Truck camper on a flat bed

805gregg wrote:
Flat beds are above the tires, where regular beds put the camper between the tires, so with a flat bed your center of gravity will be about 1' higher, how about a service bed

I put a CM RD model flatbed on my truck about 3 weeks ago, it raised the bed height 4.75 inches

My camper had 2x`s under it to clear fifth wheel rails , which I removed , so my camper was raised 3.75 inches, cabover is now 6.5 inches over the cab

You want to look at beds with cut front corners for sure so you can flip the dually swing outs into the void
If you get a headache rack it will move the camper back also, mine moved back 3.5 inches, COG is still way in front of my axle

I mounted underbody boxes under the bed and thought I had measured everything carefully , but found the jacks when in where in the way of opening them, had to change from Reico Titan EZ swings to regular swing outs to move the jacks forward in the stowed position, so the boxes would open

The bed I bought was a real deal , 1200.00 ,it was new old stock they wanted to get rid of. It had the built on hitch removed ,it would have had to be modified to use a longer that 18" extention anyway ,that worked better for me so I can use a superhitch and an extention

I`m in the process of mounting(removable) underbody type alum boxes on the bed now , 17" deep x 18" high, I`ll have more storage space than I`ll ever need, that's a plus but all the boxes have cost me about 1700.00

Also figure the cost of some stakesides in if you want to use the flatbed to haul anything like a regular truck bed

I had to change turnbuckle types since they attach to the flatbed now and are shorter

I gained about 450 lbs with the flatbed alone , not a big issue for me, the campers not that huge, and I`m way under axle and tire ratings

An aluminum bed would have been lighter but cost many time more than what I spent , and I would have had to keep the torklift tie downs I sold , because alum bed wouldn`t have been solid enough to tie the camper to

Another plus was the flatbed had a gooseneck hitch built into it, I also made a lower mount for my fifthwheel hitch , and now there are no bed rails to worry about hitting with a fifth

I cant get a solid answer from our CHP here in CA about stopping at truck scales , but I was told when the camper is on I`m exempt

In CA a flatbed means your not a pickup truck anymore and if your GVW is over 10000 lbs you may need a CA # and pay motor carrier road tax instead of weight fees like a pickup, but there are tons of flatbed running around here and I hope they will leave me alone, I haven't been pulled over in 10 years, and Im close to moving to Nevada anyway

Also if you change, and your bed ,tailgate, and bumper are in good shape you can sell them and recoup some of the costs