At least one post-er gets it (thanks, Wanderin Fool). I did look at the listed specs for this camper, and did the math, I knew that I would be over the load capacity a little, but something is not adding up. There's no logical explanation why we would be exceed the GVWR by almost 600# if the camper truly did weight 1056# with the standard set-up as the manufacturer claims. I know we added on a few other options, but no where near hundreds of pounds worth. We are going to weigh the truck alone without the camper to see how much it's weighing in at next.
What I'm seeing and hearing a lot here is that there are a lot of people that are willing to overload their vehicle - if it was just a matter of damage to your vehicle that was at risk here, then I'd say more power to ya, but the auto manufacturers list those limits for a reason. The vehicle is simply not safe to operate above those limits, especially if you're exceeding them by a huge amount, and you're putting other's lives at risk (your passengers as well as others on the road) every time you exceed those limits.
Also, there's a lot of post-ers bashing my "little" truck - it's got a 6' bed, and a 4.0L V6 engine, and we didn't want to buy a monster truck for those times when we weren't carrying a camper so we wouldn't be burning all those fossil fuels and could actually maneuver tight, REAL 4WD roads where turning radius is a concern. If you want to drive a tank (and feed it), that's fine, but not everyone should have to just to carry a camper top.
There are options - if and when we can unload this "pig" of a camper, we're looking at something a bit more stripped down with just the essentials - a bed, a table and seats, maybe a stove, and that's it. There are ways of putting a camper on a truck without exceeding its limits, and those that carry more just because the camper manufacturers aren't smart enough or sensitive enough to the user's requirements are just giving the makers permission to put more on our vehicles than should be there.
The dealer's response so far has been less than satisfactory. As of right now, the dealer's only offer is to pay to add another leaf to our springs. That does NOTHING to increase the vehicle's payload, because it doesn't address the axle strength or chassis strength. My response to that is that if they are willing to put in writing that they will stand behind that upgrade, and will accept responsibility for any damages to my vehicle, other vehicles (if there's an accident), injury or death if it can be proven that the cause of said damage or injury is due to the vehicle exceeding the load limits, I might take them up on it (not that I would, I know better). I seriously doubt they'd agree to that because if they were smart, they'd see that they were putting the noose around their own necks.
I am not done fighting by a long shot, and have plenty of other avenues of recourse that I plan to draw on if necessary to get the dealer to "do the right thing."
Finally, the ultimate intent of my post was to warn others before they make a purchase like this, and not trust their dealer at their word when they tell you "it's perfect!" for your vehicle. And that Palomino's advertising is misleading, if not downright false, when it claims that these smaller campers were "made for" the Ford Ranger, Chevy Colorado and Toyota Tacoma, because it's not necessarily true in all cases.
