Help deciding camper

SIL bought a 9 foot Bigfoot to mount on his 3500 Dodge. He now wishes he had listened to me and bought a dually. You simply not going to like loading that much camper on your truck.

Wolf Creek 850. Dry Weight, 2008 lbs,

*Wolf Creek 850: dry weight, 2,008 pounds + 33 gallons fresh, 275.2 pounds + 6 gallon full hot water heater, 50 pounds + 2x 20-pound full propane tanks, 40 pounds + 2 batteries, 130 pounds + stuff, 500 pounds = 3,003.2 pounds

Because you have a crew cab, and a long bed, the weight of a camper will fall on the rear axle almost completely. The best suggestion might be to fill your truck with fuel and what things you might carry, then weigh the axles. Look at your tires and see what their capacity is at maximum.

That difference then becomes your ability to carry a camper loaded with a years supply of everything you need. You may need 19.5 wheels and tires to make it work for you if your axle is rated high enough for the load.

Remember, the posted dry weight of a camper does not include jacks or A/C either, and generally without any options, so weight really adds up.

Good luck.

We really liked our Bigfoot 10.6 We ran it on a 1994 Dodge 2500HD diesel with airbags, rancho 9000 shocks and aftermarket sway bar. We did order it without A/C and Genset to save weight as we only had a 2500. IMO that was a great set-up albeit overloaded per manufacturer sticker for GVWR. When we replaced it with a larger camper we also traded the truck in for a 3500 dually.

Freeborn530 wrote:
*Wolf Creek 850: dry weight, 2,008 pounds + 33 gallons fresh, 275.2 pounds + 6 gallon full hot water heater, 50 pounds + 2x 20-pound full propane tanks, 40 pounds + 2 batteries, 130 pounds + stuff, 500 pounds = 3,003.2 pounds

+ 2 people 400 pounds, + full tank of fuel 200 pounds + A/C 150 pounds + generator 150 pounds+ other options i.e.: microwave, stereo, tv, oven etc...100 pounds. = 4,000+ lbs

Most any of the 8ft Lances would work great also.I had an 8ft Lance on a 1976 Ford F-250 and the only upgrades to the suspension was some Helwig helper springs I used for a 35ft fifth wheel...The Lance road extremely well on the old ford without any upgrades other than the springs.

Lot's of 8ft campers out there in that price range to choose from.

Buy a Northstar TC, you won’t be disappointed. Great build quality.

Before everyone starts adding their opinions about campers tell us what is your style of camping? Things like:

RV parks only?

Do you travel everyday or tend to stay at locations for a while.

Do you plan on taking the camper off the truck often to use the truck alone?

Boondocking?

Do you like getting far into the back country?

Large enough for big TV's and sat dish?

Small enough for extreme off roading?

Any info you can offer will help to find a camper for what your needs are.

A Wolf Creek 840 or 850 would work great on your 2500 truck, I've been carrying mine 5 seasons now on a 2500. Lower StableLoads and maybe a stabilizer as you have a Dodge/Ram. My actual loaded weight is 3,180 lbs +or- 2 lbs. I think the 850's started around 2012-current years.