Center of Gravity

The Chevy Longhorn was an 8-1/2 foot bed, it had a 6” extension at the front and a 6” longer wheelbase. They had wood bed floors.
The Ford F-350 Super Camper Special didn’t have an elongated bed, it had a longer wheelbase (even longer than the Longhorn) and a special standard-length 8’ bed with the wheelwells further aft. It had the spare tire behind a big door in the side of the bed and was the only pickup truly designed for camper carrying. They even came with a slide-out back bumper and front & rear sway bars.
All the makers used to offer 9-foot stepside boxes. They made up for the extra volume of a fleetside.
They used to call them “grain boxes”. They were a lot easier to shovel stuff out of since they were straight-walled. They all had wood floors and were much tougher than sheet metal.
You used to be able to order a wood floor at extra cost in a fleetside too.
They don’t make ‘em like they used to.
It’s too bad they’re gone, they were actually a lot more useful overall.
None offered 9-foot fleetsides.

burningman wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:

From what I observe, most trucks have rear axle 1/2 length of the bed, so 60" will put COG full foot behind rear axle.
I don't call it reasonable.
That is why so many members drive 450/4500 or even heavier class truck.
IMHO camper manufacturers don't have much choices here, as camper has forced floor plans and with customers seeking 3 slides the sucker has to be rear heavy, but we discuss that somewhere, that 30 years ago Ford made "camper special" truck with axle moved to the rear.
the F250 could carry heavier camper than standard F350 at the time.
That is what COG does.

That’s not correct, pickup rear axles are not centered they’re to the rear of center.
8’ bed pickups have a cab-to-axle measurement roughly 60”.
That ‘73-‘79 Ford Super Camper Special you mentioned wasn’t an F250, it was an F350.

The 60" cab to axle is only on cab/chassis , the pickup version is 56". I believe the ford super camper and the early 70's chevy Longmont put an elongated pickup bed on a cab/chassis giving them 60" cab to axle . Dodge offered a 9' bed for a while but I don't know the wheel base . Even with that extension it doesn't help much because most TC' s drop down after the rear truck bed so the overhang from the axle to rear of camper remains the same . Unless TC manufactures change their design it is hard to reap the benefit of extra 4" .

I don't know if Ford or other truck makers still do this, but when I bought my 2001 F350 Ford V10 DRW longbed supercab, it came with a camper certification document. This is a part of it below. It seems moving the COG past the rear of the recommended range is not allowed, and moving it forward of the range substantially reduces the cargo capacity. I suppose this is because the front axle is the weak spot. The details here, of course, would vary by individual vehicle model and options.

It’ll lift the front less than pulling a trailer will.
4” behind is technically not ideal but isn’t enough to even notice.

If you really wanna have fun, scale a tow truck loaded vs. unloaded.

I just went to measure my 2017 dually. It is about 56"
Not as bad as my earlier estimate, but TC with 60" COG will lift front wheels and that is what I measure on loaded camper at scales, even I am religious about loading all heavy stuff into truck cabin and only clothes in rear wardrobe.

Kayteg1 wrote:

From what I observe, most trucks have rear axle 1/2 length of the bed, so 60" will put COG full foot behind rear axle.
I don't call it reasonable.
That is why so many members drive 450/4500 or even heavier class truck.
IMHO camper manufacturers don't have much choices here, as camper has forced floor plans and with customers seeking 3 slides the sucker has to be rear heavy, but we discuss that somewhere, that 30 years ago Ford made "camper special" truck with axle moved to the rear.
the F250 could carry heavier camper than standard F350 at the time.
That is what COG does.

That’s not correct, pickup rear axles are not centered they’re to the rear of center.
8’ bed pickups have a cab-to-axle measurement roughly 60”.
That ‘73-‘79 Ford Super Camper Special you mentioned wasn’t an F250, it was an F350.

For me slides make TC comfortable. Even my campers are fully usable with slide in, extending it makes impression like from moving from 900sq-ft house with 7-6" ceiling into mansion.

The good news is my friend doesn't have a truck or a truck camper yet. He's just beginning the research about what will be his best option for the type of camping and traveling he and his wife will be doing after retirement. Slide outs aren't something he has now in his travel trailer and not anything he's looking to have moving forward. If he goes the TC route and buys a one ton truck with a short bed, I'm going to assume most any TC without slide outs made for short beds will work, provided he stays below max payload and below GVWR. Would that be a reasonable assumption?

mkirsch wrote:

jimh425 wrote:
Center of gravity is not something that really matters other than to the manufacturer. I’ve been here almost 13 years and I don’t remember anyone saying they wish they would have bought a different TC because of center of gravity.

Not because COG doesn't matter, but because ALL manufacturers design their campers to have a reasonable COG.

If Lance made their big 1172 model with a COG of 96" from the front of the truck bed, THAT would be a problem, and you most certainly would be hearing people express regret over buying it because of COG... The COG is 60" back, which is only a few of inches behind the axle on most 8' bed trucks.

From what I observe, most trucks have rear axle 1/2 length of the bed, so 60" will put COG full foot behind rear axle.
I don't call it reasonable.
That is why so many members drive 450/4500 or even heavier class truck.
IMHO camper manufacturers don't have much choices here, as camper has forced floor plans and with customers seeking 3 slides the sucker has to be rear heavy, but we discuss that somewhere, that 30 years ago Ford made "camper special" truck with axle moved to the rear.
the F250 could carry heavier camper than standard F350 at the time.
That is what COG does.

Remember that manufacturer COG will be different after you fill the tanks and add batteries and propane tanks. How and what you pack in the camper will also affect it but typically is not as heavy as the above items.