My Silverado 1500 has been replaced with a 1988 Chevy C3500 dually.I am hoping you guys have some DYI info as I need to outfit this new truck with tiedown brackets and my 9.5 foot Dreamer doesn't have swing out brackets. I also wonder what do you gus get for fuel mileage with these thirsty older trucks. This truck has the 3 speed auto trans, 4.10 rear end gears and a 7.4L TBI fuel injected engine. I am looking forward to seeing how it does with my camper since my last truck worked great after way to much work to make it do what it was never met to do.Gallery: http://smu.gs/1zGMjUR

Good luck with the new truck. I don't have a TC but mileage on my old 7.3 diesel is 10 mpg city, 16 mpg hwy, about 8 mpg with heavy trailer.

4:10 gearing.......3 speed auto........454 big block.......mpg???Fill up at chevron at hwy 138 and when you get to top of Cajon Pass go to Pilot Flying J (hwy 395) and top off for ride home-----might make it to Main Street :BJust kidding----sort of.That gasser will be thirsty due to gearing and only 3 speed tranny......10 mpg.But it will probably get 10 mpg all day regardless of loaded or not.

My guess is 7-9 depending on how you drive and camper weight and size.You can rest the tc on the bed while you add brackets. Most rv retailers have them including tweety rv. There are two different lengths. A few people have just added angle to extend the jacks.

Hi,With 4.10:1 rear axle ratio and only a 3 speed, the engine will be reving up pretty high at 55 MPH. At 65, expect about 7 - 8 MPG, and less when the camper is on it. Also the GVWR is not very high. 10,000 GVWR - If I recall right. That is only about 2,200 pounds of payload, about what a F-250 from 2005 to present can carry with single rear wheels. And with a 4 speed, the F-250 will get much better mileage. And with the 'normal' 3.54:1 rear axle ratio, or 'optional' 3.73:1 rear axle ratio, even if driven in drive (third gear) the F-250 would get better mileage, add over drive and it will improve a lot more.There have been a lot of changes and improvements to trucks over the years. The new 2015 F-150 with a 2.7L Ecoboost is predicted to consume only $2,600 in fuel, while a 2014 3.5L Ecoboost in the same truck (but 900 pounds more curb weight) will only get 18 MPG and consume $3,300 a year in fuel. So the new truck is predicted to use about $700 less a year in fuel, and that makes it worth more money than the 2014!At 7-8 MPG, your truck will drive you to the poor house quickly if you are putting 15,000 miles a year on it!Good luck!Fred.

Ok, we have thoughts so I will share more. This truck is for truck stuff, I will be in my car for most of my miles. Running empty I am getting about 9mpg, that includes the Cajon pass as part of my commute. My 1999 Silverado 1500 got 10 mpg with the camper but it was not in overdrive much and yes I know it should have had a smaller camper but I like others am learning. My 1500 was empty and stopped in traffic when it was hit by a car doing 70, it was a big hit. The camper loading certification label allows for 3200 lbs of camper per GM. Yes I know newer trucks have changed but this ride is paid for in full and has less than 63,ooo miles on her. I like the comments how about tie down and discussion of using angle iron instead of swing out brackets. I weld some and have friends who weld some. Money saved on these items can buy fuel for camping.

Got a dually. added link to gallery to share my solution.

thejustin
Explorer
Feb 16, 2015
Don't know how some of these MPG on the older Chevy are being achieved..... Fishing buddy has an older (late 80's) Chevy C3500 SRW with the 454 and it gets 7-8 MPG *EMPTY*. Thing is a tank. Reliable though.
Grit_dog
Navigator
Feb 16, 2015
Well only 1 or 2 weight cops on this thread. That's refreshing!
Guess a 3500 Dooley won't haul a camper either now if it's not a new mega gvw truck, lol.
Congrats on the "new" truck OP. You'll love driving it with the camper compared to the 1/2 ton!
Never had a 454 that got more than 10 mpg and you're at 9 empty, so with the gears and Turbo400 trans, keep er at 60 or so and hope for about 7 mpg loaded with the camper.
Would cost a fair amount of $ and or time to re gear it, install an OD or another trans, or 6 new larger tires so, enjoy the stability of the dually and drive slow to keep the benjis from flying out of your wallet.
Hey_there
Explorer
Feb 16, 2015
Hi,

Our first TC was a '93 8'6" Lance. To put it on our (then new) dually, I had to extend the front jacks out nearly 8 inches. What I did was to get an 8' 4x4 and cut it into four 2' sections. I then bolted the jacks to the TC using the 4x4's as spacers (two on each side)(after drilling the necessary holes, of course). I used threaded rods and washers and nuts in place of bolts as I couldn't find any real bolts long enough. It was scary, but it worked fine and I still use this method for the Lance.
cpres
Explorer
Feb 16, 2015
http://cpres.smugmug.com/Other/Camper-brackets-truck-and-camper/47529670_vTxQvH

My version, had help from a friend and have more work I want to get done on both the truck and camper but it is on the truck so I can set up my turn buckles.
trailgranny50
Explorer
Dec 14, 2014
We haul a '90' Shadow Cruiser, weighs right at listed capacity, loaded with us and three dogs, of 3300# on our '04' Chevy 3500 Duramax Crew Cab long bed 4x4 dually. We just completed a 4,000 mile jaunt thru the southeast and averaged 15.1 mpg. Our son in law welded up some extension brackets from super heavy I-beam since our old camper won't accept the newer corner mounted brackets. We simply remove them after loading and lay the jacks on the floor of the back seat in case we need to remove the camper for some reason while traveling. Not super handy but works fine for us.
Wagonqueen_Truc
Explorer
Dec 13, 2014
I have a 76 Amerigo TC that is heavy. I wouldn't want to carry my beast with thing less than a dually. 350 V-10 "99" About 10 miles to the gallon. Kinda stinks but it is what it is for the purpose intended. As far as jacks, I had permanent extenders fabricated for my jacks. They do stick out an additional 3 inches on each side, but they are within the legal limit making the total width 8 foot 6inches.
nomadictxn
Explorer
Dec 13, 2014
I sold my old camper to a dually owner. I put the homemade angle brackets on front jacks that were given to me by previous owner. Boy, that was scary! The higher I raised the camper, the more they bent. They each were made with 2 angles (3/8 thick steel) inverted to form rectangle and reinforced with 3/4 rebar. Just looking at them I would have thought they would have been adequate. Not so much in practice. If you fab some up make them better than the ones I had.
My brother has that same truck. Its relegated to farm duty now, but i remember him saying 11 downhill with a tailwind empty and gallons per mile with a load. But, like you said, its paid for.
jimh406
Explorer III
Dec 13, 2014
As far as GVWR goes, the older trucks can be thousands of lbs lighter. The net payload is actually pretty close to newer trucks because of the trucks light weight.

I've heard bad things about overdrives with RVs, but I would consider a more free flowing exhaust, catalytic converters, and air filter.
jmtandem
Explorer II
Dec 13, 2014
You will love the stability of the dually carrying the camper!!!
cpres
Explorer
Dec 13, 2014
Was thinking about making the brackets rotate for travel and only having them in the wide position during load unload operations as I have priors for leaving the camper loaded for months at a time.