96 F-250 diesel, campers under 2300?

[mjedlin66]

First time poster. I grew up camping out of a truck camper. Back then my parents hauled a camper and 3 kids on a 1970s F-150!! Knowing what I know now, they were way overloaded, and so are probably half of the truck campers on the road.

My truck is a 96 F-250 4x4 standard cab, long bed, 5-speed manual with the 7.3L powerstroke. GVWR from sticker is 8600 lbs. E-rated tires.

I weighed the truck empty with both fuel tanks full and me sitting in the seat, 6300 lbs. So that means I've got 2300 lbs of payload left.
At first I thought 2300 lbs was pretty good. Then I started looking at what campers weigh. Holy ****!

If I'm not mistaken, the only difference between a 96 F-250 Diesel and a 96 F-350 diesel is the front axle. An axle swap would weigh an extra 100 lbs, but the GVWR on the F-350 is 9000 lbs, so I would gain 300 lbs of payload. I would rather swap my front axle than buy a different truck. Trouble is, that doesn't change the legal GVWR.

The problem with getting a different truck is that I want to stay with the mid-90s 7.3L diesel. And buying a 25 year old truck, even one in good shape, is a risky ordeal. It took me quite a while of fixing small things on this F-250 to get it just right and trustworthy.

And if that's not enough, I also would like to tow my boat with the camper installed. My tongue weight is only like 300 lbs. But still, that's weight that has to come off the camper.

So I'm looking at light campers. So called "half-ton" campers.

Truckcampermagazine is a GREAT website, and so is this forum. The only "new" camper I can find that looks feasible is the Adventurer 80RB, with a dry weight of 1762 lbs + options. I also have a lead on a 2004 Eagle Cap 800 lite, which has a brochure dry weight of 1990 lbs.

Are there any others out there that are under 2000 lbs dry? Preferably a model that has been around for 10 years so I'm not shopping in the 30k budget range. Maybe I should be looking at pop-up campers?

Thanks
Matt

[mjedlin66]

Rear GAWR on sticker is 6084 lbs. My tire ratings add up to that exactly.
Rear axle weight empty is 2640 lbs.

So... Payload 3,444?

[Kayteg1]

From forum feedback, pop-up campers are not much lighter than solid walls?
Anyway, ditto on checking your rear axle capacity and go from there.
Enforcing GVWR can be tricky.
Years ago I drove F450, who at the time was registered under it own weight of 9000 lb.
Having small backhoe on it, I got pulled over by DOT officer, who read door sticker saying 15,000 lb, so he send me to DMV and in California at the time they required GCWR declaration, what gave big weight labels to be attached on sides of the cabin.
The 30,000 lb declaration cost me additional $450, what later went up to $600.

[JimK-NY]

The common rule of thumb is to add 1000# to the WET weight for a reasonable estimate of the total weight. One thousand pounds may seem excessive but not for most of us. That would include kitchen and cooking gear, food/drinks, clothing, tools, cleaning supplies, toiletries, lawn chairs, generator/fuel, etc. Also remember your "cargo" weight needs to include the weight of passengers in addition to the 1000# estimate.

I agree, you should be looking for a pop up camper. They are extremely hard to find used in good condition. If you are also determined to pull a boat with that truck, I think you should consider tent camping.

[KD4UPL]

First of all there is no "legal GVWR". GVWR is not a legally enforceable number. The DOT or anyone else can't ticket you for being over it. In fact, most "hot shot" truck drivers exceed their GVWR daily thru all manor of weigh stations and DOT checks and it's not a problem. Only tire weights and bridge axle weights are legally enforceable.
I would look a lot more at your axle weights than your GVWR. Your rear axle is probably good for 6,000 or more pounds (it's on the door sticker). Did you get individual axle weights at the scale? What was the rear? I'd guess it wasn't much over 2,000 pounds leaving your with roughly 4,000 pounds of rear axle weight capacity.
Don't worry about swapping front axles. The front axle weight will change very little when loading up a TC.
I carried a 4,000 pound camper on a 2007 Chevy 3500 SRW for a couple years. The truck's GVWR was 9,900 but fully loaded with the camper and my family it weighted about 11,100. I eventually put the same camper on a 2005 Chevy dually. This truck's GVWR is 11,400; fully loaded with the camper and family it weighted about 13,100. I drove both rigs thru many states and thousands of miles for years with no problems. I was NOT over my tire or axle weights. (but very close)

[Grit_dog]

Front axle has nothing to do with it, once you realize that all or nearly all of the weight is on the rear axle. To be fair, a reg cab may put some weight on the front depending on the camper. The only reason to change Axle is to get rid of the TTB axle. For the obvious reasons around that thing.
Obviously you’re planning on supporting suspension mods for the camper. Do it right and I’d go up to 3500lbs or so loaded. Obviously the lighter it is, the more nimble it is though.