Question for Dodge Ram 2500 owners

[zcookiemonstar]

I have a 2001 Dodge ram 2500 2wd gas long bed pickup. I am looking for my first truck camper and would like to hear from people who have or had the same truck what camper you carried weight how it handled and what you had to do to it. Thanks to all for any input.

[zcookiemonstar]

My cousin had a 96 or 97 3500 with the V10 he bought new. I drove it a lot back then and it was great until about 80k miles. Then the V10 never seemed to run right and the mpg dropped to about 6 or 7. He took it to a few dealers and other shops and no one could ever get it to run right again it just became a money pit and then just sat until he got rid of it. I don't think I would ever trust that V10.

[jefe_4x4]

zcookie, and Vern,
My neighbor just bought a 1995 Dodge 2500 4WD single cab LB V-10 to bumper tow his livestock. It has 60K miles on the clock and is as clean as anything i've seen for a while. Much cleaner than my '01, and 100K less miles. He got there 20 minutes ahead of another guy who wanted the truck; paid the $3500 cash, and skee-dattled. No diesel penalty here.I drove the beast and it behaves like a V-8 diesel only without the smell and noise. something like 460 # feet of torque. I worked the low range (I think it's an NP205) and 4WD and the lever feels like it has never been in that position before. He's retired and probably does not have enough time left to wear it out. I looked under there and it does have a Dana 80 of unknown spline count, and a track loc tag. Some people just have a serendipitous relationship with reality.
jefe

[agteacher]

We have a 1999 Dodge quad cab long bed with the diesel. We carried a Lance Squire 4000 on it with no problems. The truck weighs 6800 pounds. The camper weighed around 3000 pounds. We got rid of the truck camper after we got the toy hauler. Since the kids are now almost grown, we are looking at returning to a truck camper.

[zcookiemonstar]

vern Kelly
Thanks again for the good info. To late on the dash that cracked a couple years ago but I still like my truck.

[vern_kelly]

zcookiemonstar:

The weights I posted do not reflect passengers though I would think most of that weight especially in the front seats should be over the front axel.

Here in sunny Californie and doing what I usually do I don't need 4 wheel drive. I'm sure others in other parts of the USA need 4 wheel drive. Where do you live and what do you do? I do like the low center of gravity, easy access in and out of the camper on the truck, and not having to lift the camper too high on the jacks as I load and unload the camper often with the electric jacks. I like to drop the camper at the campsite and have the boat hitched to the truck with my stinger (hitch extension) attached so I don't have to back in to the lake as far. My rear tires don't even get wet!

Hope you enjoy that truck. One thing I have read is to keep the dash shaded by a visor/towel religiously as the dashes are known to crack from sun over time. I keep mine covered with a sun shade and it has been fine for 18 years. I will keep the truck for around 5 more years and see how it is and my wallet is.

[Kayteg1]

Looks like my Fleetwood is about the same size/weight Reddog's camper.
When I put it on SRW F250 shortbed I had close to 9000 lb on rear axle empty.
Filling up holding tanks could easy add 1000 lb to rear axle as my tanks are under rear overhang.
There is no way to calculate all on the paper. You have to take it to scales.

[zcookiemonstar]

vern kelly
Great info, just what I was looking for. Does your total weight include any passengers? How often if ever do you wish you had 4wd?

[vern_kelly]

zcookiemonstar:

I run a 1998 Dodge 2500 quad cab 8ft bed V10 (big boy motor) 2wd auto tran 47RE with 3.55 anti slip dana rear end. I have factory overload leaf springs with Firestone Ride Right air bags. factory anti sway with Bilstein shocks.

I haul a Lance 5000 camper ~10ft also 1998.

Here are the actual weights of my Truck and camper:

Truck with no tailgate Front Axle: 3440lbs
Rear Axle : 2540lbs
total weight: 5980lbs

Dana rear end is rated at 7500lbs
Tires Goodyear E rated at 6200lbs rear axle is the limiting factor @80lbs inflated. No problems with the Goodyears but I did have internal separation with Remingtons. Never a blowout though!

GVWR of the truck is 8800lbs

Truck weighed with camper: Front axle 3620lbs (+180 lbs)
Rear Axle 5840lbs (+3300 lbs)

Total weight 9460lbs

Camper weighs ~ 3480lbs with my stuff and water in it.

