Short Bed Truck with Long Bed Camper

What years Dodge? Tailgates have gotten much less substantial over the years. My 97 F350 tailgate weighs almost 80 pounds and is very stout. My buddy's new Siverado tailgate weighs about half that and we bent it loading a quad last month.

I bet the new aluminum body Ford's tailgate is an ornament.

I sold my Lance Squire 3000(8'6")to a local smoke jumper..He put it on a dodge short bed 4X4 with the tailgate down..Just saw him the other day and asked about my old camper..He has been using it for the last four years,tail gate down in his short bed 2500 without issue..I thought he might have put supports on the tail gate but he didn't.

Like my friend Ralph Cramden (his screen name on here) aptly states...

"you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig'.

I simply stated I would not do it, but then, I'm the captain of my own ship not anyone else's.

Conversely, do we really know EXACTLY what the unit weighs? Not really. Do we know the placement of the weight in relationship to the Cg? Not really.

We do know however, that most camper sticker weights are fantasy numbers.

Taking all that into account I would not attempt it. But thats me, not the OP.

I like Kayteg's analogy, even the Titanic broke in two. That applies here as well.

I read numerous posts on here where owners modify their suspensions, add sway bars, bigger tires, the whole nin in an attempt to get their carrying capacity up to the unit they have.

Bottom line with that is, once you exceed the manufacturers GCCW you are overweight no matter how you modify the truck.

Overloaded is overloaded. All goes back to the pig analogy.

Why I bought a truck that is more than capable of carrying the TC I have. No suspension mods at all. Only reason I have air bags is my truck spends most of it's time pulling a tri axle GN loaded with ag products.

You put an 8 foot bed camper in a short bed truck, chances are you'll be taxing the rear axle past it's design limits. While it's not mine, if it was, I wouldn't do it if it was.

I'll leave it at that.

Carry on...

Why not just get a short bed camper for the short bed truck?

Kayteg1 wrote:
Even Titanic broke in 1/2 when it lack support at the end.
How long exactly is your short bed?
If you are thinking about 8' long camper, tailgate can give it necessary support, although strength of tailgate is questionable.
Anything longer is asking for troubles.

Bed is 6.5ft. I would be looking for something diffent from the tailgate and thousands of miles hitting the tailgate and I wouldn't trust it.

I have heard suggestion that people put in some sort of support but they never detail what they did.

wnjj wrote:
It depends upon the camper model. Many “short bed” models are nothing more than long bed models with skirts and storage boxes added. Support on those models is not needed. I’d confirm with the manufacturer if it’s ok.

As for COG, the “in front of the axle” is another RVmyth.net story. GM’s official camper documentation I posted some time ago (at least at th time) allowed the COG to be all the way at the rear edge of the bed. Their only concern was percentage of total weight on the front axle. Also, pickups can tow with a decent amount on the hitch without WD. Removing some weight from the front is not the disaster some claim it is.

If it got extreme (COG at the rear edge of the bed), I could see it being problematic but the difference between 6.5 and 8.0 foot bed, the COG isn't moving very far relative to the axle. So unless the truck was already unstable, I don't see how t would make much difference.

SidecarFlip wrote:
I'd be concerned about the weight on the drive axle as well. You move your CG back when you have a lot of overhang out back.

You can do about anything if you put your mind to it. Is it safe? That is up to you. I would not.

Why would you be concerned about the drive axle? Based on checking a sampling, the COG won't be more than about 6" behind the axle.

For a 2500lb unit, the difference between 6" in front and 6" behind is negligible in terms of how much weight goes on the rear axle. COG already accounts for the overhang. If you've got 3200lb capacity, it's well within limits either way.

The premise was that you aren't exceeding the load limits for either axle or the GVWR....but people talk about the front end getting light when a preliminary review of the numbers suggests, it can't happen to any noticeable degree.

Is it just the presumption that most truck campers are way over weight to start with and thus you are making a bad situation worse? Or is there something behind it that I'm missing?

It depends upon the camper model. Many “short bed” models are nothing more than long bed models with skirts and storage boxes added. Support on those models is not needed. I’d confirm with the manufacturer if it’s ok.

As for COG, the “in front of the axle” is another RVmyth.net story. GM’s official camper documentation I posted some time ago (at least at th time) allowed the COG to be all the way at the rear edge of the bed. Their only concern was percentage of total weight on the front axle. Also, pickups can tow with a decent amount on the hitch without WD. Removing some weight from the front is not the disaster some claim it is.

I'd be concerned about the weight on the drive axle as well. You move your CG back when you have a lot of overhang out back.

You can do about anything if you put your mind to it. Is it safe? That is up to you. I would not.

Even Titanic broke in 1/2 when it lack support at the end.
How long exactly is your short bed?
If you are thinking about 8' long camper, tailgate can give it necessary support, although strength of tailgate is questionable.
Anything longer is asking for troubles.