New to the site

[ducky8888]

Having camped off and on since I was a child, I learned very early that tent camping is not for me! A few years ago, my then girlfriend decided we were all going camping. Me and my 2 kids, her and her 4 kids, and my 2 dogs. I ended up finding a decent priced coleman pop-up and put it behind her chrysler mini-van, and I figured out what a horrible mistake it is to haul that much weight through the mountainous back-roads of California.

Fast forward 3 years, I have since broken up with her (sold the trailer for more than what I bought it for), and for a few reasons have begun camping very regularly. From camping in Humboldt for a marathon and local hiking to quads at Sand Mountain in NV, to relaxing by the lake at Bowman or Lyndsey lake. Each of these trips reinforced my hatred of tent camping. I had tent poles break, air mattresses leak, a river of rain water through my tent (right where my clothes were stored). Every trip was riddled with issues and discomfort.

My situation now is this: I am wanting to go out to these places, but I dont want an RV, and a trailer would work, but that limits me to bed storage for motorsports etc. I could get a toy hauler, but thats extreme for my needs and isnt nimble enough to get to some of the camp sites we will be frequenting.

I decided the best solution for me is a new truck (I went with a low mileage 08 Tundra 4x4 double cab trd), a cabover camper (I found a nice '99 Lance 945), and a standard 16ft flatbed trailer to haul my toys when I want them.

I did a lot of research prior to making my purchases so I knew what I was in for when making each purchase, and adjusted my buying accordingly. I bought the truck first, it needed a few mods and repairs to make it camper ready. I went with the torklift tie downs as i wanted to be able to "hide" it when the camper wasnt in the truck. At the same time, I ordered an airbag kit, my only wish was that I had installed them BEFORE buying the camper. Other repairs are minor, such as removing the broken antenna stud and replacing the antenna, a little bit of paint work to make it look better (PO used some crappy blue rattle can paint to try to cover some scratches).

Once I got the tie-downs installed in the truck (PITA!!! had to cut and shave then a bit to get then to fit) I went looking at campers. I found a local guy asking $5000 for this one, and evidently had so many tire-kickers and people who had no clue about these that he was willing to come down to $4000. It doesnt have some features like AC or 110v but that was fine with me. Upon making a deal I ran into the first couple issues. Number one was camper depth versus bed depth... Luckily the RV storage where it was at was in an industrial park and I was able to find a couple pallets to get it loaded. Once it was in the bed I discovered the running lights werent working. Yesterday I discovered that the Tundra has fuses and relays for all of the trailer lights and one of the fuses was blown, phew, easy fix!

I have spent this morning searching, researching, shopping, and buying to fix a few of the concerns I have about the setup and to get fully prepared for an upcoming camping trip.

Cordless drill and jack attachment bit. I have been needing a good cordless drill, this gave me a great excuse to buy one. I have loaded the camper into my truck and unloaded, and this is going to be a must have for me.

I ordered an 18" hitch extension, which should put the hitch (and the steps when installed) right where it needs to be.

The camper was converted to a 7-way trailer connector and the PO included an extension in with the purchase, but this presents an issue because my trailer uses a 7-way as well. I looked around and for ~$180 I could buy a splitter/extender, but I was still presented with the issue of my trailer being 18" further back. My solution is this: I have ordered a 24" 7-way extension, I am cutting the male end off and then splicing this new piece into the camper extender. I also purchased a mount so I can permanently attach the 24" extension to the hitch extender. My plan is to be able to hide everything under the camper when in storage, and when I pull under the camper, I just have to attache the 7-way to my truck, put the hitch extender in, and I am ready to go. My idea it to add some kind of bracket underneath to support the hitch extender. I have thought of ways to get around this, but since I need the hitch extender to use the steps, it makes sense to me to always have it with the camper. I know there are other step solutions, but a large majority of the time I will be using the camper, I will also be hauling the trailer.

I ordered a voltage monitor (comes with a 12v power port and a USB charger port). I am planning to mount this in the kitchen area. I was worried about this being constantly on, even though the draw is very minimal, so I found one with a power switch. Along with this upgrade I decided to convert everything to LED.

