I'm in the market for a "Lite" truck camper. I would like to know if my 1999 F250 Superduty extended cab 4x4 can be used to carry one. I found a 1996 "Skyline Weekender Lite" 11' long model and it is said to be for a short bed pickup. It is currently on a 2000 Superduty crewcab.

Is the bed on the 2000 the same length as mine?

Do I need to modify my suspension to carry a camper?

What is the maximum weight that I can get in a camper?

Any help with any of the above would be greatly appreciated

Bob

 

Bobcity, My gut feeling is that you'll be able get the truck beefed up enought to do the job.Any 11 ft camper isn't "lite" as weight goes
If your truck is a short bed also you more than likey have a fit.
Yes you will have to add air bags ,Rancho shock and maybe helper springs.
How much weight can you carry in this camper, most trucks are close or over their max load rating with just the camper on it. Hasn't stopped any of us yet.
You need to go to this site , www.rv.net (also know as open Road Forum)
Go to their Truck Camper forum. Get a user name first. You'll get all your questions answered there about Truck and Camper issues there, I'm a member of that site as well. If the above site doesn't work go to Camping World website, there's a link to rv.net. Don't panic, there's a lot to do before getting a TC, take your time, find one that fits your needs

 

Bob,

If both beds are shortbed or both are longbed, both will be the same length. The trucks didn't change much from '99 to '04.

I'll start out by saying this: Not meaning to scare you off here, but I really question putting an 11' camper (campers are measured by the floor length, not the total length) in a shortbed truck. 11' sticks out 3' beyond the tailgate in an 8' longbed and that's almost the max length of truck campers. Eleven feet would be almost 5' sticking out behind a shortbed. That's alot of weight behind the rear axle. Personally, I would look for a camper with 9' or less of floor length in a shortbed pickup, or 8'- if you have intentions of pulling any kind of trailer.

There are campers specifically made for shortbeds that have heavy items located further forward so the camper fore-aft center of gravity (balance point) is ahead of the rear axle. You definitely don't want the center of gravity behind the rear axle.

As for the camper weight your truck can carry, that's easy to figure. Your truck's GVWR is 8800 lbs. Subtract your truck's unloaded weight from the GVWR and that gives you Payload, the amount the camper and all other cargo can weigh. You didn't mention what engine your truck has. Diesels weigh quite a bit, and take away alot of payload capacity from the truck (about 700 lbs). An F250 Supercab 4x4 with a 5.4 engine probably weighs about 6000 lbs (my F350 SRW CrewCab Longbed with 351 weighs 6500 lbs). In a 6000 lb F250, that would leave 2800 lbs for camper and all cargo, including passengers. Only way to know the weight for sure is to take your tuck to a scale and weigh it. Scales can be found at most county landfills, truck stops, border crossings, and highway checkpoints. I've found using the one at the local dump is the easiest.

An 11' camper is likely to weigh in the 3000-5000 lb range. My old Vacationeer 10.5' camper weighed 3000 lbs and was considered on the light side for it's size. My current Six Pac 8' camper weighs 2000 lbs and is considered to be pretty lightweight as far as campers go. 1300 lbs is about the lightest self contained camper I have seen or heard of.

My truck hauls my camper fine, but I wouldn't want to have the old 10.5 footer on it. That one I hauled with a 2wd dually and that truck hauled it great. I feel this is about as heavy as I want to go with the camper on this truck. It squats down to just about level or slightly below and does ok in the curves and dips and pulls the trailer fine too, but doesn't feel nearly as stable as the old Dually did. There's a big difference between hauling a camper with a 4wd single-rear-wheel truck and with a 2wd dually. The dually is sooo much more stable on the road, especially in crosswinds and in the curves.

Several camper companies make lightweight shortbed campers. You may want to look at Six Pac, Alaskan, Four Wheel, Palomino, Lance Lite and a host of others. The pop-up campers are lighter and easier to drive offroad, you may want to check those out.

