Best truck for Northern Lite 10-2

[TCjeff]

My wife and I just ordered a 2020 Northern Lite 10-2 LE and are now shopping for a truck. I hoping to get some advice on which would be the best truck for our camper.

We're planning a 1 year trip all around Canada and the US. When we get back I will go back to work part-time, easing into retirement and use the camper for trips down south in the winter.

I'm a real newbie to truck camping. As well I'm a city boy (Montreal Canada) and knew nothing about trucks until we decided buy a TC and I starting doing research on the web, including this forum. Based on what I've learnt so far I’m thinking 3500 or F-350, 4wd, air bags. I’m not biased between Ford, GM or Ram so am open to any.

As well, I’m uncertain regarding gas or diesel, and srw vs dually. We plan to boondock a fair bit and would like to be able to access off the road type campsites ... but nothing too crazy!

Thanks in advance for the help!

[JD5150]

ardvark wrote:

otrfun wrote:

ardvark wrote:
Brochure says mine is 4,250, door sticker says 3,829. Brochure does not list with options. Door stickers are nearly always less unless maybe stripper XL model. Mine is an XLT. 🙂

Year? Gas? Diesel? CC? EC? SB? LB?

Already posted all that in earlier post: 2012 gasser EC LB 4x4. Brochure versus reality of sticker is a common issue.

Steve

Yeah I have a 2017 F350 4x4, XL, CC, LB, SRW, Gasser. Door sticker 4140 max payload.

Never had to order it, bought it off dealer lot new with snow plow and camper packages.

[ardvark]

otrfun wrote:

ardvark wrote:
Brochure says mine is 4,250, door sticker says 3,829. Brochure does not list with options. Door stickers are nearly always less unless maybe stripper XL model. Mine is an XLT. 🙂

Year? Gas? Diesel? CC? EC? SB? LB?

Already posted all that in earlier post: 2012 gasser EC LB 4x4. Brochure versus reality of sticker is a common issue.

Steve

[ardvark]

WillDoo wrote:
Dually does just fine in the snow with good aggressive A/T tires and someone at the wheel with snow driving experience. Loaded with camper it's an unstoppable tank, unloaded it's so so but completely functional. We live in Oregon and drive ours back and forth over the cascades all winter, bought it specifically for skiing and snowboarding. Rig is a 17 F-350 CC DRW Diesel platinum with 35" Goodyears, airbags, and stableloads. Camper is an 18 Lance 975, we are 5k-5500lbs loaded and ready to hit the road


I went with ford because it had the highest rated payload at the time of purchase. For the most part I love it, Power and handling are absolutely amazing, creature comforts are top notch. It has had a number of little electrical issues though that have been taken care of under warranty. Nothing more than a small hassle as the local ford dealership is great, but it remains to be seen how things play out once the warranty expires.

Grew up in Minnesota, lived there 35 years, new Michelin ATs on truck, not even in the same all park with my single rear wheel when it comes to snow. Guess all those plow drivers got it wrong. 🙂

Steve

[WillDoo]

Dually does just fine in the snow with good aggressive A/T tires and someone at the wheel with snow driving experience. Loaded with camper it's an unstoppable tank, unloaded it's so so but completely functional. We live in Oregon and drive ours back and forth over the cascades all winter, bought it specifically for skiing and snowboarding. Rig is a 17 F-350 CC DRW Diesel platinum with 35" Goodyears, airbags, and stableloads. Camper is an 18 Lance 975, we are 5k-5500lbs loaded and ready to hit the road


I went with ford because it had the highest rated payload at the time of purchase. For the most part I love it, Power and handling are absolutely amazing, creature comforts are top notch. It has had a number of little electrical issues though that have been taken care of under warranty. Nothing more than a small hassle as the local ford dealership is great, but it remains to be seen how things play out once the warranty expires.

[otrfun]

ardvark wrote:
Brochure says mine is 4,250, door sticker says 3,829. Brochure does not list with options. Door stickers are nearly always less unless maybe stripper XL model. Mine is an XLT. 🙂

Year? Gas? Diesel? CC? EC? SB? LB?

[Grit_dog]

Or maybe the takeaway is, it doesn’t really matter that much.
Certainly not to the degree that it gets micro analyzed these days.

[TxGearhead]

No way I think a dually needs air bags for a 4000# camper. My Bigfoot levels out my truck so that it looks "right".
I carried my Bigfoot on a 2016 Ram 1 ton SRW with 4100+\- payload until I weighed loaded heavy for a winter trip. Told myself.....self you need a dually.
I did transfer the Big Wig sway bar off the SRW to the dually. Rock solid.
I resisted a dually but I'm ok with it now. Adapted.

