Forum Discussion

karl1948's avatar
karl1948
Explorer
Sep 16, 2014

F150 and a Camper

I have a 2000 F150 4x4, I would like to put a Hallmark pop up camper on it, my questions are,
1. Should anything be done to the suspension on the rear?
2. is it okay to put the tailgate gate for the camper?
3. What needs to be done to the truck itself to attach a camper?

The Camper fully loaded with water, food and clothes would be about 2800 LBS

34 Replies

  • You will be close to double your payload. Slow death for the truck. Hallmark does make campers that would work. For the last year I have used a camper of similar wet weight on my Tundra. Works OK but as I will be driving back and forth to AK for the summers from now own I am going to a one ton truck in the next few months. I have air bags and e rated tires but no other suspension upgrades. You will need tie downs. I have torklift ones. I use an extension to hook up the electrical rather than installing another plug in the bed. And most likely you will need to build a platform in the bed to raise the camper 2-4 inches above the sidewalls and cab. Do this right and you can add some storage for long skinny things. I use homemade pallets, two for portability, and rubber mat between that and the camper. Done a lot of mountain passes some "bat stops" and have never felt underpowered, overloaded, or dangerous. I do have several years experience driving professionally under the worst of conditions in my past for whatever that's worth. Tailgate should be fine...but if your camper extends that far your center of gravity is probably too far back, and you WILL feel that. How much it affects handling depends on the truck. With my tires at 80lbs and airbags up to 60 my truck does fine. Were I you I'd look at one of the lightest model Hallmarks or get a bigger truck. Half tons are really made for towing, not hauling.
  • I had a 1995 F150 short bed PU. I built an 8 ft camper and put it on the PU. It sagged in the rear so I installed Firestone riderites air bags in the rear. It was light in the front but put 50,000 miles on that PU. Too much weight and too much load for the 1/2 ton. Replaced tranny but when it need another tranny traded it off. The PU was basically junk by the time I sold it.

    Read the posts every day and you will see the problems. Saw a post couple of days ago RVer has new tranny in 2003 1/2 ton PU. Why? Transmissions should last the life of the vehicle unless it was overloaded or a bused like my 1/2 ton PU. Probably not the answer you were looking for but I would get a 3/4 ton PU and install TC.
  • You'll need an outlet to plug it in too. In the bed, behind the cab. Make sure it matches the plug on the camper!
  • 1)Yes, have you figured out how much over you will be on your payload rating at that weight? You will certainly need air bags to correct the amount of sag you are going to have.

    2)Doesn't really hurt or help. With a Ford, you might need to build a frame in the bed to to cab clearance anyways.

    3)Add Torklift or Happijac tie down mounts.