How much truck for a shortbed TC with a slide?

[mlts22]

This past weekend, I was looking at TCs with a family member (what she likes is a big factor in decisions), I've narrowed down possible candidates to the Lance 855S or the Arctic Fox 811.

The 855S dry is 2650 pounds. The AF 811 is 2873 pounds. Realistically, with full tanks, batteries, supplies, and other stuff, I'm going to add 1000-1500 pounds to that total, possibly 2000 pounds, assuming a lot of gear.

A Ford F-350's payload (assuming a gasser, extended cab, shortbed, 4x4, SRW) varies between 3400-4170 pounds. I am looking at a 4.3 gear ratio, which will allow the vehicle to be in the higher end of the spectrum.

With this in mind, assuming I'm towing a smallish trailer sometimes, will a SRW do the trick, or is this well into DRW territory? I'm "lucky" because both the truck and the TC are being selected at the same time, so I can match both fairly accurately. My fear is buying the truck and suspension mods (airbags), buying the TC and its accessories, then finding that even though the paper numbers are OK, in reality, the rig is overweight by the numbers. Yes, airbags, additional leafs, and such help, but the manufacturer ratings are not going to change.

Thanks again... I look around, but nothing beats opinions of people who know what they are doing.

[RZAR66]

Lance offers 8 long bed models vs. 4 made for short beds

[Powelligator]

Where do you people come from? 🙂

At the last two or three RV shows I've been at, whenever truck campers are on display it's been rare to see campers meant for long bed trucks. The Lance guy once told me that they are building 8 short bed campers for every one long bed version - it was simple supply and demand. When shopping for a new truck a few months ago I was told that a SuperCab with an 8 foot bed was special order only, as all the local dealers had in stock were four door crew cabs with short beds. More than one dealer told me that a slide-in designed for an 8 foot bed will fit in a short bed "with just the tailgate down".

Don't get me wrong - I'm a long bed guy, but over the past few years it seems that *most* of the newer 3/4 ton trucks I see have short beds.

-Joe

[homefor2]

Butch50 wrote:

homefor2 wrote:
Two things I would suggest. 1. I'm not sure you need a gear ratio so low (3.73's work for me) as it will impact your mileage.

The reason for the 4.30 is he is looking at a gasser. Complete different than a diesel. You need more RPMs to develop power. So to get moving faster you need to get into higher RPMs the sooner the truck is going to start moving along. You need lower gears in the gasser so you have more oomph in it. I know when I had my 2011 F350 I wouldn't have anything in it but the 4.30 axle ratio but that is me. YMMV

Forgot it was a gasser. That makes sense to me now.

[RZAR66]

I like my trucks old school. I got a regular cab long bed 4x4 as my TC hauler. While not for everyone its the perfect setup for 2 and I can park anywhere.

[805gregg]

Don't get me wrong, I think short beds are cute, and I would get one for my wife to drive

[Butch50]

homefor2 wrote:
Two things I would suggest. 1. I'm not sure you need a gear ratio so low (3.73's work for me) as it will impact your mileage.

The reason for the 4.30 is he is looking at a gasser. Complete different than a diesel. You need more RPMs to develop power. So to get moving faster you need to get into higher RPMs the sooner the truck is going to start moving along. You need lower gears in the gasser so you have more oomph in it. I know when I had my 2011 F350 I wouldn't have anything in it but the 4.30 axle ratio but that is me. YMMV

[Butch50]

jefe 4x4 wrote:
mlts,
Can you even find a short bed, dual rear wheel truck?
jefe

You can get a Ram Mega cab dually. Which is a SB but it is longer than a SB CC as there is some extra room behind the rear seats.

[bobndot]

jefe , Older Ford maybe around 2008 , they made a SB dual . I think dodge may still have one , maybe the mega cab 3500 ?

[jefe_4x4]

mlts,
Can you even find a short bed, dual rear wheel truck?
jefe

[Dirtpig]

Happy with my setup and over 30,000km driven. I would wait on the airbags unless u find you absolutely need them.

