Truck Campers

Here's my setup. 2020 Ram 3500 Tradesman SRW 4x4, crew cab long bed. Camper is a Ford branded (yeah, I know) 2016 Livin' Lite 10.0. Livin' Lite made their campers with all aluminum and composite materials, zero wood. So even if you get a leak in the roof or whatever it's not going to rot out like most RVs. It was a real bummer when Thor bought them then basically killed the company.

It's a true 4 season camper with heated belly tanks. No slides, approx. 3000 lbs dry. The Ram has a payload rating of around 4230 lbs. so like most campers I'm probably over the GVWR, and or the GAWR for the rear axle, which is 7000 lbs in my case. Unfortunately all the helper springs in the world won't get you around the fact that the rear axle rating is limited due to the load limits of the tires and wheels.

The OEM stuff probably would have been fine for my use but I decided to upgrade to a set of oversized tires (Falken Wildpeak in 295/70R18) with Icon Rebound HD wheels. That gives me a load rating of 4000 lbs per corner, up from the factory 3500. That's a pretty good bump from the factory without needing to go to super pricey 19.5" wheels and tires.

Second pic shows the rig with the upgraded wheels and tires. The fact that they look a helluva lot nicer than the factory crap was a nice bonus. It was even pretty easy to sell the wife on the tire / wheel upgrade, since she still remembers a scary-ass trip many years ago in a 3/4 ton Ford with way too much camper. That trip ended when one of the C-rated tires blew up at 70+ MPH near Payson UT, Fortunately I was able to get it pulled over without rolling the thing but it was really dicey.

camper.jpeg


ram.jpeg
 
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JacksonsGreenJeep said:
Here's my setup. 2020 Ram 3500 Tradesman SRW 4x4, crew cab long bed. Camper is a Ford branded (yeah, I know) 2016 Livin' Lite 10.0. Livin' Lite made their campers with all aluminum and composite materials, zero wood. So even if you get a leak in the roof or whatever it's not going to rot out like most RVs. It was a real bummer when Thor bought them then basically killed the company.

It's a true 4 season camper with heated belly tanks. No slides, approx. 3000 lbs dry. The Ram has a payload rating of around 4230 lbs. so like most campers I'm probably over the GVWR, and or the GAWR for the rear axle, which is 7000 lbs in my case. Unfortunately all the helper springs in the world won't get you around the fact that the rear axle rating is limited due to the load limits of the tires and wheels.

The OEM stuff probably would have been fine for my use but I decided to upgrade to a set of oversized tires (Falken Wildpeak in 295/70R18) with Icon Rebound HD wheels. That gives me a load rating of 4000 lbs per corner, up from the factory 3500. That's a pretty good bump from the factory without needing to go to super pricey 19.5" wheels and tires.

Second pic shows the rig with the upgraded wheels and tires. The fact that they look a helluva lot nicer than the factory crap was a nice bonus. It was even pretty easy to sell the wife on the tire / wheel upgrade, since she still remembers a scary-ass trip many years ago in a 3/4 ton Ford with way too much camper. That trip ended when one of the C-rated tires blew up at 70+ MPH near Payson UT, Fortunately I was able to get it pulled over without rolling the thing but it was really dicey.

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Do you carry a spare 295/70R18 and does it fit in the OEM spare underside area?
 
JacksonsGreenJeep said:
Here's my setup. 2020 Ram 3500 Tradesman SRW 4x4, crew cab long bed. Camper is a Ford branded (yeah, I know) 2016 Livin' Lite 10.0. Livin' Lite made their campers with all aluminum and composite materials, zero wood. So even if you get a leak in the roof or whatever it's not going to rot out like most RVs. It was a real bummer when Thor bought them then basically killed the company.

It's a true 4 season camper with heated belly tanks. No slides, approx. 3000 lbs dry. The Ram has a payload rating of around 4230 lbs. so like most campers I'm probably over the GVWR, and or the GAWR for the rear axle, which is 7000 lbs in my case. Unfortunately all the helper springs in the world won't get you around the fact that the rear axle rating is limited due to the load limits of the tires and wheels.

The OEM stuff probably would have been fine for my use but I decided to upgrade to a set of oversized tires (Falken Wildpeak in 295/70R18) with Icon Rebound HD wheels. That gives me a load rating of 4000 lbs per corner, up from the factory 3500. That's a pretty good bump from the factory without needing to go to super pricey 19.5" wheels and tires.

Second pic shows the rig with the upgraded wheels and tires. The fact that they look a helluva lot nicer than the factory crap was a nice bonus. It was even pretty easy to sell the wife on the tire / wheel upgrade, since she still remembers a scary-ass trip many years ago in a 3/4 ton Ford with way too much camper. That trip ended when one of the C-rated tires blew up at 70+ MPH near Payson UT, Fortunately I was able to get it pulled over without rolling the thing but it was really dicey.

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Nice. Does your truck have air bags to support the weight of your camper?
 
So for those who might be thinking about taking the FULL ON PLUNGE with a triple slide camper their weight needs a 450/4500 or 550/5500 Cab & Chassis type truck. So while doing this there are some really nice custom flatbed options out there but you can drop north of $40K for one.

Stablecamper is now offering some really great looking boxes that mount into the flatbed.


And for those who drop their campers at campsites or even at home they make some nice legs that mount to your landing legs to help stabilize the camper.

https://www.stablecamper.com/stablization
 
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I bought a 2008 chevy Duramax extended cab 3500 srw long bed 4x4 new for the following reasons
I wanted a camper
I wanted to trailer my jeep
I knew I wanted a long bed since I’ve had short beds in the past and regretted them. I also have had long beds and never regretted them
I wanted the 4x4 to get into camping spots easier in all weather
I wanted the extend cab to fit my kid and dogs.
I went back and forth on the SRW vs DRW but ended up going the SRW rout for parking reasons and did not want a big enough camper to justify a DRW.
Now with all that said the only thing I would have done differently is I should have bought a 4 Door

My camper is a 2006 lance 915 and I picked it for the following reasons

Lance makes a good camper
I didn’t want one any longer.
it had everything I needed to be comfortable.
I don’t typically take very long trips with it and mainly just wanted someplace to sleep, cook, keep food cold, and cook. I figured I would not be spending that much time hanging out inside.
Now the only thing I would do differently if I did this again is I would get one with 1 slide. I still am plenty happy with the length.
All in all I’m still really happy with my setup and have been enjoying this for the last 13 years. We have taken longer trips with this for extended periods of time without the jeep and have not had too many complaints about interior space and it has not had any major issues but I will be having some siding work done to it soon. We have also lately been entertaining the idea of an airstream for longer trips as now my wife and I would like to start traveling a bit more in the summer but we have a few other things we are considering.
Pic of my setup

03A5EA5A-6CEB-4C47-9371-741A1BBB5F40.jpeg
 
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RubiconRic said:
Yes, exactly
Click to expand...

OK,
I've never really taken my truck & camper off-road. The closest I've come is to go down a not so great forest service road and those times I never aired down.
It would depend on what you were trying to do and the weight of your camper and the size of the tires you were running.
And it would depend on if you had a SRW or a DRW setup or something like the super single that Rubi04 was talking about.
 
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Oh wow, that looks heavy. The setup seems sturdy and I find it so cool to see a truck camper.

You guys might want to check out shops like 4wheelonline in case you need a new set of heavy duty tires for you ride.
 
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