My First Truck Camper...HELP!!!

[jriggs10]

Hey there, I just bought a Caribou (1998 I believe) camper for my young family. I have a Dodge Ram 2500 diesel extended cab long bed to haul it with. I am trying to figure out a few things to start off. First is what the best way to connect it to my truck. Right now I have this jack system that you can see in the picture, and the guy I bought it from says I can attach something on the underside of my truck that will hold it down. It came with the jack system but he says it hangs down quite a bit under his truck when not in use. I live on a gravel road and am thinking these might get beat up when I drive on that road. Any thoughts on that?

Also, the label right next to the door that talks about weight and such is blank! So I am not sure how much this hog is going to weigh fully loaded or empty. There is no manual with it either, any thoughts on how to figure this part out?

Last, my main concern is safety, and although this jack system looks nice, I am not familiar at all with it, anything I need to watch out for or be aware of? Thanks in advance for your help! We are super excited about starting our camping adventures!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/125464039@N04/14678311575/

[AnEv942]

Congrats on your 'new' camper! Wheres the pictures?

On the heater though I would be surprised if you had a non fan unit-
IF it has a fan thats is not coming on hopefully the burners isn't either as it shouldnt work unless fan is running.
This is our heater

If you have similar ducts or outside cover as shown it has a fan.


Removing the outside cover allows accessing most internals if needed.
Start with simple stuff, check fuse on converter panel. Check the thermostat, jump the terminals bypassing the thermo switch, ours took a few seconds before the fan came on, then several seconds later before heater lit. Remove outside cover ensure the switch (if it has one) is on and the thermal breaker isn't tripped.
Assume you don't have the paper work for heater-record any/all info from tags, primarily model. Most Atwood heaters online manuals can be downloaded. Relatively easy to trouble shoot if comfortable with it.
My assumption unless p/o said it hadn't worked in years, if its been setting /dirty.

Awaiting pictures...

[camperpaul]

jriggs10 wrote:
Whoo hoo! We got our camper, and it is awesome! I have a few questions:

-When I drive it (this is my first camper) it seems the overhead part shifts around a bit, I would have guessed it would be tight and not sway much at all.

What you see is normal; it is caused by the flexing of the truck's frame.

-The heater fan doesn't work, any ideas where to start getting that fixed?

A lot of the early TC and TT heaters don't have a heater fan.

-None of the plugs work when it is just run on the battery, is that normal?

The 120VAC outlets don't run on the battery

-Should I run the fridge on propane if I am not plugged in electrically?

Yes.

-Should I drain my water tank each time I use it, or will it last a while in there?

If you filled it with "city water" it should be OK for a couple of weeks.

Thanks in advance, your help has been invaluable so far!!

Jeff

[jriggs10]

Whoo hoo! We got our camper, and it is awesome! I have a few questions:

-When I drive it (this is my first camper) it seems the overhead part shifts around a bit, I would have guessed it would be tight and not sway much at all.

-The heater fan doesn't work, any ideas where to start getting that fixed?

-None of the plugs work when it is just run on the battery, is that normal?

-Should I run the fridge on propane if I am not plugged in electrically?

-Should I drain my water tank each time I use it, or will it last a while in there?

Thanks in advance, your help has been invaluable so far!!

Jeff

[wintersun]

First check the tires on your truck. If they have for example a 3200 lb rating at 80 PSI then they will support 6400 lbs. at the rear axle. Get the truck weighed at a local CAT scale where the charge is going to be $10 and then subtract the weight at the drive axle from the total capacity of the two tires.

If the truck weighs 3000 lbs. at the rear and each tire is rated at 3200 lbs. then the payload the truck's rear tires can support is 2 x 3200 - 3000 = 3400 lbs. maximum - this needs to cover the camper and water and gear.

If the tires are OK then the next aspect is the rear leaf springs. For $450 you can add a set of SuperSprings and increase the load capacity of the truck to 4000 lbs. with one leaf or to 5,000 lbs. in total with the double leaf set.

Last is the factory shocks which may need to be replaced but you will not know that until you have the new springs installed and the camper in the bed of the truck.

For wiring try to find a harness that works for the camper and will install as a receptacle in the bed of the truck. The person selling the camper may let you remove the one from his truck. Alternatively there are adapters for hooking a camper into the trailer plug-in for the truck. Important to have the wire for power that runs from the battery of the truck using 8ga wire and to install an isolator between this wire and the battery. This allows the truck alternator to charge the battery in the camper but does not allow the camper to draw from the truck's starter battery.

