Truck Campers

Just wanted to add something to this thread for anyone new to truck campers, another crucial thing to think about when buying.

Center of Gravity.

Your Truck has like a 6-12" range (typically somewhere just ahead or behind the rear axle) where you want your heavy load centered. And every truck camper has it's own center of gravity. You have to make sure your camper's center of gravity matches the load center range on your truck or you'll be in a world of hurt. You could have too much weight on one axle overloading your axle/tires or if too far to the rear, you could create a dangerously light front end understeer issue.

Personally I looked for one that put as much weight as possible on the front axle without overloading it, which then leaves more room for that tow hitch weight in the rear.


Just wanted to throw this out there since as I drove my setup home from Tillamook today, I saw a p/u hauling a truck camper that was obviously too weighted in the rear... back axle majorly squatting and front looked like it would pop a wheeling running over a speed bump :/
 
Just wanted to add something to this thread for anyone new to truck campers, another crucial thing to think about when buying.

Center of Gravity.

Your Truck has like a 6-12" range (typically somewhere just ahead or behind the rear axle) where you want your heavy load centered. And every truck camper has it's own center of gravity. You have to make sure your camper's center of gravity matches the load center range on your truck or you'll be in a world of hurt. You could have too much weight on one axle overloading your axle/tires or if too far to the rear, you could create a dangerously light front end understeer issue.

Personally I looked for one that put as much weight as possible on the front axle without overloading it, which then leaves more room for that tow hitch weight in the rear.


Just wanted to throw this out there since as I drove my setup home from Tillamook today, I saw a p/u hauling a truck camper that was obviously too weighted in the rear... back axle majorly squatting and front looked like it would pop a wheeling running over a speed bump :/
That is one reason you want a long bed.
 
I forgot to include this in my first post. Here is the internet magazine about truck campers that has a lot of great information and stories now and then.

https://www.truckcampermagazine.com/
Hope this thread is helpful to anyone who might be thinking about the purchase of a truck camper.
 
I’ve owned two and all RV’s in between. From fivers, travel trailers, toyhauler’s, enclosed trailers converted.

Our most favorite by far is the versatile truck camper.


First was a cheap S&S to try it out with my old 95’ F350. Loved it! It was great to get into the back country and setup a dry camp where you find the space to level it out.


Then bought a mega cab Ram.


With a 6.5’ bed, it really limited us to what would buy. Did a lot of research and settled into a WolfCreek camper made by Arctic Fox. Nash, makes well built 4 season campers. They are pretty heavy and dated in most ways and n the inside. Ours was brand new, still had a early 2000’s look and feel to it. But it didn’t bother me.


Had zero issues. But I used to build RV’s and having owned them for the past 20 years, you figure them out quick.

And yes, weight adds up quick. I was overloaded in all ways. My truck from the factory had a dismal 800 lbs of cargo. Before people. WTF Ram!


So, I did the typical yahoo thing. I was already a owner of a short bed camper. I knew it would be over my cargo but figured under my GVWR. Rolled the dice.



So, put 19.5’s on her. Bags. Torquelifts biggest super hitch (which as mentioned is stupid heavy) and towed my 21’ Thunderjet all over the place. No issues.


But it wasn’t exactly legal. The G rated 19.5’s made it stable and safe to drive.

I was 8200 pounds on the rear axle. Yikes.


This time, I’m doing it right.

We like the Host triple slides too. Another thing to mention, watch your tank sizes. I didn’t buy a Lance because Arctic Fox offers nearly double the capacity.


The Host has a basement and HUGE holding tanks. I’ve also talked to the owners, they will customize nearly as much as you want, Arctic Fox…..nope. You can pick from their option lists.



And I’m doing a F550 this round, 14k of payload. I won’t do that again.
Rubi04,

I have to ask, how are your getting 14k of payload from a 19.5k GVWR Truck? That truck before you even set the camper on it is going to weigh 10k +-.

I used to own an Arctic Fox 990 Camper. Not the biggest model that AF made, but even it was 5k on my Dually. I'll bet that triple slide Host will be 6.5 to 7k once loaded. One of the guys over on RV.net has a triple Host and that is the weights he's seeing.
 
Rubi04,

I have to ask, how are your getting 14k of payload from a 19.5k GVWR Truck? That truck before you even set the camper on it is going to weigh 10k +-.

I used to own an Arctic Fox 990 Camper. Not the biggest model that AF made, but even it was 5k on my Dually. I'll bet that triple slide Host will be 6.5 to 7k once loaded. One of the guys over on RV.net has a triple Host and that is the weights he's seeing.


12,750 lbs factory….I was going off the 7000 lbs for the super single tires, but you are correct, it won’t be 14k legally.

