LWB camper in SWB pickup
I'm in south Texas and going on a camping trip to Colorado for a week in July. My neighbor has offered to let me use his truck camper for the trip. Trouble is, his camper was designed for a LWB and I ...
Forum Discussion
sonuvabug wrote:burningman wrote:
... snipped ... COG doesn’t have to be ahead of the rear axle, it isn’t when you hook up a trailer ...
I respectfully disagree with this COG statement. In fact, in my Operating Manual for our AML Adventurer, it specifically states:
" Centre Of Gravity - On each Adventurer camper (left and right sidewall) is the centre of gravity sticker. The centre of gravity should be ahead of the rear axle to transfer more of the weight to the front of the truck. " The Manual goes on to provide several diagrams of the recommended Centre of Gravity locations.
Their advice is consistent with my training and experience with farm machinery equipment years ago.
I’ll take the truck manufacturers’ opinions over a camper manufacturers’. More weight on the front isn’t good if your axle is already heavily loaded. In the following GM publication, the allowed placement of COG is between dimension A and B. At least some of the GM stickers I’ve seen have dimension B = 0 which means the COG can sit at the rear edge of the bed provided the ratio of front and rear axle weight is met.
http://www.gmfleetorderguide.com/NASApp/domestic/printbook?pdftype=camper〈=1&year=2014
Taking weight off the front isn’t an issue. Having the rear significantly heavier than the front is. With GM at least, the rear can weigh 2x what the front does for SRW models and even more for DRW’s.
The final combined COG of the platform is all that the suspension system sees and what actually matters.
