the door sticker "The combined weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed 5569#"
From the truck camper document "Cargo weight rating (pounds) 4738"

My camper weight is 4740# when 100% loaded with water, propane, full fridge, bottled water, beer. I weighed the truck at a CAT scale fully loaded as we left on trip, and then after the trip when the camper was off the truck. So although I'm 2 pounds over the truck camper document, it's very rare that the camper is 100% full of "Stuff".

Some of the camper weight ratings I have seen assume a 150 lb person in every seat. If you have six seating, that reduces your camper carrying rating by 900 lbs.

Regardless of the well discussed issues here the frame failure was most likely due to fatigue. Fatigue is caused in steel by REPEATED stressing over 50% of bend strength and release. Flexing over bumps can cause a lot of stress and release situations.

40 years ago many of the truck campers I saw had shock absorbers on the front of the cabover going down to the front fenders. The point of these was to absorb the frame damaging stresses that lead to fatigue and also control a bouncy ride. I ran a rig for 20 years that was probably more overloaded than the one here. It was 19'6" overall with the cabover hanging out so far over the Supercab that it hit the radio antenna. It had a lot of frame flex that I felt had to be dealt with. I didn't like the shocks but I found some fairly still but flexible foam and built a cushion to go between the cab and the cabover just behind the windshield and full width. That extra leverage on the frame did a lot to reduce the flexing and improve the ride. Also, my truck never broke in half. Just a thought for people with long and heavy campers.

If the frame was cut or welded to without smoothing the transition areas of focused stress that can lead to increased fatigue and early failures. For example, if a bracket is welded to the frame in a way that leaves a sudden step it will likely fail at the edge of that step weld bead. The step needs to be extended and ground to a smooth transition. Also, many frames are heat treated and can be locally annealed by welding and that can also lead to stress failures.

Modern frames are designed to be light and strong which means that stresses are spread evenly throughout the metal. If you mess with the way those stresses are spread disaster can result.

Does RAM provide a separate weight rating for truck campers?

I know Ford does. On my 2008 F250, the payload capacity is 2700lb on the door jam but per the Ford towing guideline document, I'm limited to just over 2200lb with a truck camper.