Truck camper and towing

[Hemisport]

Good morning,
I have a 2012 ram 3500 mega cab srw. I am looking at either a northern lite 8.11 or an arctic fox 865 both units 2023. I’m looking for advice on tow setups. Manufacturers don’t seem to list the overhang the campers have and I want to to my Nautique behind me. Tongue weight is about 350 boat and trailer probably 6200 lbs. anyone have any advice as to a good setup.

[Grit_dog]

Hemisport wrote:
Dealer has sold many and say towing not an issue. I ordered the new hitch today with the 48" truss.Only difference there should be is my truck box is a tad shorter that a standard short box. This is why I went with the 48"

The big TL hitch and super truss will be more than beefy enough to haul your boat with confidence.
However beer in mind that you’re increasing the effective load on the rear axle with the hitch weight and trailer tongue weight moment by about double of what it is pulling straight off the factory receiver.
Rear wheels and tires capacities are your real world limiting factors here. And part of the reason (besides being cheap and being able to get away with a much shorter hitch extension and having a much lighter duty receiver than the one you’re getting) I kept the extension as short as possible.
Our boats are nearly identical in size and weight and trailer configuration. Except I have a little heavier estimated tongue weight. It’s running around 500lbs with my X2.
Happy trails!

[Hemisport]

Dealer has sold many and say towing not an issue. I ordered the new hitch today with the 48" truss.Only difference there should be is my truck box is a tad shorter that a standard short box. This is why I went with the 48"

[Grit_dog]

jimh406 wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
Although I may just be making this all up according to jimh, lol.
On another note, not sure why it’s so hard for someone like him, who has arguably read most of my posts for like 10 years now, to believe.

Of course, you are wrong part of the time. Heck, sometimes I am, too. Yep, hard to believe, but I am.

In this case, I posted pretty generic information which you can say is wrong, but it’s hard to prove as “wrong” when I obviously posted as just a possibility.

For those unfamiliar, I drove a SRW for 8 1/2 years. So, I’m “somewhat familiar” with a SRW. 😄

Cool story bro…
You knew what truck and what campers the OP was considering as well. Even the basic type and weights on the trailer he was talking about. And with that info you surmised he’d be overweight and then you skipped right past the hitch section and went into weight cop mode.
Can’t back pedal now. I’m sure you know a thing r 2 about trucks and campers as well. Yet I didn’t question whether you were making up your experience. Just that you hit the dually button right outta the gates.
Have a great day!

[stevenal]

jimh406 wrote:

stevenal wrote:
So if the 48" Supertruss can handle 600 lb tongue weight, does that equate to 600 lb upward force as well?

Not necessarilty. You only get upward force with a weight distribution hitch.

The upward force I'm speaking of comes from the skid roller on the ground taking weight off of the rear truck suspension.

I still have a roller ball mount in my pack rat collection. Used with the the old truck and camper and light boat and 18" extension. The roller is worn down where it went sideways when turning into a fuel station. The Torklift product doesn't look like it's any better at rolling sideways.

Hemi,

That rear deck looks like it might be problem. Way back there and down as well.

[Hemisport]

Sorry been busy, I see lots of comments and I am here to answer some questions and provide more detail.
So the camper I decided to go with is the Northern lite as the arctic fox was to heavy for my truck. My truck as stated earlier does have airbags installed. My boat is a 2019 Nautique 210 so a V nose trailer it sits on is 1400 lbs and is 28" inches from ball to upright for my boat winch. I have included a link of my exact camper that im getting.

boat is 4200 dry so add 220 lbs for a full tank Im at 5900 for boat and trailer.

https://www.oconnorrv.com/inventory/New-2023-Northern-Lite-Northern-Lite/442162

[COnative]

This is my Lance 865 on a 2014 mega cab 3500. Overall TC length is 16.5. I use a 2.5" to a 2" extension by Curt (item #C45048 on etrailer). You can read the specs and capacities there.

I cut it down to around 30 in" and it is 24" to the edge of the receiver. The camper overhang is 32" to 34" depending on where you measure from. I don't have tongue weight as it is obviously a flat tow, so not apples to apples. Has worked very well towing all over Colorado.

[jimh406]

Grit dog wrote:
Although I may just be making this all up according to jimh, lol.
On another note, not sure why it’s so hard for someone like him, who has arguably read most of my posts for like 10 years now, to believe.

