Can Our F350 Carry a Lance 1191 Safely?
I am hoping that some of you with experience with truck campers can assist us in determining if our truck can handle the truck camper we are looking at.
We have been assured by the dealer and the manufacturer that we are fine but when we do the math, it doesn't appear to be so obvious. So, we would like any and all opinions......
We have a 2003 F350 Dual Wheel Diesel - Crew Cab. We are looking at the 2014 Lance 1191.
The truck has a GVWR of 11,500 lbs. We weighed the truck with full fuel, 1 passenger and no tailgate. Under normal travel conditions there would be an additional 245 lbs for 1 additional passenger and a dog so the numbers below are low by 245 lbs:
Total Weight 7705
Front Axle: 4280
Rear Axle: 3160
The Lance 1191 wet weighs around 4450 if we travel with a small amount of water and cargo.
When I do the cargo calculation it appears that we are around 655 lbs overweight. We would also be towing a small cargo trailer behind us or occasionally our boat which would add tongue weight to the total.
The dealer has said that if the truck is properly equipped with 2000 suspension increase, proper tie downs, sway bars and such that we will be fine. The local spring company will place a sticker on the door of the truck indicating that the cargo capacity has been increased, once the suspension upgrades are done.
Lance has said that the 1191 is designed for the F350.
But all said, the numbers don't add up...perhaps because we don't know what we are doing with the calculations.
Wanted to get some opinions from the real world so here are my questions
1) Is a 655 lbs overage(plus any tongue weight) a big issue? Are we making a mountain out of a molehill?
2) Are there any people out there with a similar setup and how does your rig handle?
3) While we understand that the suspension and stability can be upgraded are there other components that we should consider such as brakes? hubs? tires?. (Things that if overloaded would cause a safety issue?)
4) I read several posts about focusing on making sure that the axles aren't overloaded. Could someone explain how that works?
All we want is to make sure that we are driving a safe rig that will be stable and safe on the road and that won't put excessive wear on the truck.
If there are threads on this forum that already address these questions, please head me in the right direction.
Thank you very much - Sue
We have been assured by the dealer and the manufacturer that we are fine but when we do the math, it doesn't appear to be so obvious. So, we would like any and all opinions......
We have a 2003 F350 Dual Wheel Diesel - Crew Cab. We are looking at the 2014 Lance 1191.
The truck has a GVWR of 11,500 lbs. We weighed the truck with full fuel, 1 passenger and no tailgate. Under normal travel conditions there would be an additional 245 lbs for 1 additional passenger and a dog so the numbers below are low by 245 lbs:
Total Weight 7705
Front Axle: 4280
Rear Axle: 3160
The Lance 1191 wet weighs around 4450 if we travel with a small amount of water and cargo.
When I do the cargo calculation it appears that we are around 655 lbs overweight. We would also be towing a small cargo trailer behind us or occasionally our boat which would add tongue weight to the total.
The dealer has said that if the truck is properly equipped with 2000 suspension increase, proper tie downs, sway bars and such that we will be fine. The local spring company will place a sticker on the door of the truck indicating that the cargo capacity has been increased, once the suspension upgrades are done.
Lance has said that the 1191 is designed for the F350.
But all said, the numbers don't add up...perhaps because we don't know what we are doing with the calculations.
Wanted to get some opinions from the real world so here are my questions
1) Is a 655 lbs overage(plus any tongue weight) a big issue? Are we making a mountain out of a molehill?
2) Are there any people out there with a similar setup and how does your rig handle?
3) While we understand that the suspension and stability can be upgraded are there other components that we should consider such as brakes? hubs? tires?. (Things that if overloaded would cause a safety issue?)
4) I read several posts about focusing on making sure that the axles aren't overloaded. Could someone explain how that works?
All we want is to make sure that we are driving a safe rig that will be stable and safe on the road and that won't put excessive wear on the truck.
If there are threads on this forum that already address these questions, please head me in the right direction.
Thank you very much - Sue
