Help with payload

I've traveled thousands of miles with my 01.5 Ram towing heavy and most recently with my Arctic Fox 1150 while towing a 24' cargo trailer on a 46" Superhitch extension. I've added Airlift bags and hockey pucks so the overloads engage sooner. Also added 19.5" wheels last year....major improvement over the 16" E rated tires. IMO this setup is perfect, although a full 4 door crew cab would be nice, I like not having a truck payment.

Add Torklift StableLoads and you could haul a Lance 1030, 1050, 1055. I have hauled all three of these on 2004 and 2008 Dodge RAMs. The 1030 was hauled many miles on a 2004 Dodge RAM 2500. The 1055 and my 1050S were hauled on a 2008 Dodge RAM 3500 SRW.

When I put my 3400 lb. camper in the bed of my truck less than 100 lbs. of that weight is carried by the front wheels. The axle and wheel bearings on your truck should be rated for 8900 lbs. and minus the weight of the truck on the rear wheels will provide the true payload limitation. Newer trucks will have rear axles rated for 10,900 lbs. and this is where the difference lies with respect to maximum payload. The GM 2011 and newer and Ram 2013 and newer trucks also have considerably stronger frames which also helps with the weight and high COG of a camper (and with DRW there is more force applied to the frame than with SRW).

A truck's calculated GVWR is based on the load the front wheels can support plus the rated weight that the rear wheels can support. All the truck manufacturers base their calculation on the weakest link as the truck is configured when it leaves the factory. The weakest link with SRW will be the rims and tires. With DRW it becomes the axle and wheel bearings.

Few trucks will not sag at the rear when a very heavy camper is placed in the bed. This can be fixed by adding extra leaf springs or by using air bags. Some frames are more prone to flexing and an anti-sway bar can help to a degree.

Add 1000 lbs. to allow for food, water, and gear to the "dry weight" of the camper to have a safe ballpark working weight. Lots of campers that have a dry weight of less than 3,000 lbs. and that means a working load of 4,000 lbs. which your truck's axle, wheel bearings, and wheels can handle without problems.

Ernie Fergler wrote:
Im looking to buy my first truck camper and I'm confused as to the size I can safely carry. I don't have any interest in modifying my truck, I want to leave it stock. I have a 2004.5 Dodge Ram 3500 DRW, 2 WD, cummins HO, auto trans. I scaled the trk w/full fuel, wife and I and weigh 7662#. My gcwr is 11500,leaving a payload of 3838#. Are my figures correct? This payload limits me to a fairly small camper( 2800# dry). Was hoping to get a 10 ft hard side dry bath. Was leaning to a used AF990, but believe it's too heavy, although I've seen bigger campers on smaller trucks. What am I missing? How heavy can I go safely?

I had my AF990 on my 98' Ram 3500 DRW, no problem, no mods to truck. I now have the same AF990 on my 14' Ram 3500 DRW, no problem. An AF990 would work well on your 3rd generation Ram 3500 DRW as well, but I don't think you'll find many with a dry bath.

3500 Quad Cab 4x2 with Dual Rear Wheels
Max.
Base Curb Trail
GVWR Box Engine Transmission Payload Weight GCWR (lbs.) (lbs.)
11000 Long 5.7L V-8 gas Manual five-speed 4680 6315.2 17,000 10,550
11000 5.7L V-8 gas Automatic five-speed 4720 6278.2 17,000 10,550
11500 5.9L 24V TDHO Manual six-speed 4430 7068.9 23,000 15,800
11500 5.9L 24V TDHO Automatic four-speed 4560 6936.9 23,000 15,900 ***

Notice the payload from Dodge on your truck is 4560 the GVWR 11500 & the GCWR 15900

wintersun wrote:

mdamerell wrote:
In 2005 the tow wars started. Like you my 2004 F350 DRW is rated at 11,500#. The new trucks are rated much higher around 14,000#. So that's a 2,500# increase in capacity. The other thing is some people never weigh and just believe the salesman.

If with the camper in the bed the truck sags in the back then you will need to add more leaf springs as with Supersprings to gain more support. This is easily done and costs less than $500 - talk to the people at Supersprings for advice for your specific truck and load.

I agree here too with the springs. Or you can buy a newer truck which the payloads have dramatically increased.
I'm sure your pocket book was planning on that right. :S

billyray50 wrote:

Nice Rig billyray50

1994 Lance 990 11' 3" as well. We just found ours this Winter.
Here is a link if you want to read about ours.
http://lanceowners.hoop.la/topic/found-a-gem

This picture here is with 19.5 vision wheels and 19.5 tires.

Hey Ernie, View my profile and earlier posts you will see That I have safely traveled thousands of miles with my 2006 Dodge 2500 SRW CTD quad cab 4x4 long bed with upgrades with my 1998 Lance 990 11' 3" dry bath model with a dry weight of 3250lbs. and a wet weight of 4000 lbs. The rear axle on my truck is rated at 10,400 to 10,800 lbs. from what I have researched. Traveled over 4000 miles with stock 17 x 8 forged aluminum wheels and Nitto 285s high load index tires from Dallas to Florida up to upstate new York and back to Texas before upgrading to 19.5 wheels and tires.

Thx to all that replied. Was hoping I was missing a piece of the puzzle. In the wgt range I'm in,the mid 2000 Lance 1130 seems my best choice. Any other suggestions?