Truck Camper for Mega Cab

[pira114]

Howdy all! Been a long time since I've visited the site. Mother Nature claimed my old trailer, so I didn't have anything to talk about. I'm now transitioning to a truck Camper, which leads to my question (tried searching but zero results, not sure if the search feature is working).

I have a 2007 Dodge 3500 SRW Mega Cab. Looking for a lighter weight camper. Something like the Forest River Real Lite 1608. My question is will the campers made for short beds fit correctly in the Mega Cab bed? The bed is a real world 6 feet 3 inches.

I'm open to any suggestions for campers also. But I simply can't afford most Lance options (I know that might be a common brand suggestion). My price range would probably be $25k or less, and I'd like to keep it under 2000lbs dry. Thanks.

[pira114]

Thanks to all who replied. It helped tremendously.

[Tiger4x4RV]

Link for that Truck Camper Magazine info:

https://www.truckcampermagazine.com/truck-campers-buyers-guide/

[noteven]

Truck Camper Magazine has good info and a camper chooser tool on their website.

[SidecarFlip]

GeoBoy wrote:

zulu52 wrote:

GeoBoy wrote:
Look at the Northstar Arrow 8.5.

My camper is a Northstar Arrow 8.5.
My truck bed is 8'.
I'm no expert at all but it seems that fitting that in a 6' 3" bed would be a little tight.
Zulu

A direct quote from Northstar’s site.
8.5 Arrow U (2020) For Short Beds Only (6' 4" to 6' 10")

After we sold the Lance and bought the Palomino pop up, if we needed the extra room a hard side offered, we'd rent a room at the Holiday Inn. Besides room service and daily clean sheets, they have a pool to lounge in. The Palomino on my F350 SRW don't even put the springs on the overloads. Don't even know it's back there and the fuel mileage don't drop much either. For our use, we'd never go back to a hard side.

[GeoBoy]

zulu52 wrote:

GeoBoy wrote:
Look at the Northstar Arrow 8.5.

My camper is a Northstar Arrow 8.5.
My truck bed is 8'.
I'm no expert at all but it seems that fitting that in a 6' 3" bed would be a little tight.
Zulu

A direct quote from Northstar’s site.
8.5 Arrow U (2020) For Short Beds Only (6' 4" to 6' 10")

[burningman]

Ignore the door sticker, add up the weight rating of your rear tires.
You can haul any shortbed camper just fine as long as you have the tires for it.
That truck’s rear axle actually has a much higher rating than Dodge lists.
You might end up tossing in a sway bar and/or air bags or spring blocks, which are pretty standard camper-hauling gear.
Truck setup is a little different for a slide-in camper than other loads because of the higher center of gravity.

[bwlyon]

North Star 850 SC would be a good choice and it is a pop up camper.

[Grit_dog]

Been hauling an AF 860 around on our Mega cab 2500. Wouldn't want anything heavier than that, but not sure there are any 8-9' campers that are heavier.
$25k will get you any camper you want basically either new or almost new.

[Kalabin]

I have a Northwood Wolfcreek 840 that comes in just shy of 2000lbs dry on my f350 with a standard bed. Its center of gravity should be right over your axle as well.

Just another to look at, new they are less than 25k budget.

[pira114]

Thanks gents. I should have added that it'll be just me 90% of the time. One adult sized kid the other times. But weight is always a concern. For various reasons, I'd like to keep it light weight and low profile.

[zulu52]

GeoBoy wrote:
Look at the Northstar Arrow 8.5.

My camper is a Northstar Arrow 8.5.
My truck bed is 8'.
I'm no expert at all but it seems that fitting that in a 6' 3" bed would be a little tight.
Zulu

[GeoBoy]

Look at the Northstar Arrow 8.5.

[KD4UPL]

A standard short bed is usually 6' 5" so I would think your bed will work fine with most short bed campers. For smaller, lighter campers I would look hard at Northstar.
I would load your family and pets in your truck, take it, full of fuel and minus the tailgate, to a scale and get the weight, particularly the rear axle weight. I wouldn't be afraid to load the rear axle up to the RAWR on the door sticker. That will let you know about how much room you have for the camper and the gear and fluids in it.