I am considering either adding a battery (in the compartment where I have seen generators installed, back lower right corner) in addition to the battery already in the camper, and replacing the existing battery with a deep cycle, or removing the current battery entirely and go with a couple 6v golf cart batteries. Either way I go, I am going to be adding solar panels. I have not decided on how to go about this yet, whether permanently mounting them on the roof is a good idea, or doing something like the flexible mat ones that I can roll up and store during travel.

So, thats what I have planned for the next 2 weeks before my next camping trip. Any tips or ideas are more than welcome.

[bka0721]

Welcome to the TC Forum, Ducky8888!

While we have a post of your type, pretty much every month and it is good as we can learn a lot from everyone contributing here. What I appreciate is that you have stayed in the discussion, which many do not. Most come here to be validated and you are sharing your reasoning and in a fashion, getting advice. While it appears to me you are in denial, you seem to be very interested in enjoying what most of us have enjoyed here too, the lifestyle of a Truck Camper. Good luck to you and be safe and aware there are others out on the road traveling with you and beside you, too.

b

[All_I_could_aff]

Please try this combination locally before any trips. And weigh those axles... Sometimes seeing the numbers in front of your face has more affect than hearing warnings from strangers. Welcome to the forum!

[Reddog1]

Vinsil wrote:
... It seems the OP has made a choice. I wish him the best...

I think this is a very valid statement.

Wayne

[Vinsil]

Hey I'm over my specs (gvwr) and didn't dog the OP...I don't have much room to speak. Most would be in a drw setup with my posted weight. I'm not ashamed! It is what it is. I have spent some time around differential's and have seen some carnage from abuse and overload situations of equipment and I personally know one poster here who has more experience than I do.

I listened to the advice given and made my choice. Now...would I do do this with half ton truck or heavy half (still semi floater axle)? No.

It seems the OP has made a choice. I wish him the best...

[jimh406]

Bonesquatch wrote:
To the op, I'd say that there's a whole lot of wisdom to avail yourself of here.

I agree. When you have almost everyone post saying the same thing ... it might be true. 😉 Of course, anyone is allowed to ignore unsolicited advice. There seems to be quite a bit of that going on. Oh well ... 🙂

[Bonesquatch]

To the op, I'd say that there's a whole lot of wisdom to avail yourself of here. A couple of years ago, when my wife and I decided to make the move up from a popup to a hard side, this site was a tremendous resource. I read up on camper size, truck rating, and how best to match the two. This site is the primary reason we looked at the Lance 850 and wound up purchasing a like-new model a couple of weeks later. The posters here are incredibly helpful when answering questions and you'd do well to take their suggestions seriously. They really do know their stuff!

[realter]

Reddog1 wrote:
realter, if you have links, they might be of interest to ducky8888 and others.

Wayne

I saw that some time ago, here in rv.net. Sorry, I have no idea when.

[Bedlam]

Expect 100% of the camper weight to be on the rear. Once you add any hitch weight, it will slightly unload the front and add even more to the rear.

The problem with Class 1 trucks is the semi floating rear axles. Once you get into the next class, they are full floating and can handle twice the weight.

Remember that any axle can handle a certain amount of overload before failing but that failure may be soon or it may be 50k miles later.

[ducky8888]

gbw wrote:
I won't get into too many details discussed here, but my camper actually unweights my front axle by 150lbs... I am still within my rear axle ratings though. Still quite a bit over GVWR, so you won't see me throwing stones.

I think you'll find most TC's are 90%+ on the rear axle. 40% on the front is being rather ambitious.

You're doing the right steps, go weigh the truck and then go weigh the truck and camper. I'm sure you'll be shocked to see the numbers. I had a weight in mind (which was still more than Bigfoot stated) and the real life weight was significantly higher. Going and checking weights will be the best way to proceed.

Again, I'm all for going over GVWR but just keep in mind the rear axle, I think that might be your weak link at the moment. Good luck.

Thanks, like I said, I was just guessing by how far forward the cabover sits.

As I said in my analogy about the chain, you upgrade one thing to be better, and yes the over all "strength" of the chain goes up, but something else becomes the "weakest link". A friend of mine has the same truck as I bought, his might be a year or 2 newer, but he has higher mileage. He throws a 700lb grizzly in his truck, then loads it up with firewood, then backs up to his 1500lb+ tongue weight toy hauler. I know its a different setup, but you get the idea.

[mkirsch]

All campers come with a COG specification. This COG indicates where the weight of the camper is effectively placed on the truck.

