Going back to TC from Class A? What do you think?

[Kidoo]

Travelling with a Class A for over a year and around 12,000 miles, I am looking back at a truck camper.

I use to have a Bigfoot 10.5 no extension and tought it was a bit small when camping for longer period especially sitting at the square table. I am retired now and have more time to spend in one location, like one month at a time. With the TC, I was mostly traveling and not staying more than a week at the same place, like going around USA and to Alaska twice. I don't know if I would like to stay in a TC for a month period, especially when it's raining or cold outside.

I certainly would go for a slide out and bigger than what I had at least to be able to spend a few days inside, and it needs to be winter proof.

I found the Class A to be very nice to travel and the floor space is undeniable. Since it is a 34 ft. it is not too bad to park in a parking lot and I found space available without to much problem so far. But it is not near the same as a TC as you can park anywhere there is a spot available.

The Class A is much more money to maintain and much harder to find a repair shop. I already had the radiator replace, $3000, tire replaced, $4000, and a few other breakdown. In my area I find all I want but while traveling, it is hard to find a shop that will do the repairs. Some big rig shops do some work but not everything, sometimes you have to go to an RV shop, then you talk big $$$$$$, and weeks waiting for parts or an available spot as I found out a couple of times this year. Or you do it yourself like I had to do for the ABS sensors and the Alternator.

One of my biggest concern now is the windshield chipping from road rocks. Where I live, they have gravel on the road in the winter months, for this winter only, while going and back from Florida, I had four chips on my windshield, two last year. One side of the windshield is around $1400, I cannot afford to replace windshield every year. I got a few rocks on the truck before, but they seem to fly by, not as direct as a Class A flat windshield.

The problem is to sell the RV, find a new TC, find a dually to fit a bigger camper, mine is a F350 single wheel.

Bad move?? Good move??

[Pete_k]

I'm thinking along the same lines your thinking. But we went from a Okanagan 811-SL T/C to a 41ft 5th wheel. Reason was getting into the bed was killing both of us. Love the room of the 5th wheel, but sure miss out on a lot of spots we used to stay. As theres just not room for the bigger units.
So thinking about one of the triple slide Chalet Rv's. Seen one that you can get into the bed on both sides. And have room along the bed to get into it. Loved our storage in the Okanagan, but not the getting into the bed. Not sure my wife is going to go along with the swap. But I keep looking at these bigger truck campers. And thinking our Chevy Kodiak C5500 would be nice with one of them on the back of it. But would have to swap beds on it. As it has the hauler bed and fear its higher then I would need for the slide-in. But then again same 5th wheel in it as my C2500HD I used to haul our T/C with. So it may only need the 100 gallon fuel tank removed and the rack off the front of the bed.

Good luck in your choice. And like you it was nice to park in a normal parking spot when traveling. And fit into about any campsite that was open.
Pete

[billyray50]

In our case we bought a new 34 foot TT for our 4 month long seasonal stay this summer and now looking for a TC for exploring and weekend trips too. Last 2 summers stayed in my previous 11' Lance with dry bath and it got a little cramped after awhile. Planning on storing new TT in Upstate NY for winter and travel back in fourth in truck/TC. Not a big fan of pulling TT cross country which we did last year. New TC has to have a slide with face to face dinette and dry bath with new DRW!!:)

[Bedlam]

That depends on your usage. I wanted a fully outfitted 4wd RV that can pull at least 10K lbs with minimum length. To get this in a MH,you are looking at a Super C with a larger footprint and price. The 10k lbs in tow allows us to have off-road or on-road toys to get us where the RV cannot.

[usmcshepherd]

I tend to agree with Grodyman....I think the best overall option would be a smaller TC and a nice 5er! While we love our large Lance 1172 from a space perspective, it's so large and heavy that you can't really explore with it, where if you had a smaller TC and a nice 5er you'd have the best of both worlds. The other issue I have is that with the mods I made to my Ram 3500 to carry the TC it's pretty rough driving without the TC on it. With a smaller TC you could in turn have a much more relaxed and comfortable hauling/tow vehicle for a run around. Lastly, you could go with a SRW vice the DRW which I would prefer as well especially when you are talking about exploring around towns/cities....I'd hate parking that DRW in Boston or DC while trying to see the sites:)!

[Vinsil]

Bedlam wrote:
We went out this weekend with my buddy and his new Mammoth. Specifications and options changed before delivery, because he decided on the Onan with two 6v instead of no generator and a 4-battery setup. He has two solar panels and satellite TV on the roof.

