Forum Discussion

norcal10's avatar
norcal10
Explorer
May 02, 2018

New Truck Campers

Hi everyone!
My wife and I have decided to sell our travel trailer and buy a truck camper. We have been RVing for a while now and want to be able to pull a boat while camping.
I've got a couple of questions about TC's and the truck.

1) Is it a necessity to have a rubber bed mat? We've got a spray in bedliner.

2) Does this setup sound okay with my truck? Torklift tiedowns and fastguns? If the camper we buy has the chain turnbuckles, we will use those until getting the fastguns. The truck is a 1993 Dodge D250 Cummins. I'm looking at the Timbren SES system instead of airbags.

3) The camper we are looking at is a one owner 1989 Western Wilderness that has been meticulously maintained. Does anyone have experience with these having problems clearing the bedrails? Or is that what the rubber mat mentioned above would help with?

4) I've researched the payload on my truck and come up with 3750lbs. Is the weight sticker on the camper usually dry or wet, and do you usually factor in a 1000lb cusion just in case?

You guys are helping some newbies out with the info. We really appreciate it!
Truck Campers
  • jimh406's avatar
    jimh406
    Explorer III
    May 02, 2018
    1) A rubber mat is not required, but people add them to prevent sliding.
    2) You don't mention tires. A lot of tires are C rated which won't get you anywhere near the max payload of the axle. Timbrens can be fine.
    3) Usually old campers clear old truck cabs. You can measure to see.
    4) Camper weight if "close" is usually dry weight with nothing in it. The only way to know for sure is weigh it at a scale.
  • norcal10's avatar
    norcal10
    Explorer
    May 02, 2018
    Hi, thanks for the response Jim. Tires are E rated on 16 inch rims.
  • adamis's avatar
    adamis
    Nomad II
    May 02, 2018
    I'll second the rubber mat. The spray in liners don't give a lot of friction to keep things from moving around. It's like two very hard surfaces against each other, slippage will occur. If you have a Tractor Supply store nearby, they are a good source for the rubber mat options. Note that there are actual rubber mats designed for truck beds that are ~ 1/2" thick and then there are thicker stall mats that can be 3/4" thicker or more. Either will work, just depends on what you need.
  • donn0128's avatar
    donn0128
    Explorer II
    May 02, 2018
    You have a 1992 Ram 5.9? That truck has as I remember a 8800 GVWR. What does it scale loaded ready to go? 5000 pounds if you actually did have 3700 pound payload. Sadly its more likely your real world payload will be around 1500 pounds.
  • scout4trout's avatar
    scout4trout
    Explorer
    May 02, 2018
    I had a 2009 Alpenlite (formerly Western Wilderness). The outside weight sticker did not include options - ours had the options listed on the inside of a cabinet door. Check the load rating on your tires because that will be the weakest link - our 16" E tires were 3,042 each and we were pushing that number on the rear.
  • norcal10's avatar
    norcal10
    Explorer
    May 02, 2018
    donn0128 wrote:
    You have a 1992 Ram 5.9? That truck has as I remember a 8800 GVWR. What does it scale loaded ready to go? 5000 pounds if you actually did have 3700 pound payload. Sadly its more likely your real world payload will be around 1500 pounds.

    Thanks for the info. I haven't had a chance to scale it yet. The sticker on the door has an 8510 GVW. I did the calculation by doing the GVW - curb weight to come up with 3710.
  • adamis's avatar
    adamis
    Nomad II
    May 02, 2018
    norcal10 wrote:
    donn0128 wrote:
    You have a 1992 Ram 5.9? That truck has as I remember a 8800 GVWR. What does it scale loaded ready to go? 5000 pounds if you actually did have 3700 pound payload. Sadly its more likely your real world payload will be around 1500 pounds.

    Thanks for the info. I haven't had a chance to scale it yet. The sticker on the door has an 8510 GVW. I did the calculation by doing the GVW - curb weight to come up with 3710.


    You will get a lot of thoughts on how much weight your truck can handle from many different forum members here. One school of thought is never to exceed your GVWR while others are in the camp that doing proper upgrades and not exceeding your axle ratings is fine.

    One thing to consider is that curb weight may not include a full tank of fuel or two humans. You could have 300+ lbs of fuel or more and two humans can add another 350+ lbs easy and that is before you loaded the camper.
  • norcal10's avatar
    norcal10
    Explorer
    May 02, 2018
    scout4trout wrote:
    I had a 2009 Alpenlite (formerly Western Wilderness). The outside weight sticker did not include options - ours had the options listed on the inside of a cabinet door. Check the load rating on your tires because that will be the weakest link - our 16" E tires were 3,042 each and we were pushing that number on the rear.

    Since we haven't purchased anything, would an older camper from the 70's make more sense and be lighter then one from the late 80's/90's. Not sure how the construction has changed over the years.
  • d3500ram's avatar
    d3500ram
    Explorer III
    May 02, 2018
    norcal10 wrote:
    ... Tires are E rated on 16 inch rims.

    Look beyond the "letter" rating. Pay attention to Load Index (LI.)

    Load Index refers to the actual weight the tire can carry at max inflation. Max inflation relates to the "letter" rating.

    Tire data can sometime be confusing and there are many "experts" on the forums who base wieght carrying solely on the letter. Not all "E" tires are the same and may not be able to carry the same weight.

    Check out this article: Load Index vs. Load Rating

    The old way of determining load capacity by a "letter" (D, E , F, G) connotation is not really valid as much as it used to be but it is important because the letter relates (among other things) to what the tires maximum PSI can handle and Load Index (LI) relates to weight carrying capacity.

    LI is the actual weight the tire can handle at the max PSI. So the two go hand-in-hand. Look at both when selecting a tire.

    Also- Wheels can perhaps be your weakest link. Make sure the load capacities of the rims will handle the weight as well.

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