Depending upon what is already on your truck you may want to add tow mirrors like the GM ones. Another worthwhile option is a backup camera and best place I have found for the equipment and advice is at www.tadibrothers.com.

[mkirsch]

The horizontal door on the rear storage compartment indicates it's an 11.5' model. The 9' model would have a vertical door.

I found some info on a 1996 model:

1996 Fleetwood Caribou 11’6” cab over camper
2470 dry weight
Fully self contained with a dry bath (very rare for campers)
Full queen size home type mattress over cab
Dometic Fridge Freezer 2 way combo
A/C (will literally run you out of the camper VERY big unit)
Fan force furnace with t-stat
40 gallons fresh water
27 gallon gray water tank
27 black water tank
Outside shower

Luckily the older campers are much lighter than current models. You should be able to put a reasonable amount of stuff in the camper and still be ok on your Dodge 2500. It may need airbags and better tires just to make you feel comfortable, but it should be within your axle ratings.

[AnEv942]

Last year Fleetwood made truck campers was 03. I think they had a big bonfire and burnt all manuals, sales literature and pretty much disavow any knowledge of ever having built them.

That said the 'manuals' for the Fleetwood truck camper contained very little specific information to the camper itself, they were very generic, how tos included with all models and virtually worthless other than a general how to use a self contained rv. The sales literature/brochures contain more information as to size of tanks, etc, features & options of your specific model.

The model is Caribou along with the size, as with many, defined by the floor length. Weight if listed would have been for unit built without any options. A public scale is the only way to get an reasonably accurate weight. Cant tell by the picture but it 'looks' like an 11'.

[Francesca_Knowl]

jriggs10 wrote:


I hear you, just wanted to make sure the camper weight wasn't way over my truck limit...

Maybe you can sorta work backward and figure out which model you have. here's a link to NADA's page for 1998 Caribous- looks like model name/number is based on length. NADA doesn't give weights, but once you figure out which model you have you might try Googling that plus "weight?" and see what comes up.

Meanwhile, perhaps as a rough reference, here's a link where the O.P. has a '93 Caribou 8CS and there's discussion of dry/loaded weights related to that model.

[jriggs10]

"Likely everything on the plate was silkscreened, and has weathered away over the years. No you should not be concerned. None of the information that would be on the plate is relevant at this stage of the game anyway.

All you should be concerned about is the condition of the camper and the price. It's not like you can take the camper in for warranty service, so whether the company that built it is in business or not is irrelevant."


I hear you, just wanted to make sure the camper weight wasn't way over my truck limit...

[mkirsch]

jriggs10 wrote:
Should I be concerned that the plate next to the door does not have any info stamped into it? I really don't even know what model number it is.

I know that Fleetwood went under a few years ago, but is there anywhere to get more info on the camper, like an owners manual, etc?

Likely everything on the plate was silkscreened, and has weathered away over the years. No you should not be concerned. None of the information that would be on the plate is relevant at this stage of the game anyway.

All you should be concerned about is the condition of the camper and the price. It's not like you can take the camper in for warranty service, so whether the company that built it is in business or not is irrelevant.

[River_Sand]

The owner's manuals aren't very helpful, may give model and specs, tanks sizes and such, but that's about it. You will have more luck with the individual appliance websites, most have manuals on-line you can download. Most all manufactures use the same appliance brands.

[rfuerst911sc]

Isn't Caribou still in business ? If they are send them an email with a few pictures I'm sure they would be able to identify the model and year. And that Stable Lift is a great system I have one on my Avion. Call Stable Lift they can sell you the under mounts for your truck.

[jriggs10]

Thanks for the continued feedback. A couple more questions...

Should I be concerned that the plate next to the door does not have any info stamped into it? I really don't even know what model number it is.

I know that Fleetwood went under a few years ago, but is there anywhere to get more info on the camper, like an owners manual, etc?

Thanks again!

Jeff

[wcjeep]

Be sure the Stable lift is installed correctly. It's a great system.

Consider Stable loads from Torklift for your 2500. Stable loads should be installed before airbags in my opinion. Airbags may not be necessary.

[Butch50]

You have a great lift already on the camper. Stable lift is made right in Kalispell, MT. Not far from you. For this to work on your tuck you need to have the saddle mounts that fit on you truck frame. Give Mont a call at the Stable Lift site that I have given a link to here and check with them about getting some.