Hesitant owner of 1/2 ton, need 3/4 ton?

bighatnohorse wrote:
The truck is EVERYTHING when it comes to truck campers.
Don't even think about a 1/2 ton truck.

Once you explore the trails of truck camping, you will begin to see the potential for extending or expanding your experiences. And you will wish that you had a truck with more capacity.

That Nissan looks pretty nice.
But you've got to tell us what is it's payload?

x2 regarding a 1/2 ton truck. I had a TC on a 1/2 ton when I already had the truck and my neighbor wanted to sell his TC for $500 - we tried it, but only took it on one trip before realizing how overloaded and poorly it handled, then bought a 3/4 ton. It was significantly better. Eventually we traded for a heavier camper and wanted to tow our Jeep, so we traded for a 1 ton DRW. I think a SRW would have been OK as well, but the extra stability is worth it. Even a pop-up will push most 1/2 tons to theirweight limit. As others have said, pick the camper first, then match the truck's payload to the camper. Don't forget anything else you'd like to add, including a small trailer to haul toys or a boat one of these days. Dry weights listed on the camper are often way less than the actual weights, too. Consider at least a 3/4 ton for pop-ups and the smaller hard side campers. I'd look at 1 tons (either SWR or DRW, depending on the camper weight)for the larger TCs and any with a slide-out. Go drive some of the 3/4 and 1 tons. You'll be amazed how well they ride.