The cabover is a lie. It looks like it's "forward heavy" but the camper unit as a whole is balanced front to back such that the weight is concentrated almost entirely over the rear axle, unless you're doing something like putting a long bed camper in a short bed truck. The weight added/removed from the front axle is less than 200lbs as a general rule.

[gbw]

I won't get into too many details discussed here, but my camper actually unweights my front axle by 150lbs... I am still within my rear axle ratings though. Still quite a bit over GVWR, so you won't see me throwing stones.

I think you'll find most TC's are 90%+ on the rear axle. 40% on the front is being rather ambitious. Say you had a regular cab truck, I could potentially see more weight being put on the front axle due to the front axle being closer to the front of the truck box but not anywhere close to 30 or 40%. This is where COG really comes to play. The nose of the camper is really just an airspace with a couple small cabinets and a matress. The rear 1/4 of the camper is just as heavy, or heavier. You'll have more framing becuase of access door (for dump valves, genny compartments etc), dinette, kitchen cabinets. The rear of the camper has a lot of action happening, therefore quite heavy compared to the nose which extends over the cab.

You're doing the right steps, go weigh the truck and then go weigh the truck and camper. I'm sure you'll be shocked to see the numbers. I had a weight in mind (which was still more than Bigfoot stated) and the real life weight was significantly higher. Going and checking weights will be the best way to proceed.

Again, I'm all for going over GVWR but just keep in mind the rear axle, I think that might be your weak link at the moment. Good luck.

[ducky8888]

realter wrote:
Recently I was reading a post about somebody who had a broken axle, and all of you were giving consolidations to him or her. Something in the post interested me, so I was reading their former posts. Having nothing to do I was back a number of years ago, and suddenly burst out laughing. They had a post very similar to this one, where they were defending their way overloaded truck. So it does happen. Myself, I figure those highly educated mechanical and automotive engineers put these load ratings on vehicles for a reason. And yes, my lightweight NS Laredo on the GMC 2500 is right at GVWR. My posted weight is 2406 lbs, but on numerous scales over the past 6 years the camper weight is 700 to 800 lbs over that, with minimal water, no beer, no dog, and no wife.

I have read that before too, I also saw a post about a frame that cracked. I am not sure how much has changed, the trucks I was reading about were the earlier (pre-07) tundras, and the frames and axles have been beefed up, from my understanding.

So the question becomes, if the current offerings for my truck from Lance are as heavy, or heavier than my camper, has Lance gotten into the business of trying to kill its customers? If this is what they are offering, they must have recommendations on how to do it safely.

[ducky8888]

Bedlam wrote:
From what I see, the Tundra has a 4000 lb front axle and 4150 lb rear axle regardless of the tires you currently are using. If you have a link to the axle that says otherwise, please post it.

http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forums/tundra/92884-2007-tundra-gawr-numbers/

Everything I have read confirms your findings. I would have to load up the camper and hit the scales to know for sure, but my guess would be that with weight distribution of the cabover and the ~58/42 ratio of the truck, I should still under weight on each axle. I am going to talk dry weights because wet weights are too variable and assumptions can be made, but if we all keep in mind (as I will do) I am talking dry. The truck weight is ~5640, that puts 2370 on the rear axle and 3270 on the front. With the entire weight of the camper on the rear axle (which its not) the rear axle will be seeing a total weight of 4267. since I am not finding any solid facts on weight distribution, as I am sure it varies widely depending on the truck its in. Being that the cabover part of the camper extends beyond the roof, almost to the hood of the truck, I have to think that at least 40%+ is seen on the front axle, but thats purely a guess. if I figure conservatively at 30%, that move 570lbs to the front axle, bringing the rear axle down to ~3700lbs. Given fuel, wet weights, tongue weight, it will be over what GAWR is recommended, but then again, I am already aware that I am over recommendations. the discussion has not been about recommendations. If everyone were to follow recommendations then there would either be a lot more 1 ton and bigger trucks being sold, or a lot less campers being sold.

[wvabeer]

I heard it from the weight police too ducky8888. If it feels good do it. I did it only because I already had the truck and wasn't going to go buy another. But I have not regretted my decision. My max payload I'm going with is 3000# counting tongue weight.

[Reddog1]

realter, if you have links, they might be of interest to ducky8888 and others.

Wayne