Weight with food, gear and Propane BEFORE adding water is 5800 lbs. With full fresh water, it is just over 6300 lbs. His DRW F350 is very close to design limits of the Dana 80 rear axle even though he is fine with LRG 19.5 tires. His concern is excesive wear on the axle at its limit and will be watching his gear oil closely. He has a contingency fund for a Dana 110 swap if analysis comes back with metal.

Wow that is a big boy!!!

I guess a dana 110 is cheaper than 5500 truck swap...

[jimh406]

I guess 6300 is Mammoth! 😉

[daily_double]

WOW, I can't imagine a Mammoth on a F350 DRW!!!!. And I'm not the weight police.

[Bedlam]

We went out this weekend with my buddy and his new Mammoth. Specifications and options changed before delivery, because he decided on the Onan with two 6v instead of no generator and a 4-battery setup. He has two solar panels and satellite TV on the roof.

Weight with food, gear and Propane BEFORE adding water is 5800 lbs. With full fresh water, it is just over 6300 lbs. His DRW F350 is very close to design limits of the Dana 80 rear axle even though he is fine with LRG 19.5 tires. His concern is excesive wear on the axle at its limit and will be watching his gear oil closely. He has a contingency fund for a Dana 110 swap if analysis comes back with metal.

[toedtoes]

Grodyman wrote:
There is no perfect single rig.

Very true. It really comes down to prioritizing your wants and needs and getting what works the best in most situations. Then you compromise when you do those other things occasionally.

[Grodyman]

There is no perfect single rig. I really liked it when I owned a large 5th wheel and a small truck camper. Personally I would like a shorter rear living travel trailer and a small truck camper like a Lance 825 or even a Capri Cowboy, really just a warm comfortable place to sleep, for spending a couple nights where you don't want to pull the trailer, or just having your own restroom and place to make lunch or rest when you are touring around that can be parked anywhere. I have had to pass on seeing things when I couldn't find a convenient place to park even a small trailer.

I have found that the 5th wheel is the easiest and fastest to hook and unhook aside from lifting the hitch into the bed. Good luck.

Gman

[Bedlam]

Since the 5500 is for personal use, I have no additional annual inspections or license requirements and no mandatory weigh station stops. I pay more for my declared GVWR with my tags and am fine with that since the heavier truck causes faster road wear. Insurance is through a commercial insurer due to the GVWR of the vehicle, but is a personal use policy. Having a pickup bed or fifth wheel hitch installed would have reduced the insurance cost slightly, but it would have taken a few years to recover the the cost of something I really didn't want on my truck anyway.

Right now, I have 4000 lb TC and tow an 8000 lb enclosed trailer at the same time and the truck is completely stock. I comfortably did the same with my F250, but it required suspension and wheel upgrades to do this safely.

[jimh406]

Kidoo wrote:
Could it create some cracking and be more prone to leaks or even structure break/separation? There is a lot of twisting involve going over bumpy roads as the truck frame twist and the TC pulls on the tie down.

I know a lot of people who twisted frames of pickups without a TC on them. Obviously, it's possible to damage a truck with a TC.

I know I've been miles away from a paved road on some of the steepest roughest forest roads in WA, and my TC has held up, so far. I've also had to endure some major construction over the Yellowstone roads last year when I visited them. Still, no issues. YMMV.

If you want the strongest possible combination, you could get an earthroamer vehicle or build a platform like it.

[Kidoo]

Bedlam wrote:
No, he is not getting double couch in the Mammoth. If he wanted a double couch, he could actually have had it already. There has been some delay in getting the dinette and other seating he requested, but Dave at Host has been treating him well through his purchase so far.

I expect to weigh in around 6000 lbs wet and loaded if I get a Mammoth the way I want configured. It was the reason I now have the Ram 5500.

Ram 5500 is getting serious truck camping! You will have no problem with this for sure. How does it work in your area, do you have to have mandatory inspection and stop at road scale?

[Kidoo]

jimh425 wrote:
I don't think a TC will rattle more than a Class A or Class C going down the same roads, and besides, you won't here them since you'll be in the cab. 😉 FWIW, I've gone down some pretty bad roads with no hard so far with my double slide.

I would not take the class A near to where I took the TC. Just going over bumps or uneven pavement twist this thing pretty bad, you hear the cracking and twisting from front to back, some even have their windshield cracking.

Going on bad roads goes hand in hand with TC for me, this would be one of the reason I would go back to TC. My TC had no slide. The stucture was one half shell front to rear so I cannot speak of one with a slide but I took my TC to bad roads and some quite incline, I just don't know how a TC with slide would react going to the same places. Could it create some cracking and be more prone to leaks or even structure break/separation? There is a lot of twisting involve going over bumpy roads as the truck frame twist and the TC pulls on the tie down.