[homefor2]

Two things I would suggest. 1. I'm not sure you need a gear ratio so low (3.73's work for me) as it will impact your mileage. 2. Try the truck without the air bags for a while. A rear sway bar and something like Stable Loads to engage your overload springs earlier than normal would be my suggestion. I would not buy air bags again unless my unit leaned to one side enough to notice.

My long bed dually crew is my only vehicle and it works for me and my DW. It does not work for everyone though.

[Ski_Pro_3]

I have a short bed Dodge with the Lance 855S.
The reason for a short bed is so I can maneuver the thing around, both on-road and off-road. I am able to get in and out of regular parking spots since, even with my camper overhang, I'm still no longer than an empty 8 foot bed truck. I used to own a long bed and it's hard NOT to clip corners with that wheel base when working narrow roads, parking lots and campgrounds. Also, it's MUCH easier to level when the wheel base isn't so stretched out like on a long bed.

I get better fuel economy and the overall truck weighs less than a long bed, making my GVWR a better ratio for cargo.

Folks ask; if you don't have a truck yet, why get a short bed. I ask, if you don't NEED the extra hassle of a long bed, or dually's for that matter, then why strap yourself to one??!! The Lance 855S is everything I ever needed in a camper plus. There's nothing a long bed camper is gonna provide that my Lance doesn't give me.

Make it easy on yourself; get a short bed truck and a slide-out short bed camper. Beef up the suspension as you like and enjoy all the benefits of a full sized camper with the convenience of a short bed pick up truck. I know I'll never go back to the inconvenience of a long wheel based truck.

[alstraub]

Very happy with our new Lance 855S on a F350 SB. Added the cab over struts and it handles fine. I averaged 11.5 mpg between Maine and Florida recently.

[Bedlam]

Don't let these guys scare you. I have over 20k miles with my setup and just returned from 2600 mile trip. Maybe explaining why you want a short bed over long will help answer some questions.

[Butch50]

sky_free wrote:

Grit dog wrote:


FWIW your gas mileage will suck big time with the Ford 6.2 both loaded and unloaded. My 2013 Ford 6.2 averages a little over 12mpg commuting, mostly hiway and just over 8 mpg on a slowwww trip last year with 1k lb in the bed and a 4k lb enclosed trailer in tow.
If you do a lot of miles with the camper on you won't pass any gas stations!
By comparison, my diesel does 18mpg avg on summer fuel commuting, 12+ with the camper on if I keep it under 70mph and 11mpg with camper and same trailer.
Just food for thought.

On my first long trip check with the TC, my 6.2 averaged almost 11 mpg (10.75) with an AF 990 on board. I'm not towing anything, and I've got the 3.73 gears as I said.

Around town I get around 12 MPG just as you do, and almost 10 MPG with the TC on. There just isn't that much difference between empty and completely loaded in MPG. Highway empty is about 14-15, with a high of 16. I have no doubt that towing a trailer gets you under 10, but a TC is not a trailer.

I have to agree with Grit dog. When I had my 2011 F350 4X4 CC LB 4.30 rear ratio with my Northern Lite 10 2 CDSE we took it to Alaska last summer. Camper weighed in about 4,000#. I towed my 2500# boat for the first 2000 miles of the 11,000 miles trip. Hand calculated mileage for the entire 11,000 miles was 10.88MPG and this is converting liters to gallons. There were quite a bit of gravel roads and such in that as well as pulling out of Skagway which is a long pull. On that trip there were a few places that I wanted more power but the truck did just fine. I also had installed 19.5 wheels for I know that knocked down my mileage a little also as they are heavy tires and wheels. Once when I was empty and really watching my throttle I got as high as 17MPG and it was on a 2 lane road with a lot of hills.

If I wasn't going to tow an enclosed 7X14 or our Jeep I would have probably stayed with the 6.2. I had the biggest GVWR for an gasser. 11,200#.

If I was going to have a big camper and not tow anything or a small light trailer I would have either a Ford 6.2 or a Ram 6.4 DRW. This give some of the biggest payload packages of any 3500/350