I have a 1999 f 250 superduty crew cab with 6.5 bed and 7.3 diesel. GVWR is 8800 and current weight is 7100. I intend to buy a slide in camper but most of them tend to be too heavy. What consequences do I face by exceeding the gvwr limits?

 

First welcome to FTE
I moved your post to the Towing section of the site in the Slide in Camper forum to get your question answered.

Denny

 

Welcome to FTE! I recently went through a very similar exercise with our old MY2000 F250.

Tell us more about your 1999 F250:

• 4x2 or 4x4?
• "Stock" 235/80R16E tires or "optional" 265/75R16E tires, or?
• Optional camper package?
• Any other major options or major after-market mods?
• Do you have a particular slide-in truck camper in mind?

More later, and Happy Thanksgiving!
Jim / crewzer

 

Would be helpful to know which camper. Do you mean over weight by a few hundred pounds or a couple of thousand for example.

Steve

 

I don't have a particular camper in mind as of yet, but it will be of the pop up species. The truck now has 285/75r16's and is a 4x4. I'm only looking at exceeding the gvwr limits by no more than 400lbs.

 

What I would suggest first is weigh truck axles, your rear axle will take most of the weight so look at your tire rating X2 and subtract the axle weight from that and you will know how much you can load the rear axle, on slide in campers weight will also transfer to the front but that really depends on the camper. Air Bags filled individually really helps with truck campers.

If I remember right the 285 tires have a 3400 lb rating so 6800 on the rear axle will be max.

Denny

 

Thanks for the help, there are some scales nearby.

 

With so little cargo capacity, if you want to stay even close to your GW, your selection will really be limited.

As you know, the rule of thumb is to add 1,000 pounds to the manufacturer dry weight rating.We have a Hallmark Ute XL pop-up. The manufacturer's label says something like 1,850 pounds. Including batteries, water, and options, i.e. AC on the roof and power jacks, with our truck loaded the way we actually use it adds 3,100 pounds to the truck. These are actual CAT scale weights.

I don't want to tell you a ton of things you probably already have researched, but some websites of value are Truck Camper Magazine, Truck Camper Adventure, and Wander the West. There are loads of information about weights on those sites and lots of slide-in camper folks to chat with.

Steve

 

One of the things we found is almost no weight at all transfers forward. I think it was only a couple of hundred pounds. Would have to check my weights to be sure. I suspect it may also vary between long and short bed trucks. Ours is a long bed. Not sure about what others find.

Steve

 

When we had our 8.5 foot camper in a 8ft box we had a lot of transfer to the front but our 10ft had very little if any, so it will really vary from camper to camper.

What I would do when you get close is drop the camper into the back of the truck and see what happens. When we bought our 10ft from a private party and dropped onto our 1979 F250 it really dropped the rear end a long way, before we took it anywhere I did some rear spring modification and heavier tires in the rear. That was also before air bags and a time when we couldn't afford to upgrade to a new truck.

Denny

 

Interesting the way that worked out. When you look at where the manufacturer says the center of gravity (COG) is supposed to be you think one thing. Then you put it on the truck and go "what the heck"!

Steve

 

I guess the COG of a slide-in is not as important as an aircraft.

Happy Thanksgiving..

 

Back at you. Don't know crap about planes.

Steve

 

The problem lies in the fact his truck has a 8800 GVW. With an empty weight of 7,100 lbs, that leaves 1,600 lbs for camper, passengers and equipment. Not many campers fit that equation.

Deduct from max GVW for people, 20 gallons of water or so, propane and food, leaves no capacity for a camper. The bane of the short box crew cab F250 diesels, the definitive lack of GVW.

Yeah, the truck might be okay with as much as 1,000 over GVW but don't have a serious accident loaded that way. If the Highway Patrol/State Troopers decide to tally weights up (and they will), the overload will put you at fault, even if the other person hit you.

My personal opinion is to buy a truck with a higher GVW and lower unladen weight if you're going to carry a camper. Even a lightweight pop-up.

 

, the long and short of it.. if not balanced front to back and side to side...

its a brick wanting to fly...