Who has a camper with a slide on single wheel truck

[rbcamping]

I was just curious as to how many people are using a 2500 or 3500 single wheel truck with a camper with slide outs.

Has it worked out for you?

Do you wish you had a dually?

How heavy is your set up?

What up grades have you done or plan on doing?

[JumboJet]

mkirsch wrote:

rbcamping wrote:
What up grades have you done or plan on doing?

The whole point of a dually is that you can answer this question by saying, "NONE!"

You get a truck out of the box that's perfectly capable of hauling all of the aforementioned campers. No muss. No fuss. No suspension gizmos/doodads/gadgets. No throwing away a perfectly good set of brand new tires and rims.

It's just food for thought. Most of the "cons" to a dually are in your head.

Wrong - I have seen more than one DRW squatting from the loaded TC and required modifications. I have seen responses on this forum from DRW owners that have added anti-sway bars, 19.5" wheels, air bags, Stableloads, etc. etc.

Who throws away a perfectly good set of wheels and tires?

[flylipsdaddy]

Got an 02' 2500HD Silverado,6 ltr. gas.4.11 rear end.Pull a 25 ft Wildcat 5th.Drove it to Alaska and about 40,000 mi.across USA.No problems until we got into MOUNTAINS.Around Mich. all is fine,but I wouldn't take it into the Mountains again.Goin up AND comin down pushes it to the MAX.Over 11,000 ft in New Mexico and it was still pullin,but not happily.DRW or SWR,if your gonna do mountains - take a Diesel!!!

[mkirsch]

rbcamping wrote:
What up grades have you done or plan on doing?

The whole point of a dually is that you can answer this question by saying, "NONE!"

You get a truck out of the box that's perfectly capable of hauling all of the aforementioned campers. No muss. No fuss. No suspension gizmos/doodads/gadgets. No throwing away a perfectly good set of brand new tires and rims.

It's just food for thought. Most of the "cons" to a dually are in your head.

[Grit_dog]

Truck and camper in sig below. Running Toyo MTs. 3970lb load capacity aired up. Airbags take 70+ lbs to level truck back up. CG is slightly behind the rear axle but there's a Cummins up front and a hi @ss mega cab to ballast it!
A dually would be more stable but it drives fine even with the wrong application type shocks on it.
Camper is def over 4000lbs based on weights seen on here.
Maiden voyage was from Seattle to Anchorage right during spring breakup, read massive frost heaves for hundreds of miles on end, pulling a 16' tandem trailer on a short hitch extension.
No issues with a 7 yr old 100k mile plus truck hauling and pulling that kind of weight so I figure "normal" service really isn't taxing the truck that bad.
My only reccomendations are to have good stiff shocks for low speed damping, adequate tires and find a way to engage the overload leafs. I haven't since the Dodge requires drilling the leaf to install stable loads on a 2500. Shocks and stable loads would get rid of most of the body roll my truck has. That said there haven't been any oh shat! moments even coming into a turn a little hot. Only place I feel the roll is creeping thru successive potholes in 1st gear.
Oh the exhaust brake don hurt either!

[tad94564]

I had a Lance 500 plus pulling a trailer on my F250 for a while - after adding 19.5's, found that I could do 65 all day, and still have cool to the touch tires. Also reduced the wierdness of the track, felt like it was on rails at times. Grooved pavement and ruts was the only bad thing about it - grooves cause the front to wander some, and ruts was hard to get out of.

Picked up a new Host Mammoth last month, and it's bigger than the Lance, but still lighter than the old Camper/Trailer combo.

[6pac]

We have a 2005 Lance 881 Max and we've had on our 2006 Chevy since we got it. We had air bags on it prior to trading for it. We had a Lance 845 before the wife saw the 881. It was a done deal after that! Don't want a DRW truck.Have gone to Alaska , up east coast ,out west ,just recently into the smokies and on the Blue Ridge Parkway .
Happy Traveling

[Ski_Pro_3]

rbcamping wrote:
Has it worked out for you?

Works great!

rbcamping wrote:
Do you wish you had a dually?

No

rbcamping wrote:
How heavy is your set up?

Around 12,000 pounds max. Less on most trips though.

rbcamping wrote:
What up grades have you done or plan on doing?

Air bags, overload leaf springs, sway bar, higher rated tires, shocks.

