Wee bit over weight

[Xpd77]

Well I finally got around to weighing my camper. I have an Arctic Fox 811 and carry it on a 2012 F350 SRW. My GVWR is 11500 lbs.

I first weighed my truck with a full tank of gas and nothing else in it.


This past weekend I loaded up the camper with a weekends worth of gear, cloths, and other supplies. Filled the 50 gallon water tank full and loaded it on the truck with a full tank of diesel. I had one full 30lb LP tank and a second partially used up LP tank. Took it to the scales and got this back.


That would mean that my camper nearly filled to capacity is weighing in at 4620 pounds including tiedowns and turnbuckles. Add in another 400 or so pounds for myself, wife, and kids. So i'm running around 1600 lbs overweight.

The truck seemed to handle it relatively well. I still need to decide on getting airbags vs timbrens. Just running stable loads at this point.

Weight police thoughts?

[mkirsch]

Xpd77 wrote:
Yes, my current tires are rated at 3750 lbs per tire at 80psi. I will probably get new tires next spring. FYI I did offload about 1/3 of the water before hitting the road. I just wanted to see what it would be with the full tank. I didn't need that much water for the weekend.

You're 300lbs overweight on each tire. Not good.

Unless you have a 240 gallon fresh tank, 1/3 of your water isn't nearly enough to bring your rear axle weight back down to anywhere near the rear tire limits. You need to shed close to 600lbs.

You absolutely do not want to overload your tires, and you absolutely absolutely do not want to wait until next spring to do something about it.

Tire ratings are one thing nearly everyone here agrees on. It's impossible to argue when the rating is molded right into the sidewall of the tire. They're also responsible for most of your vehicle's control and stability. You can have most anything else in the suspension fail and still maintain control. When a tire shreds, you won't necessarily lose control but you won't necessarily maintain it either...

[mlts22]

The 2014 AF is 2873 pounds dry. So going over two tons might be easy, factoring in 400 pounds of water, two 30# propane tanks, goodies inside the TC and truck, and warm bodies in the seats.

[Grit_dog]

Sounds about right. Never weighed my AF 860 but just calculating the amount of airbag pressure vs surface area to get the ride height back to stock I was coming in at 4k to 4500lbs for the loaded camper.
I've been running Toyo MTs on my Dodge. 3950lb load rating. Tread life is horrible but expected since I siped the tires as well (before buying the camper).
That said those tires held up well to a trip up the Alcan Hwy towing a size able trailer as well and many trips around AK with a lot of frost heaves and gravel/rocks.
Without going to 19.5s I'd get the Toyos again but not in a MT.

[R2D1]

I'm actually surprised by the weight of the empty SB truck. My '12 RAM 3500 DRW CC LB CDT 4x4 full of fuel, torklift tie downs, tailgate in place, DW and I on board was 8400#. 5K front, 3400 rear. I weigh 200# of that.

What was the weight that AF had stamped on the camper?

[Xpd77]

Yes, my current tires are rated at 3750 lbs per tire at 80psi. I will probably get new tires next spring. FYI I did offload about 1/3 of the water before hitting the road. I just wanted to see what it would be with the full tank. I didn't need that much water for the weekend.

[SugarHillCTD]

Jaxom wrote:
SRW...I'd look at the tire weight rating in the back. 4030 per tire is a LOT.

That was my first thought. That has to overload just about any tire, other than 4500# 19.5"


Wait! Your 811 weighs over 4700#?????

[Wallace_9967]

If I'm not wrong the 811 AF & the Lance 881 are close to the same weight , empty . Ours loaded with us an ready on a trip comes in at 12220 # an we're hauling a16' cargo trailer...... but we have a Chevy if that makes a difference.
Happy traveling

[Jaxom]

SRW...I'd look at the tire weight rating in the back. 4030 per tire is a LOT.

[mlts22]

Subscribing to this topic... The weight of the two campers I'm looking at (2650 on the Lance versus 2873 on the AF), coupled with a F350 very similar to what the OP has looking at, with 11500 pounds capacity (4.3 axle ratio.)

I am assuming airbags go without saying as well as better tires.

Since I'm single, I'm guessing I'd have less stuff coming along than a full family, but I'd probably guess that wet, I'd have the same full water tank, two 30 pound bottles of propane, etc.

[newman_fulltime]

Put a set of airbags and throw some weight to the front axle