I'm still on original brakes and the truck rides and steers well. My wife drives it as long as we are not towing the boat.

Have the front end checked out thoroughly as the bushings and the ball joint boots rot out from age. Diesels will weigh more of course and hurt the payload but most of that weight should be over the front axle (which causes more wear on the front end)

This truck has been great and still drives like new. By the way the mileage with the big boy V10 is ~10 to 11 mpg with the camper not over 60 mph. 8-10 camper and boat. Includes launching ect. I usually drop the camper at the campground.

[poriggity]

Ive got an 04 2500 diesel long bed with a 6 spd manual. My camper is a Lance LC980 that weighs in at Roughly 2550 lbs loaded up and ready to camp. I added timbren SES to the truck, and am looking to do a rear sway bar next, but I'm comfortable with it, although I am probably maxed, if not a bit over on payload capacity. If I hadn't gotten the camper for free, I was going to go with a much lighter pop up.
Scott

[zcookiemonstar]

Reddog1
Good info and thanks for saying what I guess I thought was obvious. I also have an extended cab and my truck alone (no driver or passengers) on the scale is about 5800lbs. I can do the math but it is good to know what people are doing in the real world not just on paper.

[Reddog1]

zcookiemonstar wrote:
I have a 2001 Dodge ram 2500 2wd gas long bed pickup. I am looking for my first truck camper and would like to hear from people who have or had the same truck what camper you carried weight how it handled and what you had to do to it. Thanks to all for any input.

I think most of the responses have not been from folks with a 2001 Dodge ram 2500, 8-foot bed, 2wd and a gas engine. Your truck weighs a lot less than most of the trucks typically posted about here.

My observation is most here are diesels and 4WD. They could easily be about 2000 pounds heavier than your truck. I think the diesel is about 1000 pounds heavier than the gas engine and the 4WD also about 1000 pounds. You did not state if you had a standard cab or extended cab, which also changes things.

I have a 1996 Dodge 2500, 2WD, diesel, extended cab, with an 8-foot bed. I have been been challenged on the weight of my truck more than once. My truck weight is 6200 pounds. The same truck in a 4WD typically weighs about 7200 pounds. Just looking at weight only, a big difference.

I doubt it will help you much, but my 11.5-foot Bigfoot weighs 4200 pounds (fully loaded). Truck and TC together are 10400 lbs. I removed an aftermarket overload spring, and installed airbags. I installed an anti-sway bar and Rancho shocks. I also installed 19.5 tires and wheels, which I think was the greatest improvement on road manors.

I mated my Truck and Bigfoot up in April 2004 with a little under 100,000 miles on the odometer. I now have about 265,00 miles on the odometer of which less than 200 miles were without the TC being loaded. There is nothing I really care to change in the way my truck handles the TC. I also frequently flat tow a Suzuki Samurai.

Wayne

[zcookiemonstar]

pcoplin

That looks like a nice very setup you have but I'm not sure how much different the Ford is from the Dodge and I'm not going to ask because that could be it's own forum.

[zcookiemonstar]

jefe 4x4
First thanks for the info. I have always liked your setup "from the pick at least". I have one of your pics as one of my screen backgrounds.
I thought that the frames were the same for 2500/3500 trucks. From what I have read the difference is in the axles/housings and springs and with the camper package the springs were the same at least in the rear. I know the drive line is stronger with the diesel and thought the front springs may be heavy for the extra weight of the diesel. I would think that on a stock truck I would have more weight capacity than you because of the weight of the diesel. Is your GVWR 8800lbs like mine? Or is it higher?

[sullivanclan]

I have a 2003 Dodge Ram 2500 short bed Hemi and auto trans. My camper is a 2005 Northstar TC800, Pop Up, 1,400 pounds dry. The truck drives like the camper isn't there. A real breeze, including even some off roading to remote places in Colorado and Utah. Carry's some 36 gallons of fresh water. We also have pulled our ATV trailer, or flat towed our jeep, or on a car hauler across country. No concerns. A great unit and fit and a great company at Northstar to deal with, that is family run, personable and easily available for telephone and emails questions. But I have never had a bit of trouble, using it nearly year round, and lots of camping. Driving just the camper, I can still get 10 to 12 mpg.

We are switching over to a Class C, so plan to put the Northstar and maybe the truck up for sale soon. Hate to see it go, buy Mom just wants something bigger, but I love the ability to get off the pavement.