Lance 480 9' 6" on a short bed truck
I own a 1993 Lance 480 extended cab 9' 6" I have a buddy who has a 2008 F350 that's a short bed 6 3/4, my question is will my camper fit safely on this truck, what issues would I have? I want to buy h...
Forum Discussion
Can you determine if the camper was designed by the manufacturer to fit in a short (aka standard) bed truck? Unfortunately, I sincerely doubt a 1993 model of that size is designed for a short bed. Short bed 3/4 ton and 1 ton pickups were generally not available in 1993.
Long bed campers are typically designed to be supported along the first 8' of floor. In a short bed truck, you will have 18" of that floor hanging off the back of the truck, bouncing down the road. This may or may not be a problem, depending on the camper. Nothing bad may happen, or you may break the camper's back.
No, you cannot use the tailgate to make up the difference. The tailgate is not designed to have thousands of pounds bouncing up and down on it for thousands of miles. The hold-up cables will also likely interfere with the camper body.
Less of an issue is that the Center of Gravity (CG) of the camper will be about 12" behind the axle. This may or may not be a problem depending on how heavy the camper is. When you put weight behind the rear axle it acts like a see-saw and lifts weight off the front axle, causing mushy handling and braking issues.
Also, the 1993 camper's cabover will definitely not be high enough to clear the Ford's cab. You will need to raise the camper up on a platform to clear the cab. This may be a blessing in disguise because you can build the platform to support the camper along the full 8' it was designed to be supported by.
Long bed campers are typically designed to be supported along the first 8' of floor. In a short bed truck, you will have 18" of that floor hanging off the back of the truck, bouncing down the road. This may or may not be a problem, depending on the camper. Nothing bad may happen, or you may break the camper's back.
No, you cannot use the tailgate to make up the difference. The tailgate is not designed to have thousands of pounds bouncing up and down on it for thousands of miles. The hold-up cables will also likely interfere with the camper body.
Less of an issue is that the Center of Gravity (CG) of the camper will be about 12" behind the axle. This may or may not be a problem depending on how heavy the camper is. When you put weight behind the rear axle it acts like a see-saw and lifts weight off the front axle, causing mushy handling and braking issues.
Also, the 1993 camper's cabover will definitely not be high enough to clear the Ford's cab. You will need to raise the camper up on a platform to clear the cab. This may be a blessing in disguise because you can build the platform to support the camper along the full 8' it was designed to be supported by.
