Diesel vs gas for truck campers?
Have posted a few questios phere on the truck camper forum asking for help in down sizing to a TC and thanks for the help so far, I have been going over the weights of the TC's that we have looked at...
Forum Discussion
^Understand Devo, that the addional "payload" capacity of a gasser is sucked up in a diesel, up to the truck class gvw limit, by the engine weight, which is pretty much centered squarely over the front axle, affecting the unladen weight over the rear axle little to none. And the camper will affect the weight on the front axle minimally at most.
If you add up the stated curb weight and the payload, on the truck spec charts, it pretty much always ends up to be exactly what the gvw is for that class. 9900, 10k, 12k, 14k.
Take a new Ford or GM as an example. Is it plausible that a3500 is exactly 2000lbs more capable than a 2500 with identical components everywhere except the rear springs? And yet when you load the 2200 lbs or whatever the cap is in a 2500 it barely sags. This tells you that the "gvw" of that 2500 is limited by the class rating and not the weakest link in the truck. This is even more evident when looking at dually ratings vs 2500. Couple more factors in play when you step up to a dually but conceptually similar.
Not to say that you can plop 5000lbs in the bed of a 2500 and it's all cool because it's the same chassis and drivetrain as a dually. But, the real world differences of the high $ hard to upgrade components are likely the same or at least way more capable than the puny class 2 load rating leads you to believe.
If you add up the stated curb weight and the payload, on the truck spec charts, it pretty much always ends up to be exactly what the gvw is for that class. 9900, 10k, 12k, 14k.
Take a new Ford or GM as an example. Is it plausible that a3500 is exactly 2000lbs more capable than a 2500 with identical components everywhere except the rear springs? And yet when you load the 2200 lbs or whatever the cap is in a 2500 it barely sags. This tells you that the "gvw" of that 2500 is limited by the class rating and not the weakest link in the truck. This is even more evident when looking at dually ratings vs 2500. Couple more factors in play when you step up to a dually but conceptually similar.
Not to say that you can plop 5000lbs in the bed of a 2500 and it's all cool because it's the same chassis and drivetrain as a dually. But, the real world differences of the high $ hard to upgrade components are likely the same or at least way more capable than the puny class 2 load rating leads you to believe.
