Truck camper weight

willardskillard wrote:
... But a wind storm in the Mountain passes this side of Bakersfield Humbled me some and made me swear to buy a Bigger truck. I Bought a 1995 12 valve extended Cab Dodge That's in very good condition. Do you guys think I should have to enhance the suspension any as light as my camper is? ...

A windstorm in any truck/TC can humble anyone. You can make mods to most rigs to make the windstorms less humbling.

It would only be guessing to say you should or should not enhance the suspension of your truck. The same truck can come from the factory with different suspension packages. Your truck may or may have existing overload springs, or anti-sway bar for example. Is your truck a dually or SRW? The tires can make a real difference in sway. To install airbags or not is an ongoing argument on the forum. When you load your TC, the back typically squats from 2 to 4 inches. If you consider nothing else, if your headlights were adjusted correctly before you loaded the TC, they will be pointing in the trees after loading the TC. The airbags allow you to raise the back up to be as level as it was without the TC.

I have a 1996 Dodge 2500, 12-valve, 2WD, SRW. I bought it at 75,000 miles and it now has about 250,000 miles. Most of the 175,000 miles I put on it are with my 11.5 foot Bigfoot TC. My truck weight is 6200, TC is 4200, for a total of 10400 pounds. I have added Airbags, anti-sway bar, adjustable shocks, Timbrins (front axle), and most importantly 19.5 tires and wheels. I added this stuff over time.

My suggestion is to load the TC. Decide what you would like to improve, do a little research and make the improvement. The tires would be the first thing I would look at, not just the load capacity, but the softness of the sidewall also. The anti-sway bar would be a big help in windstorms. Add overloads fine, add leafs to your springs, and you will have a much rougher ride without the TC.

Wayne

Our F-250 handles our 1,800 lb (dry weight) 8' camper very nicely. No enhancements needed, even though the truck is a few hundred pounds over its GVWR when loaded.

With the camper on and the 7.3L PSD, the axles almost carry the same weight now.

And if it under 12000 pounds You don't have to keep log books. Have any of you folks ever done this?

Where are you going to find a Class 8 truck under 12,000 pounds? And if it is for only recreational use (non commercial) why would you have log books?

If you go to the Escapees web pages there is a section devoted to folks that use Class 8 tractors and MDT's towing RV's and a lot of pertinent info from those that are doing what you might want to do. Most do not haul truck campers on the truck rather they tow large fifth wheels but much of the information would still be valid for your efforts.

I would have never worried about it before I found this website and started reading all the stories on here lol. But I think most of you fellows have much heavier campers than me. Ive noticed they really beef everything up. And also I just completed a CDL school and got my class A combination with air Brakes. This school taught me a lot about weight ratings and all. Going to a Good professional Driving school will change your perspective a bit. It makes you more aware of the Dangers. Now Im wanting a class 8 Truck with a flat bed and a bigger TC, Something with big fuel tanks and gets good mileage loaded and unloaded, something that I don't have to worry about wind and hills. And last but not least something that You can put a million miles on and be still going strong. I think one of these trucks with a sleeper and a camper on back would be the Ultimate camping machine. With the new emission regulations in California I can get a nice one for under 5 grand, And that's a lot cheaper than a nice dually. They say you can tag them for personal recreation use and its way cheaper. And if it under 12000 pounds You don't have to keep log books. Have any of you folks ever done this?

If you take the rig to a scale and weigh it, you will be able to answer your own question. Just see how the weights go accordingly to your gross vehicle rating. Drive it with no enhancements, and if you like how it rides, then you should be good to go.