6-7k will be more than fine on a F550.
 
Great thread to start and I’m sure others with same interest will benefit. Regarding truck campers. I’m on my second Lance. We owned our first Lance for 14 years and put 40K miles on my Dodge truck (with the camper loaded) with zero issues with exception of replacing the water pump in the Lance and a new clutch in the truck.

I’m running a 2004 Dodge Ram 2500 Quad Cab, 5.9 Cummins, FASS Fuel System, 6 speed manual, 4x4 long bed with air bags and hell wig big wig rear sway bar with TOYO Open Country A/T LT265/70R17 Load range E.

Our first Lance was a 835 and it was a great basic camper to go out and enjoy the outdoors which we used often and our longest outing of 14 days and multiple weekend get-a ways. But we grew out of it and our wish list for a future camper was larger holding tanks, a dry shower, electric jacks & AC (for those occasional hot days).

So, we ended up with a lightly used 2007 Lance 971 (one slide out, AC, Onan generator (6 hours on the engine), dry bath, 30/30 Black & Gray). We loaded up the camper and flat towed the TJ to the most recent TJ Fest 2020 and camped at one of the RV camp sites with no issues to/from Moab, UT. Some of the other nice necessities of the 971 was larger refrigerator, more interior room compared to the 835 and a microwave.

If you won’t to call it the bad side of the 971 is it’s a lot heavier than the 835. I average 19/20Mpg with no camper, 16.5MPG w/camper, and 11mpg with camper loaded and flat towing the TJ.

Regarding hitch’s exceeding 7K. I haven’t ever personal used a TorkLift SuperTruss Hitch Extension but I have read some reviews and would probably use this set up if needed.

BTW, I looked at some of the Host Campers on there web site, Wow, impressive campers to say the least.

Attached is current and previous rig.

Regarding camper weight and truck. What I have read and found is multiple articles with Lance camper brochures recommending a minimum of ¾ ton for a 971 however, if I follow the OEM payload capacity I’m exceeding that with both of the campers I owned. The TOYO tires I run with the camper and truck don’t exceed the combined weight of there rating combined and with the added air bags and rear sway bar truck rides great!

IMG_7372.jpg


IMG_0544.JPG
 
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Woah! how did i miss this one until today? Im actually in mine right now.

2020 f350, 8ft box, CC, 4wd, DRW, 6.7 psd. firestone bags, and hellwig rear swaybar.
Camper is a 2015 Arctic Fox 811 with a single slide.

IMG_20201222_101939848_HDR.jpg


All I can say is that by the time you add hitch equipment and an 800 lb tongue weight to your truck camper many will very quickly wish they had gone with the dually... im on my second setup. I was over by 200lbs per rear tire on my old SRW setup. and that was with the lance 825 with no slide.
IMG_20200913_092607.jpg

Flat towing would be the exception of course, but personally Id rather replace trailer tires than 35" MTRs.

Im running a 30k superhitch, 21"supertruss , and equalizer WDH as well if anyone has questions about the tow setup just let me know.

YMMV
 
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An observation about Firestone bags: They are not up to the job on an F350 without modification. They consist of upper and lower clam shells that are held together with bolts in slotted holes. The top half will slide to the bottom of the slots regardless of how tight the bolts are. I replaced the bolts with grade-8 bolts so I could use more torque on them and the results were the same. I solved the problem by installing aluminum pucks between the top and the bottom halves which prevent them from collapsing on each other. If you have a camper on an F350 and are using the Firestone bags, crawl underneath and take a look. I can almost guarantee that you have this problem.

Now Hellwig swaybars: The ferrules through the bushings in the rod ends have no flanges. The swaybar has loose tolerance holes and the ferrules move around a lot, regardless of how tight the bolts are. This quickly wears down the ferrules and also the bolts at the swaybar ends. My solution to this was to weld flanges to the ferrules. This holds the ferrules square with the swaybar end and prevents relative motion. This seems to have solved the problem.
 
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An observation about Firestone bags: They are not up to the job on an F350 without modification. They consist of upper and lower clam shells that are held together with bolts in slotted holes. The top half will slide to the bottom of the slots regardless of how tight the bolts are. I replaced the bolts with grade-8 bolts so I could use more torque on them and the results were the same. I solved the problem by installing aluminum pucks between the top and the bottom halves which prevent them from collapsing on each other. If you have a camper on an F350 and are using the Firestone bags, crawl underneath and take a look. I can almost guarantee that you have this problem.

