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[jiggz]

Hello All,

I am the proud owner of a 2016 Chex Silverado 2500 Diesel crew cab 4wd liz z71. I am a regular tent camper in my old half ton. My girl wants me to get a camper, I do not want a trailer. Went to a RV Show and saw the Eagle Cap Camper and fell in love dry wt is 3200lbs.

Now I am finding out(on my own), I may not have enough truck to haul this beauty. My truck does not have a typical GVWR plate, but it has a sticker referencing the tires and the cargo shouldn't exceed2300 lbs. The tires are E Load, so should be rated at 3195lbs they should handle over 12,000? But Chevy say's my truck is at 10,000 GWVR or Payload 2500.

I am guessing my truck should wiegh around 7500 or more... I will have it weighed next time i go to dump.

I have many question.... I hope I don't get bashed for doing something wrong here:

A 3/4 ton trucks payload should be more than 2500lbs Right?

I should get a trailer?

[bighatnohorse]

You're right - the tire load capacity is the bottleneck for payload. Your truck payload capacity will be around 3000 pounds based it's tires and rim ratings.
That's Okay for a small camper but not the larger models such as the big Eagle Caps.

The solution that some 3/4 ton truck owners have found is to upgrade the tires and rims. That will cost around $3500+ dollars. And then you would want to upgrade the shocks, perhaps add a heavy duty sway bar and make modifications to the spring pack.

Your real choices are:
1) Make extensive truck modifications for a larger truck camper
2) Get a smaller truck camper
3) Get a trailer
Or 5th wheel or some other type of RV

Given your choices, I personally would go with the trailer if more than two people are RV-ing in it.

[Bumpyroad]

GeoBoy wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:
check out the 4 wheel truck campers. they have one that will work on my Tacoma with a 1200 lb. limit.
bumpy

Bumpy, did you find a camper for your new Tacoma?

yep that lead I got on the 4 wheel campers found me a nice one that will work, but priced it out and it was about $22,000. if/when I decide I want/need one that will be it.
bumpy

[GeoBoy]

Bumpyroad wrote:
check out the 4 wheel truck campers. they have one that will work on my Tacoma with a 1200 lb. limit.
bumpy

Bumpy, did you find a camper for your new Tacoma?

[DWeikert]

Not all campers are too heavy for a 2500HD Chevy diesel. 🙂

www.northstarcampers.com

[JRJR]

Take a look at Northern Lite website they have several campers that would work well with your truck.

[cewillis]

You could look at a popup. My Apex 8 has all the comforts of home (in a slightly smaller size), and weighs in at about 3000 lbs FULLY loaded. That weight includes 44 gallons of fresh water and 360 lbs of batteries.
Beats a tent all to pieces. See my web site, or better, Whazoo's blog for off-road camping with this camper and truck.

[jiggz]

i appreciate all the feedback. As I guessed, or figured, all these campers, I was looking at would be too much for the truck. I may just go and get a trailer, and keep the tents for off road camping without the girls. Thanks again

[2oldnslow]

There should be a data sticker (probably on the driver's door jam) that shows GVWR and axle weight ratings (FAWR and RAWR). The RAWR is usually the sum of the rear tires weight ratings, 6390 in your case. There should also be a sticker in the glove box showing a max weight for a camper. My 2005 GMC 2500 shows 2700 lbs camper weight IIRC.

Bear in mind that 3200 "dry weight" is a marketing number, not a real number. It doesn't include any options, water, propane, or batteries. It may not even be the weight of the basic camper with no options. Apparently the gravity at camper manufacturing plants is less than anywhere else.

My Lance 845 has a claimed dry weight of about 1800 lbs but puts me at 9550 lbs on the scale. My GVWR is 9200 lbs so I am overweight by 350 lbs but just under the axle rating. So that "1800 lbs dry weight" camper weighs around 3000 lbs ready to camp.

I agree with cewillis, that camper is too heavy for your truck.

[cewillis]

jiggz wrote:
The tires are E Load, so should be rated at 3195lbs

Why 'should be'? It says right on the tires.
If 3195 lbs, your real effecting max rear end load capacity is 6390 lbs, minus a safety margin -- assuming that your axle, springs, etc are up to the job.
This is NOT to say that you can positively carry a camper weight of 6390 lbs minus your trucks rear end weight. That's the way I do it, but you may be different.
My truck is a little old 2006 LBZ 2500hd with a rear axle capacity over 10,000 lbs, highly upgraded rear springs, and 3420 max load tires and wheels.
You can most likely do at least as well, and maybe are already there or close.
All that said, I'm guessing that a 3200 lb dry weigh camper will be too much for your truck.

[Bumpyroad]

check out the 4 wheel truck campers. they have one that will work on my Tacoma with a 1200 lb. limit.
bumpy