I have a 2006 Dodge Ram diesel crew cab short bed. My camper is a 2012 Lance 855S (slider model)

This set-up drives just fine at freeway speeds and handles secondary twisty roads like it's on a rail. I am able to drive just as fast with the truck loaded w/camper as I can empty. Fact is; I have better traction loaded compared to empty.

Here is a photo fully loaded with a dirtbike on the front rack and a trailer on the rear;

[2manydogs]

I'm going to be the devil here on this thread as I went the other way. Had the 2010 Ford F350 cclb 6.4 SRW all the stuff, Bilsteins, air bags, stable loads, cargo basket on the front etc.. Drivability was OK, no problems for 30 K miles, however I knew I was overloaded, 11,500 for the truck, scaled 12,500+\- this is with a loaded up 2008 Arctic Fox 811, and yes I could feel it, next step was 19.5s. Didn't make it that far. Wife and I test drove the 2012 F 350 cclb 6.7 DRW, bye,bye SRW. All's well on the road and we'll drive happily everafter. Amen

[travelnutz]

While our present TC does not have a slide, it's long (11'4") and very heavy (dry shipping weight as printed on the document from Lance was 3872 lbs) and THIS TC has traveled on our 2004.5 Chevy 2500HD D/A CC LB 4X4 truck for just under 50,000 miles now. GM HD pickups are all indentical with the only difference between the 2500HD, 3500HD SRW, and the 3500HD DRW being spring capacity, tire size/capacity, Shock piston diameter, and number of wheels. Model badging doesn't handle any weight at all!

The big Lance Legend ordered new has every option available including the 3400 watt propane generator and two 30lb propane tanks but we didn't order the solar panels (new option then) as we much rather use a 1500 watt inverter and 3 large Group 31 deep cycle batteries with 225 minute reserve each. 2 of the batteries are in the driver's side bed ahead of the rear wheel well and clear the TC lower side by approx 2". Access to batteries is thru the lower door Lance TC's have. #2 gauge welder wire couples the 2 batteries to the one in the TC battery compartment above with the disconnect switch and 2 no 2 gauge eyed WW pigtails I put in going thru the bottom of the compartment and well sealed. The 80 amp marine slow blow fused on each end cable with a lighted remote toggle on/off switch at the bottom of the instrument panel in the truck to trip the 80 amp relay under the hood off if wanted. It's the re-charge cable. 675 minutes of 23 amp DC draw reserve! Yes, it's a lot of added weight but simply outstanding for silent 1500 watt AC anywhere. That's silent power for the coffeemaker, toaster, microwave, TV, puter, etc in the morning anywhere anytime! RV battery re-charging is done thru the #2 welder cables attached to the frame under the truck from the bed batteries to the dual alternators on the diesel engine or when the TC generator is run. Re-charging is very fast and efficient!

Our truck, ordered new in 2004 has dual alternators, Rhino sprayed in bed liner, added Air-Lift 5,000 lb airbags, full length special made running boards, 265 "E" Michelins in leu of the 245's, Tow Beast 2-1/2 HD receiver, Rancho 9000XL adjustable shocks, four-3/4" grade 8 in the bed bolts remove the welded together 5th wheel hitch base for a clean bed when the TC goes on, etc. Truck handles, rides, and drives excellent.

Before this 11'4" TC was being used after being stored inside for 11 years, we had an optioned out 9'6" Lance TC on the truck. We purchased the 2 new TC's originally as we had a 3500 DRW and a 2500 truck but sold the dually because my wife's back couldn't handle the stiff jolting ride. 18 operations later, she now could handle it but our present truck enhanced handles the big Lance just fine!

BTW, on the rear of either Lance TC was a 2' X 7" welded steel square 1-1/4" x 1/8" tube frame with a walmanized 1/2" plywood deck covered with thick indoor/outdoor carpet with a steel and plywood storage box 18" X 24" X 16" high with a sun shield Formica hinged tabletop we carry hookup power cords, hoses, leveling ramps, our Coleman propane grill, etc in. Our 2150 LB 16.5 King Troller fancy boat on it's trailer or our 6' X 12' X 6' high inside vee nosed enclosed trailer GVWR of 3500 lbs attached to the porch's rear. I do limit the trailer's tongue weight to 350 lbs or less always as I have a 500 lb cap scale and load items into either trailer to control tongue weight.

