Forum Discussion

zcookiemonstar's avatar
Sep 10, 2013

Looking at Lance Squire 3000

I am looking at a 97 Lance squire 3000 I was wondering if any one had any feedback on this model? I will be putting it on a 01 Dodge Ram 2500 long bed gas truck weighs just under 5800lbs full of gas and no passengers I don't think weight will be a problem. This would be my first truck camper.
  • Being new to truck campers I didn't think weight would be an issue and was looking for more feedback on the camper it self but thanks to you guys I am learning more and more how fast the weight on these goes up from the brochure weight.
  • I owned a 92 Lance Squire 3000 and hauled it on a 04 F250 shortbox. It was a longbox camper at 8'6" and the truck hauled it well. Based on total weight of truck loaded, camper seemed to be about 2500#'s and was a pretty well built unit. Sold it to buy my present Eagle Cap 850.
  • Accurate info for the OP:

    1997 Lance Squire is a nice TC and below are the specs as I have the 1997 Lance brochure and had also owned an ordered new 1997 Squire 4000 fully optioned out. I scale weighed the rig with and without the camper on a 1993 Chevy 2500 5.7 V-8 ext cab LB 4X4 truck loaded before a 13,137 mile trip to Alaska. The rig handled and rode excellent for the whole 128,000+ miles it was on the truck traveling all over the USA, Canada, and Alaska.

    SPECS:

    Floor length 8'-6"

    Width 93"

    Height inside 6'- 8-1/2"

    Fresh water tank 33 Gallons

    Gray Water tank 11 gallons

    Black water tank 12 gallons

    Propane 2 - 20lb tanks

    Standard cabover (crosswise bed) dry weight w/o any options 2050 lbs

    Extended cabover (front to back bed) dry weight w/o any options 2130 lbs

    Add to weight for all options such as A/C (approx 80 lbs) etc.

    With all options available for this 1997 Squire 3000 model including all liquid tanks full and 40 lbs propane: Add 634 lbs to the dry weight per the brochure.

    Of course, you don't normally travel with the gray and black tanks full.

    What you add in personal cargo (clothes, food, gear, etc varies too much to assign an accurate weight total).

    The camper is short and the center of gravity is way ahead of the rear axle by more than a foot. It will be fine on your 2500 truck assuming the suspension, shocks, tires (max weight capacity and age), drivetrain, and the truck frame (mainly rust issues) are all in good shape. You can always add overloads of one type or another if needed for rear sag but they should be needed for the Lance Squire 3000.
  • I had a 98 lance squire 3000. It weighed right at 3000 pounds dry (no water or any other gear). I think the sticker said 2522 but that didn't include options. It actually is a pretty heave rig. I put it on my 2011 chevy 3500 SRW and it handled it but I was surprised at how heavy it was. If you have AC and awning your rig may weigh close to 3000 pounds empty also. Just some food for thought.