Now Hellwig swaybars: The ferrules through the bushings in the rod ends have no flanges. The swaybar has loose tolerance holes and the ferrules move around a lot, regardless of how tight the bolts are. This quickly wears down the ferrules and also the bolts at the swaybar ends. My solution to this was to weld flanges to the ferrules. This holds the ferrules square with the swaybar end and prevents relative motion. This seems to have solved the problem.


Good info. I have only ran Airlift and liked their design, but they on a Ram not a Ford.
 
A
An observation about Firestone bags: They are not up to the job on an F350 without modification. They consist of upper and lower clam shells that are held together with bolts in slotted holes. The top half will slide to the bottom of the slots regardless of how tight the bolts are. I replaced the bolts with grade-8 bolts so I could use more torque on them and the results were the same. I solved the problem by installing aluminum pucks between the top and the bottom halves which prevent them from collapsing on each other. If you have a camper on an F350 and are using the Firestone bags, crawl underneath and take a look. I can almost guarantee that you have this problem.

Now Hellwig swaybars: The ferrules through the bushings in the rod ends have no flanges. The swaybar has loose tolerance holes and the ferrules move around a lot, regardless of how tight the bolts are. This quickly wears down the ferrules and also the bolts at the swaybar ends. My solution to this was to weld flanges to the ferrules. This holds the ferrules square with the swaybar end and prevents relative motion. This seems to have solved the problem.
Are you referring to the brackets attaching the bag to the frame? My bracket mounts directly to the bottom of the frame rail with countersunk hardware, around 3/8 inch IIRC.

I do know the models are specific to DRW and SRW and vary slightly from year to year.

I have the 7k lb model as well if that makes a difference.

could you post a picture of what your referring to? I haven't noticed any issues with mine.
 
A

Are you referring to the brackets attaching the bag to the frame? My bracket mounts directly to the bottom of the frame rail with countersunk hardware, around 3/8 inch IIRC.

I do know the models are specific to DRW and SRW and vary slightly from year to year.

I have the 7k lb model as well if that makes a difference.

could you post a picture of what your referring to? I haven't noticed any issues with mine.
I am referring to the brackets that bolt to the axle, not the frame. The airbags fit between these brackets and the bracket that bolts to the frame. I will try to get a picture of it later. Perhaps the system designed for the dually is different.
 
An observation about Firestone bags: They are not up to the job on an F350 without modification. They consist of upper and lower clam shells that are held together with bolts in slotted holes. The top half will slide to the bottom of the slots regardless of how tight the bolts are. I replaced the bolts with grade-8 bolts so I could use more torque on them and the results were the same. I solved the problem by installing aluminum pucks between the top and the bottom halves which prevent them from collapsing on each other. If you have a camper on an F350 and are using the Firestone bags, crawl underneath and take a look. I can almost guarantee that you have this problem.

Now Hellwig swaybars: The ferrules through the bushings in the rod ends have no flanges. The swaybar has loose tolerance holes and the ferrules move around a lot, regardless of how tight the bolts are. This quickly wears down the ferrules and also the bolts at the swaybar ends. My solution to this was to weld flanges to the ferrules. This holds the ferrules square with the swaybar end and prevents relative motion. This seems to have solved the problem.
I believe I can image what your referring to regarding the Bigwig ferrules. When you have an opportunity post a photo or two your solution.
 
I am referring to the brackets that bolt to the axle, not the frame. The airbags fit between these brackets and the bracket that bolts to the frame. I will try to get a picture of it later. Perhaps the system designed for the dually is different.
Ah I think I see what you're talking about, mine don't appear to have slotted holes, though there are 2 different holes for some other option or something. The only slotted hole I can find is the one for the big U bolts that hold the lower bracket tight to the side of the spring pack.
 
In this picture you can see the upper and lower brackets on the axle. Note the slotted holes and bolts on the side. I used a 3/4 inch puck which really wasn't enough, hence the top bracket is still angled down slightly, but it was good enough. The puck bolts to the bottom side of the upper bracket and rests on the OEM axle bump stop.

IMG_3258.jpg
 
I believe I can image what your referring to regarding the Bigwig ferrules. When you have an opportunity post a photo or two your solution.

This is a Solidworks drawing showing the dimensions of the flanged ferrule. I ended up welding this up rather than machining it.

1623815715572.png
 
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In this picture you can see the upper and lower brackets on the axle. Note the slotted holes and bolts on the side. I used a 3/4 inch puck which really wasn't enough, hence the top bracket is still angled down slightly, but it was good enough. The puck bolts to the bottom side of the upper bracket and rests on the OEM axle bump stop.

View attachment 259599
IMG_20210615_202529252.jpg

you must not have been the only one who had a gripe with their design because mine purchased 6 months ago looks like this