I tried answering here but the server dumped me off into the ether.
Decide on a TC first.
Decide on a truck that is way more than what you need, typically a SRW F350/3500 with all the suspension bells and whistles, including secondaries. A short bed has a shorter turning cirle and thus better off-road. Fewer TC's are available for a shortbed but there is a market for them and the ones I've seen are very good.
Remember, too much truck and a not-so-tall, narrow, lightweight camper is a good thing, off-road.
Keep all the heavy stuff down low.
Depending on how far out you want to get, off-road, a small lift is not bad. Remember the farther you get away from stock the more woes you will have, off-road.
You want some traction aids to keep you going forward, but I don't think a front locker for a TC is needed. Why? Because if you are going to get your axles twisted up enough to need a front locker, you will need more than that to survive. What? By this time you will need to consider a pivoting frame flat bed, either a 3-point or a 4 point diamond shape so as not to pull your camper apart. If you are only on dirt roads, you won't need the lift or traction help beyond the factory rear limited slip. (mostly for surviving roads without the camper on. Not enough ground pressure on the rr axle.)
In any case, get there by degrees. I call it Incrementalism. It's not good or bad it just is.
If I were to go out right now and buy a Truck Camper, it would be a Lance 865 for a short bed. Several of the others mentioned above are tantalizing but way too heavy for me. So, check the actual weight of the prospective camper, not the advertised or guessed at weight.
Carry on. Here's our rig on Soda Dry Lake on the Mojave Road in March:
regards, as always, jefe
