Camper pitfalls

Pretty reasonable advice here for the most part. Tires and wheels are the main limiting factor. Suspension mods are a given with the tongue weight added. There are few (any?) short bed hard sides with slide-outs to choose from at the dry weight you need. Choose carefully and don't trust salesmen to know. Weigh the truck and talk real world numbers. Know how far you are pushing the envelope. The beach can be the wild card - center of gravity matters a lot on sand so choose wisely.

I would take the comments about "people seem happy being overweight" and "towing easily when overweight" with a pinch of salt. Overweight is overweight, simple. If anything goes wrong you are up the creek without a paddle.
I'm just sayin,

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I have driven on the sand since the 70's, but never with a TC.
But now that I think of it, when people get stuck in sand it can Really change the tilt of the truck.
A high load (TC) definitely changes the pucker factor.

You might try what I do, stretch your trailer tongue to reach your hitch instead of using a hitch extension. It's vastly superior in that it doesn't magnify tongue weight, doesn't magnify the leverage the trailer has on the truck, and tows better. I have an 11.5 camper that hangs about four feet off the back of my truck and have been doing it this way for over a decade, zero problems.

I think it would be a big help on a short bed that is already somewhat challenged in the wheelbase and balance areas.

mkirsch wrote:
What do you mean by "slideout?"

Hmmm... good question.

The post is worded in a way that makes it a bit ambiguous.

"all TCs are slideout"... because they all slide out of the truck bed.

I live in Philadelphia and its tough enough driving the short bed downtown and to work, so a dually was out of the question. As far as what i was referring to in slide-out i meant was expanding the interior size. Thanks everyone for some great advice. I have some things to think about.

tuvok42 wrote:
I live in Philadelphia and its tough enough driving the short bed downtown and to work, so a dually was out of the question. As far as what i was referring to in slide-out i meant was expanding the interior size. Thanks everyone for some great advice. I have some things to think about.

I have worked Down town Philly for 17 year now. in 17 Years I drove 2x (both times in my 3500 long bed SRW). I take the train. If I had to drive to Phila, I would not work in Phila.

Do you live "down town" Have you thought about storage of your camper when its off the truck?
In an earlier post I had a link to our local dealer (local, but not close). Bill has many rigs for sale that will fit in your truck. make an appt with him and take a weekend out of town to go visit him. Drive up early one morning, look things over. Cross river back to Vermont (4 miles?) and spend the night at a local hotel, I think we had dinner at the 99 Restaurant. go back Sunday with any questions you have, then go home and think what you saw and learned.

Why do people say go trade your truck in for a different one? It's not helpful and almost mean. He has many options and you guys know it. Just take your time add numbers, and ask some good questions. It can be done very easy and at weight. You just can't get any heavy camper. Good luck.

First off, all campers with slides qualify in the "very heavy" category. They start around 3000lbs dry, which eats up most of an F350 SRW's payload capacity.

Second off, if "get a new truck" is the appropriate answer to the question, then it is the appropriate answer to the question. A lot of times on this forum, people come on here wanting to do things that are physically impossible, or at least inadvisable, with the truck they have. Just because you just bought the wrong truck for what you want to do doesn't make it mean to tell someone they need a different truck. What's mean is allowing them to plow ahead blindly and end up with problems.

Tuvok,
You really have two ways to go.
1. Buy an 8.5', lightweight, non-slide, short bed truck camper in the 1800 to 2200 pound range, wet, that has enough amenities to satisfy your needs. This way you have plenty of stock capacity (tongue weight) available for your BBQ trailer, even with an extension. The reason I say this as towing a BBQ trailer to cook-offs, or beach camping are not winter modes, so you will spend most of your time out of doors.
2. Buy a larger and heavier TC that has enough amenities to satisfy your needs. This would require, as outlined above, many suspension, tire/wheel, and capacity upgrades. Again, for sand, 19.5's are out. There are some 17" and 18" tires now in the 3860-4100 pound capy area that have enough sidewall to air down enough for the beach.
I will council, "always move in the direction of having too much truck and not enough camper".
jefe