Truck camper for Toyota Tundra

Listen to what these people are telling you. No, I mean REALLY listen. I have never owned a Toyota (just never purchased one, close but never did). I know there have been claims that the Tundra is built on a 3/4 ton frame and all the other blah, blah Toyota puts out there but I beg to differ.

Now I'll add my experience. About 8 months or so ago I decided to upgrade from my '06 Ram 1/2 ton Hemi to a 3/4 ton Ram Cummins to have a better tow vehicle to pull my tractor on the trailer. A month or so later I decided that since I now have a heavier duty truck I'd invest in a slide in camper. I went to the camper dealer and looked at several campers then decided to get a Lance 865. They say a heavy duty 1/2 ton can haul this camper. Ha, Ha, Ha,!!! I installed Supersprings, Timbren bump stops, Rancho 9000 shocks and aRoadmaster rear anti-sway bar. The truck seemed to handle the camper pretty well but had more side to side sway than I expected. This had me concerned since I had planned on pulling a trailer with either 2 three person PWCs or a trailer with 2 street motorcycles. Then one day I went and had the truck weighed with the camper in but no camping gear, water, food, clothes or anything else that I would want to take on an outing. I found out that even without all the stuff I'd take along I was already over the door sticker GVWR by 800 pounds. Not long after that, I traded in the 2500 for a 3500 SRW Cummins.

You can almost never have too much truck but you can definitely have too little.

Listen to what everyone is telling you.

What kind of ammenities do you expect or want? Ability to tow 10k and haul payload are totally different animals.

Hallmark K2 or Four Wheel Campers you might looks at.

Just between me, you and a fence post... unless you have a specific reason to downsize, I'd keep towing that 25' TT with the Tundra. An 11 1/2' TC w/slide and dry bath on a F-350 dually can get pretty small with time. Easy to maneuver and park in most places, but still on the small side for livability and comfort. You live out of a TC, not in it.

Something on here may be worthwhile to you:
http://www.northstarcampers.com/online-catalog.php?headerbar=0&view=prods&parentId=11&catId=12

It is going to be a challenge for anything but a light weight camper. As a start check your door sticker for the cargo carrying capacity. You want something like this on the door pillar:



That would give you are starting point. Note you have to subtract the weight of everything you carry in the truck (including people) from this number. Note too that the dry weight of a truck camper is significantly lower than the weight when you add water, batteries, propane and stuff. To get a feel for the difference go here

Truck camper Magazine Buyers Guide

select a manufacturer and then look at the "wet weight". As I noted, Toyota Trucks do not have particularly high "hauling" capacities. Some people say it is ok to exceed your GCWR as long as you don't exceed the axle ratings. I wouldn't do it but I'll let others weigh in on that.