Dodge 3500 DRW handling

My experience with big campers is that it doesn't take much to have bad handling.
In my case the 6500lb camper handled on new F350 dually just fine, but just ca 200 lb of grey water in rear tank made quite a big difference.
Than taking seller word for granted is never a good thing.
Beside "handling" is personal feeling and those are heavily affected by placebo effect.
Meaning you get good deal on a camper and it "handles well".
You find out you overpaid and suddenly it handles bad.

Reddog1 wrote:
Can you load it on your truck to see how it does? That is the only way you will know.

I bought another camper and I do agree that the only way to tell how it would handle on my truck(different than his.) would be load it and see.

I was just curious to his statement and wondered why the difference he felt on "his" Dodge DRW with the two comparable in weight,campers.I suppose it does not matter anymore but curiosity has always killed the cat.

My "guess" would be either height or the center of gravity difference in the two rigs.I know there are a few on here who have owned and own Northland campers and a bunch who own the AF 811,both saying they are heavy but how they travel is the important part to some..All we usually ever here about is the scales and weight,not the ride, which is as you stated,subjective to some.

New truck camper owners tend to get freaked out by the leaning on corners and the front to rear bounce a heavy for the truck, camper gives.This person wasn't new to TC's,just gave his opinion on the two different campers on his 3500 Dodge DRW,which as you can tell,bothered me as to why he would say that.

I have know way to contact him and have him explain in further detail.Know biggy,just thought someone would have owned both or have an explanation...Im not going to lose any sleep over it anymore.(laughing)

I was also confused about who owned the AF. Adding "" around what he said would clear that up.

I'm guessing either the AF is top heavier or loaded more rearward, or maybe some of it is in his head. When you buy a new camper the impression always seems a bit better.

Can you load it on your truck to see how it does? That is the only way you will know.

How could he compare the two TCs on his truck unless he hauled each of them?

He owned both of them and hauled them on the same Dodge Drw as I posted but was not clear enough in what he said.I do understand how hauling a truck camper and how they feel is really subjective..My wife is the same way,any sway what so ever she replies,why is it leaning.This is from a long list of truck campers we have owned and used.Not so much on our currant combo as I have a smallish camper on a bigger truck with dual wheels.

I was just curious if it was a Arctic Fox thing as was written in truck camper magazine about it being tall and heavy(AF 811) to his surprise.This Northland appears to be setup just like the Lance 995 inside,room wise which TCM say's is like 4436 lbs(lance 995) wet while the AF 811 is 4569 lbs.

To me anyway,I can't understand why that little difference in actual weight would make any real felt difference in handling other than height or COG loaded on his truck.I do understand the Northland could weigh more or less than the Lance I compared it too but also,not by much.

What he said has just stuck with me since he said that, wondering why two comparable TC's in weight would handle different enough for him to make that statement.

jaycocreek wrote:
... .I asked him how it handled and he replied,really good compared to the Arctic fox 811 I had. ...

How could he compare the two TCs on his truck unless he hauled each of them?

Handling is so subjective. Two people can drive or ride in the same rig, and one will think it is great and the other thinks it is lousy. When I first got my truck and loaded the TC, I thought it was great. My wife said it swayed too much. It had no sway bar. I installed a sway bar and she said it was great. For me, it was a tad better, but I was okay without the sway bar. I thought my truck needed new shocks. On two different occasions I had two friends drive the truck. They said the shocks were fine. I had the front end aligned and shocks checked. The mechanic said the shocks were okay. My point is, how a vehicle handles is a personal thing. You can change just about every handling charistic. There are exceptions, but you gotta be specific.

It isn't just the weight, it's also where the weight is. My Bigfoot 10.4 is 700 lbs heavier that the Bigfoot 9.6 it replaced, but the truck handles better. It's just as tall, but the weight is further forward.