As for modifying the truck to carry the camper, the most basic two are good shocks and tires that have adequate load rating to handle the weight. Beyond that, alot of people like the air bag helpers in the rear (Firestone and Air Lift are the 2 most popular). Personally, I feel a rear sway bar and overload springs are the most helpful things to have. Fortunately my one-ton came with both of those stock . I'm also happy with the Rancho 9000 adjustable shocks I put on the rear and the Bilstein shocks I put on the front. Keeping your tires aired up to max pressure is also a big help (and should be done for safety with a heavy load) anytime the camper is on.

For more info, check out www.rv.net in the 'truck campers' discussion forum. Any information you want about truck campers, you can learn it there. All the people there are very helpful and many have years of experience hauling campers on all sorts of trucks.

Hope that helps ya out some. Good luck with whatever camper you choose!

[on edit] I was typing this while Al was also typing so I didn't see his response, not meaning to repeat so many things, sorry.

 

there is no way i would put a 11' camper in a short bed. i have a short bed and a 9 foot camper and that is pushing it. the camper is a lance hard side and it weighs 2500# by it self(which means i am over my gvw by 1600# right off the bat) i have a set of airbags,rs9000's, and added a helwig rear antisway bar, with those mods it handles the weight with no problem. i will say the one time i took the camper out before i added that stuff on was a scary ride

 

Bobcity - I looked at slide-ins a couple of years ago and (i'm gettin old) if memory serves me correctly I don't think a 11' will work in a shortbed. As suggested in the previous post do some research on this before you buy it. I pull a bass boat and decided that a slide-in was the way to go. I bought my 1st F250 in 2002 (2nd in 2004) with a slide-in in mind. This is the best advice I can give you. TAKE YOUR WIFE or PARTNER AND GO SIT IN ONE FIRST! Think of sitting in one all day in the rain. My wife and I went to a RV show and sat in one for five minutes and decided we would kill each other after any length of time. We love each other and have been married for 30 years. We bought a 30' travel trailer. She is going to buy a Trailblazer to pull the bass boat to our destination. To each his own, but I too thought that was what I wanted until I did some research - Hope this helps!!!!!!

 

Thanks folks for all the great replies.

I'm going to take your advice and checkout rv.net.

The model was advertized (although Weekender is no longer in business) as made for an extended cab truck so I guess they though it would be OK in a 7' bed. Unless they are referring to long bed extended cabs.
I found out the dry weight is 1935 lbs so I guess the weight will be in the ball park.
I have parked my wife in the back of one and at least for now she thinks there is enough room.
I have allso been looking at the popups.

Thanks again,
Bob

 

Usually when camper makers talk about campers for extended cab trucks, they're not referring to the truckbed, they're talking about the length of the overhead sleeping area that extends out above the cab. They make that part longer for extended cab and crewcab trucks. On some of them, that part is long enough to have the matress arranged with the head of the bed at the front of the camper instead of sleeping cross-ways like most campers sleep. My Six Pac, made for standard cab trucks, looks kinda funny on my truck because the camper front overhang is short and doesn't even cover the whole roof of the crewcab.

That's good news about the weight! What is the floor length of that camper?

 

Do NOT put an 11' camper on your truck if you have a short bed (less than 8'). The C.G. will be dangerously aft.

The best improvements you can make for camper hauling (aside from buying a bigger truck) are air bags, adjustable shocks, tires, and brakes.

An F250 is "legally" rated 1100 lbs less than an F350 SRW.('99-2004).
On my rig, I added Rickson 19.5" wheels and 12 ply (4080lb rated) tires. This was an immense help in hauling my camper. If you stick with the stock wheels, look into Michelin LTX M/S tires. They are 10 ply rated to 3450 lbs.ea. The last thing you want hauling a camper is lousy tires.

 

In answer your your question.The truck camper specs listed are:

Overall length 16ft, footprint in truck bed is 9ft, overall width is 7ft-10in. Dry weight is 1935 lbs.
These don't make to much sense to me since it's on a short bed and only looks to extend about 2'.

After posting this and rereading the posts above a little light came on (finally!) This must be a 9 foot camper. The ad said 11 feet, but if the foot print is state as 9', then that makes it 9', Right?
Sorry for being so ignorant.
Thanks again,
Bob

 

9-foot, now that sounds alot better . That would probably work on your truck. The 2000 lb weight also makes sense now. I was really scratching my head wondering how an 11' camper could weigh only 2000 lbs... LOL. Good luck with the camper!