New Truck Camper Test Drive
When we bought our new wolf creek last year, the dealer allowed us to place the camper in our truck bed to see how much it would compress the suspension. But they were adamant that we could not drive ...
Forum Discussion
dls0008 wrote:anutami wrote:
Many people post on this forum prior to purchasing a particular truck/TC combo for other owners opinions on handling issues etc. I wouldn't want a truck camper I was buying to be already loaded on peoples trucks and test driven down the road.
So how does your f450 handle the WC?
F-450 handles the camper great. But we had a F-250 when we bought the Wolf Creek, I never liked the way the F-250 handled the weight. We had a bunch of bolt suspension improvements: Rancho's, Stable loads, airbags. It felt like I had to fight the F-250, whether it was bumps in the road or body roll from the camper, there were moments of unstable ride that made it unenjoyable. We sometimes flat tow a Jeep Wrangler out into the mountains which made it worse. I had some heavy traffic, night time crossings on I-70 over the divide that were pretty bad. F-250 was a 4wd, Crew Cab Short Bed with a Diesel, so we didn't have much payload left over.
Our F-450 handles all of it like a dream. We are making and planning long distance trips that we avoided with the F-250.
I guess my experience is that taking a camper over a speed bump going 15 mph can tell you a lot about how your truck will handle the camper. You don't necessarily need to get on the highway and go over 60 mph.
I'm surprised your F250 handled so poorly. I had a Supercab short bed diesel carrying a heavier Arctic Fox 811 and towing a 20' enclosed trailer without handling problems. I did put $3000 into the suspension and wheel upgrades to get to that point, but did not even think about replacing the truck until we decided to go to a larger truck camper. My truck was typically 11.5-12.5K lbs GVW with 7-8K lbs on the rear axle and traveled that way for over 30k miles in three years.
When I bought my current truck, I carried the camper two more years and towed the same trailer. Handling was not much different, but the suspension was stiffer and I had to take rough roads slower than my F250. The biggest difference is that the truck has not required any upgrades to carry my Arctic Fox or current Host.
