Camper Package on F-350
Looking at used F-350 Dually's for my camper. Not seeing many with the camper package. Anyone found a solution to modify F-350 for that so it can carry large camper safely?
Forum Discussion
so if you put the springs from a dually on your f350 SRW it will ride pretty close to the same as a dually (going to start a whole argument here, please don't lets take that argument to a different topic) it won't legally raise your load carrying legally, but it will be very similar to a dually with out the extra width. then add the sway bar, a Hellwig bigwig is a very good one. ya the springs and sway bar will cost a big but it is not a lot compared to getting a new vehicle. how much are you over the rear axel weight right now?
the camper package actually has nothing to do with a camper, just a old name carried forward over time, springs and a sway bar is pretty much it if you get a gas motor, if you have diesel you already have the front springs so its just rear springs and a sway bar.
as for the gas / diesel debate engine weight is minimal, in the ford its 480lbs difference over the base, and 400lbs difference over the 7.3 gas (including all the parts that go with it) so with campers engine weight isn't an issue unless you want to put a motor bike carrier on a front receiver and haul a Harley. seeing you have the V10 that is probably less of a difference.
as for the reason you stated of low milage, I am not sure that I would go that way either.. gas goes bad diesel pretty much lasts forever, where gas starts to degrade in 3 to 4 months diesel can go up to 2 years before you have to worry about it. so just from a fuel system standpoint for something that's not used as much the diesel is better.
Current Truck/Camper weighs Front 4000 Rear 7375 on my current 99 SRW F350 w/V10
Front GAWR for that truck is 4400. Rear GAWR is 6830. So 545 over on just the rear.
Truck handles ok except for curves banked the wrong way and there is a little back and forth sway when entering/exiting driveways. Springs aren't a problem with the upper/lower stableloads. It does have a sway bar bar but it is the stock one. I fill up the gas in fall and it goes all winter on the same tank without any problems.
The V10 seems to have plenty of power, I think the problem is the 4 speed transmission. Going up to mountains in the steepest grades it slugs down to 45mph and if I give it enough gas to shift down it accelerates back up to 55 but then it shifts back and slugs down again.
It does have a 4.30 rear ratio and it was a little better in the hills with 16" tires , now with 19.5 tires it is more like 4.10 ratio. If I decide to keep this truck I would add a larger diameter sway bar but don't know how much that would help.
While a newer truck will do a better job at making anyone a better steering wheel holder without thinking. But on older trucks you gotta be smarter than the basic operation of a 4 speed auto.
or in other words shift manually on hills if need be.stable loads are not a substitute for real springs, they just engage them earlier they don't add anything to the actual spring rate, so yes springs are the issue. just changing out the springs to the ones from a dually of that year will make a world of difference, you can also beef up the overload to one rated for a little more weight.
the V10 was a decent motor, but not decent enough to stick around, it had some inherent cam shaft oiling issue when they idled to long, we had them for work and 90% of the time they were idling 24/7, so we saw that problem haha
to me being 500lbs over isn't a big deal, some might think the sky is falling but as long as you compensate for it with the spring rate and such it would be fine. the actual weight handling of the axel is more than ford rates it for. so if you were to go to a spring shop, or if your a handy guy do it your self you would probably be happy with out spending money on a new truck, unless you just want a new truck.
Agree stiffer springs = less body roll. That’s obvious. If you put 12klb rear springs on a srw 1 ton it might not move even 1/4” in a turn. Great.
But to say that stable loads don’t increase spring rate, while technically correct, is not totally accurate in real world applications. Sure if you max out/sag everything to the bump stops that’s correct.
But by engaging ALL the springs sooner in the suspension travel it increases the effective spring rate sooner which provides increased stiffness and better handling.And the V10, hell I’m not even a Ford guy like you and I can give that motor more objective credit than you did. It didn’t “stick around” because the whole Triton platform got changed in favor of better technology that yielded better mpg with more power out of less displacement. It was simply technological advancement.
Thats like saying the 6.2 didn’t “stick around” long. It was/is may be the best light duty HD pickup gasser. But Ford upped the ante.
I too ran/was assigned/over saw alot of Triton motor trucks including many V10s. For that era they were a close second to the LS overall. And yes it’s possible to use / abuse a motor beyond its design or performance capabilities. Calling it “decent” because it suffered from minor cam oiling issues sitting at 10,000hours on a 10k hour oil pump at the lowest possible rpm’s and oil pressure due to rpm and age is not the engine’s problem. It’s just being abused. (They’re tools, like anything else…if you only towed max capacity uphill other stuff would wear out quicker than what it was designed to do….)
