Help! New to Truck-camper Camping

Mmmm...well lets go back a bit. Forgive me if this sounds rudimentary. When you open the"RV.NET: Photo Upload & Post" you click on the "or select" blue button right? Then you search for your pictures folder where your pictures are kept. When you click on a picture does it say uploading and the picture appears in the box above and with the link below in the box saying copy the link and insert it in your post? Left click hold it down at the end of the code, drag your mouse to the left until it turns blue then right click..hit copy. Come back to the forum and in quick reply, right click and hit paste...it should work. Keep trying...I seen where it said "Link Removed"...never seen that before...lol, your a first. We all might learn something new from this one.

I have a 1976 11.5 foot camper and boy is it heavy. It says it us 2700 lbs, but it is closer to 3400. I carry it on a Ford 350 dually with no air bags but sway bars. It handles pretty good, but I see my knuckles turning white on occasion. And yes, I ( as the wife) drive it all of the time.

DiverDan,

Welcome to Truck Camping.

What you have is a math problem. The math is, your truck weighs more than you think it does. Ditto the camper.

You will need to weigh your unloaded truck at a scale. I'm guessing it with come in right around 7,300-7,400 pounds. My 6.8L, Crew cab, long bed, 4X4 was 7000 pounds. The diesel is a heavier engine than my 6.8L gasser. You will also need to then weigh the truck and camper together.

With a GVWR of 8800, your Super Duty does not have a lot of payload capacity. As others have pointed out, you can carry more with appropriate suspension upgrades.

Most of the advice you are getting so far is very good. Once you have your truck and truck/camper weights, the folks on this forum can give you very specific, helpful advice. I have one thing I'd like to add:

With your truck, I would recommend staying with a 8 or 8-1/2 foot camper that weighs no more than 2700 pounds fully loaded with all your tanks, and gear and stuff. By the time you stiffen your springs, shocks, sway bar, etc. to take out the side-to-side sway, you end up with a kidney busting stiff ride that porpoises at highway speeds. It is far and away better to simply carry a smaller camper. You are already at a disadvantage by driving a heavier truck.

I have had four truck/camper combos the past 16 years and have been badly overloaded on two of my four set-ups. Properly loaded is a better way to go.

The Alpenlite on the F350 is the pic below was one of my overloaded set-ups. The truck weighed 7000 pounds empty and had a GVWR of 9900#. My Alpenlite had a 3000 pound "sticker" weight but actually weighed 4,400 fully loaded. The F350 and camper weighed 11,400 and drove like **** despite air bags, heavy duty sway bars, adjustable Rancho 9000 shocks, etc.

KKELLER14K - I am following your directions however photos that I post keep saying "Link Removed" when I post (?)

Thank you for all the help/responses! More info & photos of the truck suspension:

Tires: Kelly Safari load range 'E' with a max load of 3,415 LBS.
Shocks: PB Monroe Reflex shocks (front & rear)

Pics of shocks & overloads (hope this works)

Front

***Link Removed***
***Link Removed***.***Link Removed***
***Link Removed***.***Link Removed***
***Link Removed***.


Rear

***Link Removed***
***Link Removed***.***Link Removed***
***Link Removed***.***Link Removed***
***Link Removed***.***Link Removed***
***Link Removed***.***Link Removed***
***Link Removed***.

Good advice with pics...does it get any better?





Here is an airbag set up just to wet your whistle...

I put a TC on my one ton Ford diesel and the camper was flush with the tail gate. In the wind it felt like we were at sea. On mountain roads it felt like we were going to miss a few curves. I sold it and went to a TT.

Dan

I have a 2003 F350 CC 4x4 long bed that I used to carry my heavy TC on

To make your truck work you need better shocks, a Rear Antisway bar (I went with Roadmaster) and probably a mix of the following Torklift upper and lower Stableloads, Airbags or Timbrebns (or similar). I also upgraded my wheel and tires to 19.5 commercial to give me the load capacity and take out sidewall flex( sway).

I have almost the same truck and have a huge camper on. With a lot of mods and $, i'm comfortable with it, but it was a journey.
You say you have settled on a pop up, so those are much lighter than a hard sided slide camper like mine so I will give you my suggestions on suspension upgrades for your truck.

#1 Almost every dry weight you will see is a lie. Loaded up on top of that unknown dry weight is a wet weight (loaded up gear and water). That is what is important to know and your new setup should be weighed, especially the rear axle as soon as you get it.
#2 Fully air your tires up to the max, especially the rear.
#3 Leave your overloads, very important. I suggest upper stable loads to engage them sooner. I rarely have any air in my bags and don't really need them. If I put just a little too much air in my bags it lift my truck off of the overloads and I start to sway, BADLY.
#4 Get a rear sway bar. I like Roadmaster, Hellwig popular also.

Tires are the weakest link. Weigh your rear axle "Wet" and see if it's close to 6830 lbs. If so, I suggest new tires that can handle more weight. I used have 285X75X16 that were rated for 3750 (7500) for my old lighter camper, worked good.

I think with a small pop up and the mods I suggested, you will be fine. Those trucks (maintained properly) are very serviceable..


Here's the pig I haul on my 2002 Super Duty 7.3. Again, lots of mod$...

I think you have several issues.

1. Not being used to driving and/or riding in a truck/TC can be really scary for some people. Being new to the TC experience, it really helps to adapt by riding and/or driving a setup that has been on the road for a while. Keep in mind we each have our own comfort level.

2. Without actually seeing what your suspension is, in person or maybe photos, our advice may not be what you need. On a given truck manufacturers have several different suspensions. We can give you advice that would require you to take a 2nd mortgage.

3. The most common upgrades are overloads, airbags, anti-sway bar, and tires. I think it is important to understand the effect each of these have. I encourage you to do a search on each.

4. Sway is probably the toughest thing to control. It will be the single most important item to upgrade. The anti-sway bar only helps control sway, and does nothing else. Although tires must cary the load, they play a big roll in sway. The stiffer the sidewall, the less sway. Airbags are primarily used to provide lift. They typically have little effect on sway, with the exception of them being over inflated.

5 Weight of the TC has to be supported. Tires, Springs, overload springs, and airbags are the primary things to consider. In my opinion, the tires are most important. If one of them fail, you have a potential for a serious accident. Modifying the springs require serious thought. Adding leafs will usually make for a rough riding truck when empty. I suggest you leave them stock. There are many configurations of overload springs. Most trucks have a single overload on the bottom of the main springs. About all you can do there is add a lower Stable Load. Depending on the truck, the options on the upper overloads is almost endless. My experience with airbags has been positive. I have a '96 Dodge that has hauled my 4200 pound TC (11.5 ft) for over 13 years with no problem. It has the same load capacities on the door sticker as your truck. It has no upper overload.

In my opinion, your truck can haul pretty much any of the hard side non-slide TCs. I must say, I understand the door sticker to be the manufacturers suggestion with the tires and wheels listed. I no longer am willing to argue this point. I believe most hard side non-slide TCs will weigh in between 3000 and 4000 lbs.

I question that you must remove your overload springs to install airbags. Who told you that? My '96 had an aftermarket overload, and I did have to remove it due to its design.

Wayne