Originally Posted by meborder

couple thoughts come to mind ...

trading the toper camper for a pop up ... that'd be my first choice, being a happy owner of a popup, i'm a little jaided.

if you're intent on making the trailer thing work, my advice would be to have the axle slid back. A buddy of mine had to replace the axle on his boat trailer, and for 350 bucks, the guys cut the old mounts off, welded up the new mounts, and instaled the axle. this included the purchase price of a new 3500lb axle.

figgure a good welder would have a couple hours into the job, at around 75/hr ... it is in the reach of "doable"

i do think i would get a dry weight on the trailer, then add the wet weight of the topper and make sure you aren't over your GIVER of the trailer.

if you are over the lb capacity of the axle, you could have a lb axle installed in a location mounted further back.

You'd have to know where the center of gravity on the topper is, and slide the axle back 10 to 15% beyond that ... 20 would be better so long as you dint go over lbs on the tonger of the truck. Keep in mind that the topper is going to want to catch a LOT of air when you tow, and that will want to remove tongue weight as you drive, and could cause instability. shoot high on tonger weight, too much is always better than not enough.

but for all that work .... and the money involved, you might Babel to make a reasonable trade and be a lot safer about it.

worst come to worst, go to your local trailer manufacturer and contract them to make you a custom ... most will if you ask. but for that kind of cash layout ... I'd make a trade.