All in all, our total load on our truck is as high or much higher than carrying just a TC with a slide! The truck now has close to 150,000 miles on it and has only been used for RVing since new. Not one repair needed or done to the truck yet and just started on the 3rd set of tires this summer including the original Bridgestone 245's that showed steel belts in way under 40,000 miles.

If we'd buy a new truck I'd have to do all this stuff to it also and besides, our truck is finally just broken in now! At 71-1/2 years old now this truck will likely outlast us anyway!

[Bedlam]

abslayer wrote:
Only concerns I have is over weight on my Michelin LT275/70R18 tire rate , truck I believe should be able to handle the rig after removing most of the water.

The Michelins are nice tires but I also upgraded from them to 19.5" wheels before I had any potential trouble. With my TC plus trailer tongue weight, it was too close to the margins to rely on them over a long distance. I have since done a 2500 mile SoCal trip and 4500 mile trip to the Mississippi River without problems loads at 11,500 lbs GVW and 19,000 lbs GCW. Speeds were between 55-65 mph and up to 500 miles per day.

[nwjetboat]

Just over 40,000 camping miles with the rig in my signature. Sure I had to add air bags, sway bar, and shocks. Plus I run 126 load index tires (3750 per tire). I can run up the highway at or just above speed limits (curves included) without any undue stress. With the Cummins motor, I do not want for power, and every camp I go to is uphill. ~4000-5000 ft from the house.
My loaded weights run 11500-11,700.
Would I replace my current rig for a dually, no. If I had a dedicated pickup for just the camper it would probably be a dually. But I have to use my truck for other things.

[Nautique200]

I have an Eagle Cap 1050. I have been using my 2012 Ram 3500 SRW to haul it. I have decided to order a dually. I have tires rated for 3600 lbs each and I can't keep the rears from squatting bad. I guess I could buy some Rickson wheels and heavier tires but I would still be over my trucks payload capacity. We tow a boat or horse trailer and the dually will suit our needs much better.

[JumboJet]

2008 Dodge Ram 3500 SRW - Lance 1050S. 19.5" Rickson wheels w/245-70 Load Range G Continental HDR tires. Torklift Stableloads. Hellwig anti-sway bar.

Lots and lots of miles all across the USA.

I have been very happy with the 3500 SRW.

I can go through an automatic car wash.

[abslayer]

New TC and Truck what it all added up to weight and handling .
Even when I knew this rig would be heavy I still can't believe how much it all added up to.

First weight in truck SRW f350 SC 8 ' box full tank / tie downs/ extended hitch/ wife and I / to dogs , tail gate off.
Rancho shocks sway bar camper package / With Timbrens / 18 wheels E tires rated at 3,640 each
It came in at 8,206 LBS.

Next loaded camper water tanks 2/3rds full / all necessary camping stuff / Honda 2000 Gen.

Back to Hy Way scale Loads on truck were now Front 5,148 lbs Rear 7,524 lbs Total A whopping
12,672 Lbs with camper and truck loaded and ready to go.

So Truck 8,206 Lbs
Adventure 980RDS 3,400 Lbs dry 4,450 Lbs loaded I really can't believe loaded it when up over a 1000 lbs just like some of you have said about loaded campers.
OMG I have had 5th wheels weigh in less than that LOL. My biggest concern would be tires loads
My rear tires both together are rated for 7280 lbs and my load is 7,524

And you know what the biggest surprise was how it all handled.
I am over weight at least 1000 lbs and truck handle like a dream even when meeting big trucks.
Very little sway on less I crank wheel back and forth then it will wobble once or twice and then back to stable , that I believe has to do with Timbrens I have on truck just a great produced IMO.
In fact even the wife drove it and was more comfortable with this rig than pulling my old 30 ' 5th wheel

All and all very please with how it all handled much more comfortable with this rig than I ever was with 30 ' 5th wheel.
Only concerns I have is over weight on my Michelin LT275/70R18 tire rate , truck I believe should be able to handle the rig after removing most of the water.

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[skipbee]

We have operated our rig (see signature) for 90,000 miles, pretty much everywhere, from Alaska to the Keys. We have no need for a dually.

We operate frequently on the beach at Assateague Island, Maryland, where DRW's are banned. With two sets of tires, 19.5" "H" rated Rickson Truck wheels and tires for highway use and a set of 16" Nitto Dune Grapplers for over sand use, we have been very pleased. Rancho adjustable shocks along with air bags and larger bump stops, have been very helpful.

We like the outback locations, off-road, and find that SRW is more comfortable and economical for us.