[ardvark]

Brochure says mine is 4,250, door sticker says 3,829. Brochure does not list with options. Door stickers are nearly always less unless maybe stripper XL model. Mine is an XLT. 🙂

[2_Piece]

Eugarps wrote:

2 Piece wrote:
Well, I have a Northern Lite 10-2 and a 2018 F350 DRW 6.7 diesel and it is a perfect combination. I certainly would not let DEF fluid stop me from buying a diesel, it's a non issue as long as you buy DEF from your dealer.
Here is a YouTube link that Runaway Roses did of my setup. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fxr6Oh9YUM&t=52s

What a nice rig! The tweaks you’ve make, though seemingly small to the casual observer, reap great changes on comfort and functionality. Great job!

Best,

Bill

Thank you Bill for the kind words. BTW, I just down the road from you in Winchester.

[Eugarps]

FWIW,

I checked Ford’s brochure for the 2015 SRW crew cab short bed 156” I’m considering and it has a 4,400# +/- payload. That’s fine for the Bigfoot 9.4SB and Northern Lite 8-11 I’m shopping and the long bed had less capacity. A DRW changes everything.

I’m solo, so shorter is okay for me.

Best,

Bill

[Eugarps]

2 Piece wrote:
Well, I have a Northern Lite 10-2 and a 2018 F350 DRW 6.7 diesel and it is a perfect combination. I certainly would not let DEF fluid stop me from buying a diesel, it's a non issue as long as you buy DEF from your dealer.
Here is a YouTube link that Runaway Roses did of my setup. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fxr6Oh9YUM&t=52s

What a nice rig! The tweaks you’ve made, though seemingly small to the casual observer, reap great changes on comfort and functionality. Great job!

Best,

Bill

[otrfun]

srschang wrote:
It's not just Ford. I went to the Ram website as I'm also considering another Ram. For 2019, just 3500s, the hauling capacity ranges from 3720# (Laramie Longhorn diesel crew cab SRW SB 4x4) to 7680# (Tradesman 6.4 Hemi regular cab DRW LB 4x2). With 358 variations and different hauling capacities. In the 3500 series alone!!

Agree, you'll never nail down anything definitive at their websites. My comments/observations are based on looking at door jam stickers on real trucks at various dealerships over the last 6 mo. or so. I've seen a few Longhorn/Limited Ram 3500 CC SB SRW diesels drop down to 3,500 lbs. of payload. Understandable in these top-of-the-line trim levels. The 2019 F350 CC SB SRW diesel with 3,380 lbs. of payload I'm referencing was a mid-trim level (XLT or Lariat). That same F350 truck in a top-of-the-line Platinum/Limited trim level is going to drop the payload down a few hundred more. I'm still convinced Ford must have a way to make these aluminum trucks more payload competitive with some kind of magical option--lol!

[2_Piece]

Well, I have a Northern Lite 10-2 and a 2018 F350 DRW 6.7 diesel and it is a perfect combination. I certainly would not let DEF fluid stop me from buying a diesel, it's a non issue as long as you buy DEF from your dealer.
Here is a YouTube link that Runaway Roses did of my setup. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fxr6Oh9YUM&t=52s

[ardvark]

My daully was not worth squat in the snow, Tires just float even in 4x4 running empty bed. There is a reason plow drivers prefer SRW from what I have been told.

Here is a link from a thread in a Ford truck camper forum I participate in. If you scroll down through it you will see a truck camper uploaded on a severe slant and if you scroll further down he explains how he does it. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1422668-lets-see-those-slide-ins-69.html 🙂 Not simple, but doable.

Steve

[TCjeff]

Thanks again for all the input everyone. I could never have imagined that payload capacity would be such a hard thing to determine!

In my case, however, it seems that a dually is preferred. However, I noticed that srschang alluded to having to deal with snow with a dually. Living in Quebec, snow is a given. Is a DRW problematic in the snow?

Also, on another topic, my driveway has a slope of approximately 8% downwards from house to street. I'm concerned that leveling the camper after removing it from the truck will induce bending in the jack posts as I raise the front legs, which I understand could cause jamming and be problematic for the jacking mechanism, etc. It seems to me that the only way to avoid this would be to build a ramp of some sort for the front wheels to back up onto such that the truck and camper are both more or less level before unloading the camper from the truck. Am I right to be concerned?