Of course, you are wrong part of the time. Heck, sometimes I am, too. Yep, hard to believe, but I am.

In this case, I posted pretty generic information which you can say is wrong, but it’s hard to prove as “wrong” when I obviously posted as just a possibility.

For those unfamiliar, I drove a SRW for 8 1/2 years. So, I’m “somewhat familiar” with a SRW. 😄

[jimh406]

stevenal wrote:
So if the 48" Supertruss can handle 600 lb tongue weight, does that equate to 600 lb upward force as well?

Not necessarilty. You only get upward force with a weight distribution hitch.

[stevenal]

So if the 48" Supertruss can handle 600 lb tongue weight, does that equate to 600 lb upward force as well?

[Buzzcut1]

stevenal wrote:
Supertruss

Says 6000/600 at 48" without WD.

Anyone dragging these things on the ground at grade changes? Seems like it wouldn't take much at 48". Might at least want to deal with the suspension sag caused by the camper + tongue.

Yeah, me which is why I installed the torklift skid roller on my 42" supertruss

[Grit_dog]

srschang wrote:
To Grit Dog's point about the hitch extension not needing to extend all the way to the back of the camper, here's my setup. The Northstar 12STC camper has 4' of overhang behind my truck bed. The hitch extension is 34" long. It works fine, but if the trailer is 45 degrees or so from straight with the truck & camper, and the trailer is uphill of the truck & camper, the gravel guard on the trailer will scrape paint off the rear jack. I've had to repaint a couple times. And it is a bit of a pain to hook and unhook the trailer.

Perzactly!
And if your trailer was a v nose you’d get more rotation before hitting with the same extension length.
Good visual you provided for those who are hard of understanding!

Another example, the old toyhauler vs my v nose enclosed sled trialer.
Towed the sled trailer everywhere jack knifing it into spots, whatever.
Same hitch stinger, couldn’t turn more than maybe 70deg with the toyhauler (square nose) before the trailer would munch the tail lights on the truck. And the tongue was slightly longer on the toyhauler.

[Grit_dog]

What’s also hard to get thru to “professional” RVers and weekend warriors alike is the whole tongue weight thing.
Just because one type of trailer may need more tongue weight to tow straight doesn’t mean that’s a necessity for other types of trailers. But thanks for playing….

Axle placement, weight behind the axle centerline and distance back from axles, competency of tow rig tires and suspension, wind resistance, type of hitch (ball or pintle), etc all play into how a trailer pulls.

And specifically many smaller boats pleasure boats have the axles placed much further rearward than say a typical travel trailer or enclosed trailer that would either be far too tongue heavy, or an utility or cargo trailer that may be designed to haul different loads with diffenrt weight concentrations or centers of mass.

Hopefully the “new folks” find this info useful or helpful, even if the crusty armchair geezernet QBs can’t help themselves from refuting literally almost everything….
Cheers!

[srschang]

stevenal wrote:
Supertruss

Says 6000/600 at 48" without WD.

Anyone dragging these things on the ground at grade changes? Seems like it wouldn't take much at 48". Might at least want to deal with the suspension sag caused by the camper + tongue.

I haven't had a problem, but then again my hitch extension is only 34" with 200# tongue weight. Although the camper weighs 4800#.

[Grit_dog]

mkirsch wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
^If it’s a v nose boat or v nose trailer. OP didn’t say.

OP said it was a "Nautique" which even if you don't want to bother googling it, combined with the stated 350lb tongue weight and 6200lb trailer weight, safe to assume it's a boat.

Frankly I'm surprised there was no finger-wagging over the ~5% tongue weight.

And probably a v nose based on the lighter tongue weight. I’m quite familiar with Nautique boats. And if you’d read or quoted my next sentence I was specifically comparing v nose boats to what’s slang referred to as pickle forks (after race boats).
The biggest applicable differences being v nose is typically lighter tongue weight due to less weight of fiberglass in the front and a v nose apples to apples with the same setback from the hitch ball will turn sharper with less hitch extension and a pickle fork boat will weigh more up front and hit the back of the camper sooner.
No googling needed. But you must be in the “Do you even own a boat, bro?” camp that ole Jimh is….

[stevenal]

Supertruss

Says 6000/600 at 48" without WD.

Anyone dragging these things on the ground at grade changes? Seems like it wouldn't take much at 48". Might at least want to deal with the suspension sag caused by the camper + tongue.