Arctic Fox 811 short box in long box?

Eugarps wrote:
Welcome to the forum, hdspringer!

I’m sure others will chime in but carrying a camper designed for a shortbed truck on a longbed is most probably not a good idea. The main problem will not be carrying the weight but rather the location of the camper’s center of gravity relative to the truck’s rear axle. The rear weigh bias will lighten the load on the truck’s front wheels and could make handling dangerous.

I know this is not what you wanted to hear and maybe I’m being overly cautious but I woudn’t do it. I’d hunt for a longbed camper.

Best,

Bill

No, apples to apples, a SB camper will be in basically the same location on a LB truck relative to the rear axle of the truck and will handle it slightly better, theoretically, than a SB truck due to more "truck" cantilevered fwd of the camper CoG.
And it's going on a brand spankin new dually that has way more capability and capacity than required to carry that camper as it is.

OP, just need to take your tape measure to the Chebbie dealer to see if it can sit far enough fwd to fold the dually jack extensions back in.

I just got mine together over the weekend. LB F450 and SB 811. The truck came with a power bed cover so I can close the cover to the front of the camper and use the storage space below. I built a frame to keep the camper from moving forward. Handles just fine.

I had an 8 1/2 ft camper on my Dually but had it toward the back because of a 50 gal TransFer Flow in bed tank. Then I built a box to sit on top of the bed to carry things in. It had locking doors on both ends.

hdspringer wrote:
Thanks for all the replies. I've read a lot of the previous arguments in previous forums and they are all well received. It sounds like the COG will be just fine with the LB. I'm sure there may be a little extra weight on the rears, but if my SB 3/4 ton with airbags handled it then a dually should do just fine. My biggest fear was it would not fit on my dually at all.

Your AF811 SB will fit on an 8’ box dually with the exception that the camper will not go all the way to the front of the box. It will look like d3500ram’s truck with the 18” gap. And you’ll need front jack extension brackets to clear the dually rear fenders.
Good luck with whatever you do.

TG

Thanks for all the replies. I've read a lot of the previous arguments in previous forums and they are all well received. It sounds like the COG will be just fine with the LB. I'm sure there may be a little extra weight on the rears, but if my SB 3/4 ton with airbags handled it then a dually should do just fine. My biggest fear was it would not fit on my dually at all.

CG will be in the same location regardless of the bed. The rear part of the bed is the same length whether short or long bed.

hdspringer wrote:
Can anyone tell me for sure this camper will fit in the DRW?

It will fit, All you need is the dually swing out brackets

The critical distance for COG is distance of axle to bumper and it generally is the same regardless of SB or LB truck.

ON EDIT: Generally, If the camper COG is forward of the rear axle on a SB truck, it will also be the same if mounted on a LB truck.
(end edit)

COG relative to the rear bumper is the same regardless of a short bed or long bed camper- my COG is about 2" forward of the rear axle- same as on a short bed truck. I am doing the SB Northstar camper on a Dodge LB truck... that extra space is welcome for storage and for my generator:





I built a simple frame to place between the front of the camper and the truck bulkhead. It is custom fit to keep my generator in place.

No problem hauling a short bed AF 811 on a long bed or even a flat bed:

It is absolutely possible to carry a SB camper on a LB truck. The long bed truck has a longer wheelbase so the CG is not necessarily a problem. I carry a SB Host Rainier triple slide camper on my LB F-450. I built a platform for the front of the bed so the camper would not slide forward and crush my tail lights. That gives us room for a couple of plastic bins for extra needed storage.