Need Guidance on Buying the Right Truck

[BurbMan]

Hi guys, you may remember I posted last year about my 2002 Lance 811 that I acquired for free because it needs a little restoration ("How Bad Is This?")

Well the house remodeling is finally done, DW has her brand new kitchen, I sold the TT last week, and the project is ready to begin!!

I found this in the owner's manual, which was apparently prepared by the factory for this specific camper.



The previous owner was running this on a 80's vintage F-250 with 351 and 4-speed manual. I'm starting to scout for trucks and have some initial questions:

1. The weight is listed as 3017, so with full water (30 gals) and gear I'm probably in the 3600 lb range loaded? (the gear in the TT was 1600 lbs but it was 32' and had too much storage).
2. At this weight I probably need a 350/3500 something, but is a dually necessary or advisable? Looking more to offroad with this on the beach than travel long distances.
3. The distances in the center of gravity drawing add up to 8' so I guess I need a long bed? Can I consider 6.5' beds or is that off the table?

I know there are variables in truck ratings but since I'm buying used I want to at least filter down to the type I'm looking for.

Thanks in advance and y'all are staying out of the path of this virus. It's been bad here in NY and have lost some friends.

[BurbMan]

Update, bought the truck in my signature last week

[BurbMan]

JIMNLIN wrote:
Sorry burb...didn't know your thread was over.

What makes you think it's over? Telling folks around here that they are beating a dead horse never stopped 'em from taking another whack at it....if you got something to add, let 'er rip, tater chip!

[specta]

JIMNLIN wrote:
Sorry burb...didn't know your thread was over.

I think some people forget rv.net is an open forum and threads come to an end when people quit replying.

[JIMNLIN]

Sorry burb...didn't know your thread was over.

[BurbMan]

[Kayteg1]

My dually has rear axle rating at 9900 lb and 4 factory tires give it 11,640 lb
No clue what rims are rated for, but I guess they have to hold at least what tires do?

[Grit_dog]

jimh425 wrote:

JIMNLIN wrote:
I see lots of truck owners upgrade tires capacity to carry more weight and not upgrade OEM wheels which is 3590 lb per Fords Fleet specs/18" and 20" wheels.

I think you are likely working off old specs. Ford has lately been putting tires on stock trucks that are in some cases almost 500 lbs more than the numbers you describe. Well, that’s what the new truck owners have posted.

I haven't seen many "specs" on OE wheels, but they're out there. Have looked myself, since I haul the white whale on a srw on OE wheels and I "think" that's about right 3600lb/wheel rating.

But....and there's always a butt, lol.....

Compare the frequency of broken rims to the frequency of "overloaded" trucks and one can see that without a doubt, the factor of safety on OE rims is Huge.
Depends on a person's confidence in what I just wrote. I've had the opportunity to use, manage, maintain and be around 1000s of fleet trucks used in construction for the last 30 years and I can count on zero fingers how many cracked or broken rims I've seen, save for those as a result of an impact or traffic accident.

[jimh406]

JIMNLIN wrote:
I see lots of truck owners upgrade tires capacity to carry more weight and not upgrade OEM wheels which is 3590 lb per Fords Fleet specs/18" and 20" wheels.

I think you are likely working off old specs. Ford has lately been putting tires on stock trucks that are in some cases almost 500 lbs more than the numbers you describe. Well, that’s what the new truck owners have posted.

[JIMNLIN]

jimh425 wrote:
Kayteg1, more likely you don’t really have a good point, and his mods simply made it better just like the changes you’ve made to your truck. Not required, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t make it better.

JMO.... regardless of who made the changes to WyoBull truck is a mute point. Those upgrades were still made.
WyoBull truck has a 42xx lb GVWR based payload. His F350 srw doesn't have enough RAWR to carry much over 3700-3800 lbs in the bed without those upgrades....all depending on loaded drive axle weights.
I see lots of truck owners upgrade tires capacity to carry more weight and not upgrade OEM wheels which is 3590 lb per Fords Fleet specs/18" and 20" wheels.
Kayteg1 still made a good point about a trucks upgrades vs one that didn't have upgrades.

[jimh406]

Kayteg1, more likely you don’t really have a good point, and his mods simply made it better just like the changes you’ve made to your truck. Not required, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t make it better.

[Kayteg1]

It is like a guy having 4 divorces on his record saying "I always make perfect match with women"

[WyoBull]

Kayteg1 wrote:

WyoBull wrote:
See truck in my signature. The Northern Lite camper it carries is 3600-3800 lbs wet and the two are a great match for one another.

That's what you say and then your signature lists:
"Torklift Upper Stableloads, Airlift 5000 Ultimate air bags, Airlift WirelessAIR onboard compressor system"
Why such great match needs all the gizmos to work?
Don't tell me you drive on factory-rated tires?

And your point is? When I bought my camper the dealer installed the airbags and upper Stableloads as part of my deal on the camper. Does the truck need these gizmos as you call them? With 4226 lbs of payload I seriously doubt it but probably does make the ride a little better. I can tell you there are a hell of a lot of rigs out there with less capability than mine hauling a lot heavier campers and loads.
What I do know is that I am within all my weight limits and that is what I care about. I am running 275/70R18 size tires and have upgraded the actual tire from the stock tires that came with the truck.

[Grit_dog]

Kayteg1 wrote:

Meaning camper will put much more weight on rear axle when front axle will have weight taken off.
In drastic situation, beside overloading rear you might not have much traction on front.

Negative ghostrider.
It's not as drastic as you make it sound. Even if the CoG is a foot plus ahead of the rear axle CL, it is only transferring about 1/10th of the weight to the front axle. So, 400lbs giver take.

With the spec shown for this camper and every other "shortbed camper" I've seen, the CoG is still over the rear axle more or less. Actually in front of the axle centerline in this case.
No different than an 11' camper on a long bed.

I know you understand this from your understanding shown on other things, so please don't make it out to be something it isn't to those less knowledgeable.

[Kayteg1]

Short bed will make shorter distance between front of the bed and rear axle.
Meaning camper will put much more weight on rear axle when front axle will have weight taken off.
In drastic situation, beside overloading rear you might not have much traction on front.