Forum Discussion
burningman
Feb 03, 2018Explorer II
I’ve done it and I think it’s a great idea for your situation. Mine was the same, I needed to haul a camper with a 1/2 ton Chevy. I’d swapped in a Cadillac 500 and it had no problem pulling, just couldn’t carry.
All you need is a car trailer. They have wooden decks. If you need a platform to raise the camper you can build something or just screw down some stout pallets.
I made a wide front camper jack extender bracket thing from square-tube steel that bolted on across the front of the camper. I removed it once loaded.
You can find a decent car trailer for $1500-$2000 and either keep it (they’re handy for all sorts of stuff) or sell it when you get your one-ton.
It was great having all that deck space on the front under the cabover bed for carrying stuff. I made some “stake sides” from 2x4s to hold my stuff in. A few cans of black Krylon makes it look decent.
The extra deck space on the back was a great porch. It was also nice having it so low to the ground.
So, yeah, just buy yourself a car trailer. It works great.
Don’t use a pickup truck bed trailer. It’ll sit up high and be essentially a tricycle, two wheels and the hitch ball. It’ll be tippy and bouncy. A nice low car trailer will be solid and stable and have good brakes.
All you need is a car trailer. They have wooden decks. If you need a platform to raise the camper you can build something or just screw down some stout pallets.
I made a wide front camper jack extender bracket thing from square-tube steel that bolted on across the front of the camper. I removed it once loaded.
You can find a decent car trailer for $1500-$2000 and either keep it (they’re handy for all sorts of stuff) or sell it when you get your one-ton.
It was great having all that deck space on the front under the cabover bed for carrying stuff. I made some “stake sides” from 2x4s to hold my stuff in. A few cans of black Krylon makes it look decent.
The extra deck space on the back was a great porch. It was also nice having it so low to the ground.
So, yeah, just buy yourself a car trailer. It works great.
Don’t use a pickup truck bed trailer. It’ll sit up high and be essentially a tricycle, two wheels and the hitch ball. It’ll be tippy and bouncy. A nice low car trailer will be solid and stable and have good brakes.
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