New F350 owner seeks TC information

Geo*Boy wrote:
Stay away from any TC with a slide out and yes, remove that lift kit.

No plausible basis for the first statement, but the second half is absolutely true.

OP, regarding camper size for your truck (or the same for virtually any shortbed 1 ton srw truck of the last 20 years), any sub 9' long "short bed capable" TC will fit from a structural and CoG point. Keep your search in that range, like the AF 811 or similar and nothing to worry about there. AF and virtually any TC with a slide will be on the heavy end of the spectrum and you need to decide if you're ok with that. Trucks in good shape with the right suspension mods will haul the heavy shortbed campers safely. (Note you will have plenty of naysayers, but many of us have been doing it for years with no issues, period.)

On to your truck, if it's in good mechanical condition, it's a good fit EXCEPT for the lift. Aside from the physical challenges of height over 12' with a big TC and loading/unloading, excessive stair height to get in, etc, it will not be stable.
"Removing" the lift kit and going back to OE height suspension is a good size project for someone who is prepared to do that work. It is also, I'm guessing, quite expensive if you have a shop do it. The one silver lining in that I can think of is you'd come out of the deal with brand new springs and shocks of your choice and could outfit it very well from a suspension standpoint for hauling the camper.

That said, unless there's something special about this truck (super low miles or your favorite truck of all time kind of thing), I think the smart move is to sell it and find a suitable truck that hasn't been lifted.

Then once you have the truck sorted out, tie downs and suspension are the 2 things you need to initially haul the camper. Torklift is the best, Happijacs will work.

Also, with the market like it is, if you know you'll be in a shortbed, whether this truck or a replacement, I wouldn't hesitate to continue camper shopping and be ready to buy if you find the right one at the right price. No sense limiting yourself there.
Unless you find one a long distance away, most people selling a TC have the truck to haul it and it's not a stretch to have them deliver and unload it.

Good luck in your search. And if using for a family, I would recommend a full wall slide out and the models with the biggest tanks, like AF. Idk tank size of other brands, but AF is one of if not the largest tanks in a short camper.

Stay with a camper built for a short bed truck. The 3000 Bigfoots are all for long beds and the structure on them is not all that great even then. Agree with the lift kit removal. For stock size wheels the factory ones are stronger than many aftermarket ones and with a camper that means a lot as you will be close to or over the GVW(we all are). Make sure you have E rated tires due to the load. The 7.3 Ford is still a great truck, motors run forever, transmissions good for 150-200k miles, a bit noisy, but not $80-90k like new ones. I think the 2000 had an improve transmission cooler setup, if not it is a great upgrade.

Stay away from any TC with a slide out and yes, remove that lift kit.

That 6” lift is going to make hauling a heavy and tall TC a miserable experience, I’m sorry to say. I would consider removing it, as it’s just going to make it harder to load, and put your loaded CG up higher which will make it wallow around more with the TC on it.

Lifted trucks typically don’t stick with the OE tires and wheels, so you should look at those first before loading any TC on it. You may not even have the load capacity listed on the door sticker. I can’t stress this enough. Overloading your tires and wheels is the quickest way to turn a fun TC trip onto a problem.

Tires and wheels chosen for lifted, off-road use aren’t always the best choice for hauling a TC, especially of the size you seem to be looking for. Make sure your wheels are rated for more than the load you intend to haul, and make sure they aren’t some after-market eye candy. The wheels need to be hub-centric like the OE wheels were, not lug-centric.

The best TC hauling tire is going to have a load rating that exceeds the weight of your load, and has the stiffest sidewalls available. If you can find tires with “all steel casing”, meaning the steel belts extend into the sidewalls like the Micheline XPS Traction tire, those would be best. I don’t think the XPS is made in a size for your truck, just using that as an example.

Voice of experience here, take it for what it’s worth. :W

:):)

The official numbers can be found on two stickers that you can see when you open the driver's door. One contains the weights (Gross/GVWR, Front axle (FAWR), Rear Axle (RAWR).
The other one contains the payload.

I doubt the older '00 truck has a payload sticker but will have a FAWR/RAWR.
Those GVWR based payload stickers didn't become mandatory industry wide till '06.

Back then we weighed the empty trucks rear axle. Subtract that number from the trucks RAWR for a in the bed payload.

Hi and welcome!
Sorry if you know any or all of this already:
You need to be aware of the payload and (rear-) axle capacity of your truck.
The official numbers can be found on two stickers that you can see when you open the driver's door. One contains the weights (Gross/GVWR, Front axle (FAWR), Rear Axle (RAWR).
The other one contains the payload.
I assume the truck is single rear wheel. The rear axle rating will probably be limited/determined by the load capacity of the two single rear tires.
The center of gravity of the camper determines where the camper's weight will be carried.
On a short bed truck, the weight of the camper will usually go all to the rear axle.
If the cog is in front of the axle, some of the weight goes to the front axle.
If the cog is behind the rear axle, some weight will be transferred from the front axle to the rear in addition to all of the camper weight.
The longer the camper is, the further back its cog usually is (depending on design decisions of the camper mfg).
The most reliable way to determine the available capacity of your truck: Take your truck to a scale and get the individual axle weights. The truck should be packed in the way that you usually travel, probably mostly empty, but with a full tank of gas.
The difference between the RAWR and the actual (empty) weight on the rear axle comes pretty close to the weight of the camper that you can safely carry in the back without modifications.
How far you can exceed this is a topic of hot discussion on this forum. I will not get into this. A few 100 lbs are likely not going to be a problem.
The stated dry weights of a truck camper are usually grossly underrated and do often not contain lpg, battery, a/c on the roof, sometimes not even the jacks. And they do not contain anything you load into the camper, such as water, food, all of your belongings. Only a scale can tell the actual weight. Assume that any camper will be a lot heavier than what the brochure states.

You say that your truck is lifted. This will not help with the handling of the rig. A TC is already top-heavy.

Your questions:

Camper cog: Some campers come with a cog marked on the side.
Some state the cog position somewhere in the specifications, usually as a distance from the front bulkhead.
The actual cog is obviously subject to the way the camper is loaded (and outfitted) and may be a bit fore or aft of the stated position. As a rule of thumb, it is usually around 1/3 back from the front bulkhead. If you need to know where exactly, you are probably pushing limits already.

Tie down mounts: Have them installed and ready before you pick up the camper. It will be stressful enough the first time, so get that out of the way.

Tailgate: If your first trip with the camper takes you home, you can certainly leave the tailgate in place and carry it home inside the camper (maybe wrapped in a blanket?). They are easy enough to remove, unless the PO has installed some anti-theft device, in which case you should know about this beforehand.

So much for initial information. I am sure there will be more coming. Do not worry, the truck will carry a camper just fine.