Do I need a DRW truck?

Lots of well though through information here. My thinking is that all campers are heavier than advertised and even a light camper with the attributes that you are looking will be in the high 3000 to low 4000 lb range. My Wolf Creek which is advertised by Northwoods to be a 1/2 ton camper weights 3000lb loaded. I have beefed my 3/4 ton pickup truck up with stableloads, timberns, and new heavy duty Blistein shocks. I also have oversize tires albeit they are not 19".
I pretty much of the opinion that anything heavier than a 3000lb camper needs a DRW truck. I've had a DRW Ford when towing a fiver and know that they are a PIA when used for purposes other than towing. By that I mean using it for a daily driver.
Hope you get the information you have asked for to make an informed decision.

Hard to answer your question without any weight numbers.

Of course the one ton DRW can handle the camper. However being a daily driver and parking in a down town garage may not work for you. Having owned and operated several one ton DRW trucks there are many places they simply will not physically go vs a non DRW especially some of the places I've had to park and places we boondocked or traveled.

The newer gen Ram has several 3500 SRW with GVWRs up to 12400 lbs and 7k RAWR. Ram says they have payloads in the 4500 lb range. As one poster mentioned many owners add 19.5" wheels and tires and a aftermarket suspension help ....IF NEEDED. Always load it and then make a decision if any help is needed. GM and Ram 3/4 ton/one ton SRW and DRW use the AAM 11.5" rear axles that AAM rates to around 11000 lbs.

GM/Ford shows payloads for their 3500/F350 SRW in the low 4ks all depending on certain truck configurations.

I have a Lance 981, with a slide. Factory says its 3500#s wet. Ready to camp its easly 4000#s. Its on a 2011 f350 SRW, which handles it fine, including towing a 14' enclosed trailer.. As far as a daily commutor, the truck is an aircraft carrier on wheels. For me the manuverability gained with a 2 ' shorter supercab vs the crew cab was negligable. Its still huge. I prefer the crew for the additional backseat storage. I have never owned a dually ,but as far as I can see , adding width (optional) of a dually , to the non negotiable lenghth of a pickup would make driving in tight quaters a horror show. Just watching the duallys in Home Depot parking lot unable to use single parking slots without the risk of being clipped or simply not fitting convinces me of this.
There are lighter versions of campers for 8' beds than mine out there. The late model pickups have greater capacities than the older ones. Newer campers are lighter too. Livin Light has a fullsized camper with a slide that looks to be 20% lighter than mine, plus its rot proof .
Look before you leap.

If you think you might need a dually, then you need a dually.

It's only like $1k more than the SRW, and way cheaper than Rickson's 19 inch wheels...

I'd recommend getting the DRW for the purpose of hauling the camper. Even with my mid-size Northern Lite w/o AC, generator, microwave, slide-out, w/o large holding tanks for boon docking, without all the space one might want for spending a lot of time in your TC, without all that extra stuff I am still a couple hundred over the GVW of my DRW truck.

My camper is probably even lighter than the one you have in mind with your built in generator, large holding tanks for boon docking, A/C being from Texas, maybe a slide or two for roominess because you'll be using it a lot, etc.

Could I haul my camper on a SRW truck? Probably, but not without a lot of extra money spent on upgrades. Even with that I wouldn't feel as safe and stable as I do now with my DRW. With suspension mods, wheels & tires, etc, you could spend several thousand dollars extra on a SRW to haul the type of camper you're after.

Personally I bought my truck for the camper completely disregarding any negative aspects of using it for a daily driver. Rather than spending several thousand dollars on mods for a SRW truck I bought a used Accord as my daily driver for $2000. Now I don't have to think twice about how I'm going to park my daily driver (the Accord). The other benefit is the camper is always loaded and ready to go camping at a moments notice. I've probably already recouped the $2000 I spent on the car in fuel savings & repair costs not having to drive my truck everyday.

Things changed for me this month though as I just moved to Oregon and I can't get my car over here yet. I am using my diesel DRW as my daily driver. I start it up and less than 5 min later I am pulling into the work parking lot shutting it down before it ever gets warmed up. I hate doing that to it but it's a bit too far to walk in the winter. I don't have a parking garage to deal with but it can still be a challenge fitting into the parking lot and then worrying if someone else is going to hit my truck. I hate using my truck as a daily driver, I miss my car for that.

I would never buy a DRW intending to use it for a daily driver, but I'd never buy a SRW to haul a truck camper either. I wouldn't try to take my car to the places I take my truck & camper and although I can go most places with my truck that I take my car it isn't as pleasant. I always try and use the right tool for the right job.

The truck being too long won't be as much of an issue as the camper being too long if you plan on taking it off the beaten path. My last camper was 12' long so the rear overhang and thus departure angle limited the places I could go without ripping a rear jack off. My current camper is much shorter therefore allowing me to go places I couldn't with my last one.

If you get a short-bed truck you'll have much more overhang for the same floor length as a long-bed truck. A large short-bed camper will have more problems offroad with the overhang than a long-bed camper of the same length. You'll also be limited on the choices of camper you can get on a short-bed truck. You'll have more options if interior room and floor plans are important with a long bed truck.

Consider any toys (motorcycles, ATV's, boats, etc) you may want to tow. Having too much camper overhang requires expensive hitch systems to safely tow. A 9' camper in a long bed will have significantly less overhang, thus requiring less hitch extension to tow, than a 9' camper in a short bed truck.

I agree with you that the 8' extended cab is the way to go if you know you'll never have a rear seat passenger bigger than a little kid. I use mine for storage mostly.

Thanks for the link. That provides a lot of good reading. I'm trying to find the best balance between the weekday commute vehicle and the parking garage versus something long enough to handle a good TC. I do know that going to an extended cab does help reduce the length.

What may be the key is just biting the bullet, visiting Princess Craft, and looking at a Lance 855S versus their ten foot model, versus their 11 foot model, and seeing what size is the most tolerable. If the 8 foot one does the job, then a one ton, extended cab shortbed will be the ticket. To boot, it is not much longer than my current ride, so hitting a parking garage isn't a major endeavor.

Welcome. There are a lot of factors to consider in answering your question. If you look in the "Truck Camper University" thread at the top of the truck camper section you will see an "SRW vs. DRW" section which has a lot of info that you can use to make the decision. I'd post a link but it is almost impossible in an iPad.

I have a crew cab dually and it is a royal pain to maneuver in parking garages. Backing in is essential but my nose sticks way out.