Still doing the mental figuring on a possible truck camper combo. One thing is I would like access to the rear hitch of the truck to have a dirtbike carrier on the back. Likewise it would be ideal to have enough room between the back of the camper and the dirtbike that you could still open the door of the camper without taking the bike off all the time. So what I was thinking was I could get a long bed pickup and use a short bed camper? But I've see some things about where campers need to sit over the wheels of a truck. So can you do what i'm thinking, put a short bed camper in a long bed truck?

Are you intending the short bed camper to be WITHOUT the rear saddle storage wings and pushing it forward fully up to the back of the cab? Or do you mean a short bed camper WITH the rear storage wings and setting it back? If it is the former, then the answer is yes. If you mean the latter then with some research and homework the answer could also be yes. Please clarify if you want the extra space in front of the camper or at the door of the camper- it sound as if you want the extra space towards the back of the pick-up bed. I am doing the SB camper on a LB truck as described in the latter scenario:COG relative to the rear bumper is the same regardless of a short bed or long bed camper- my COG is about 2" forward of the rear axle- same as on a short bed truck... that extra space is welcome for storage and for my generator:I built a simple frame to place between the front of the camper and the truck bulkhead. It is custom fit to keep my generator in place.(edited to remove images.)

d3500ram wrote:Are you intending the short bed camper to be WITHOUT the rear saddle storage wings and pushing it forward fully up to the back of the cab? Or do you mean a short bed camper WITH the rear storage wings and setting it back? Sorry I thought the fact I wanted to be able to open the rear door made it clear. It would be the opposite of how you have it pictured. Slide the camper all the way forward to the back of the cab, have a gap between the back of the camper and the end of the pickup bed.

Just making sure of your intent... it should not be a problem. Obviously, you will need a camper with no saddle wings mounted to the camper and no back panel either. I do not know of newer campers without a back light panel of sorts (perhaps there are some)... but there are older ones out there that could work.Your front tie downs will be for a normal camper, but the rear ones will need to be elongated or extended somehow. My set-up for ties downs is the reverse- my front ones are elongated with chains.Do you have the truck yet? ...did not see one listed in your profile, if not, I would recommend at least a 250/ 2500 series minimum.

It will be an extremely rare camper that will allow you to slide it forward in the bed and leave some bed "hanging out" behind the camper. Maybe you can find on. I'm not sure how you'll make the rear tie downs work out. You would have to get something custom built. You might just consider getting a side entry camper. That's what I have. I really like it because I often have a bicycle rack on the back or I'm pulling my boat or something. Having my camper door on the rear would be a pain.I know you want to carry come heavy dirt bikes on a rear carrier. This does present a problem since the only way to have a side entry TC is to get one that hangs back past the end of the bed about 2 feet. This means you need an 11' camper for a long bed or an 8' camper for a short bed. The Lance 830 would work great on a short bed. You would need a Torklift Super Truss and Super Hitch to haul the dirt bikes.

More reading necessary before you start...thinking.

Can you put a short bed camper in a long bed pickup?

31 Replies

d3500ram
Explorer III
Mar 12, 2018
Are you intending the short bed camper to be WITHOUT the rear saddle storage wings and pushing it forward fully up to the back of the cab? Or do you mean a short bed camper WITH the rear storage wings and setting it back? If it is the former, then the answer is yes. If you mean the latter then with some research and homework the answer could also be yes. Please clarify if you want the extra space in front of the camper or at the door of the camper- it sound as if you want the extra space towards the back of the pick-up bed. I am doing the SB camper on a LB truck as described in the latter scenario:

COG relative to the rear bumper is the same regardless of a short bed or long bed camper- my COG is about 2" forward of the rear axle- same as on a short bed truck... that extra space is welcome for storage and for my generator:

I built a simple frame to place between the front of the camper and the truck bulkhead. It is custom fit to keep my generator in place.

(edited to remove images.)

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Can you put a short bed camper in a long bed pickup?

31 Replies

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