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Found a very good deal, but it's more suited to a long bed and curious if I could get away with just keeping my tailgate down and beefing up the rear suspension? I believe it's around 2200lbs and I'm rated for just under 3000lbs.
Tailgate down and shift some weight closer to the center maybe and pack light lol?
The center of gravity for campers like this tends to be right about where a long-bed's rear axle is.
If you do this with your short bed truck, you'll have the camper's center of gravity about 16" behind the rear axle. This will make it handle weird, unload the front axle somewhat, and make it so your 11' (right?) camper hangs off of the back like a 12'4" camper would on a long-bed truck. The whole time you're using it this way, you'll have to be careful to preserve the rear structure of the bed and hopefully not damage the frame. I can't see how you could keep the tailgate on. It's not strong enough to significantly help with supporting the rear of the camper. And then, there's the camper's structure. It is designed to have a reasonably flat 8' bed under it. Having only a short bed under it means the camper is not supported properly, and may accrue some stress damage.
The center of gravity for campers like this tends to be right about where a long-bed's rear axle is.
If you do this with your short bed truck, you'll have the camper's center of gravity about 16" behind the rear axle. This will make it handle weird, unload the front axle somewhat, and make it so your 11' (right?) camper hangs off of the back like a 12'4" camper would on a long-bed truck. The whole tine you're using it this way, you'll have to be careful to preserve the rear structure of the bed and hopefully not damage the frame. I can't see how you could keep the tailgate on. It's not strong enough to significantly help with supporting the rear of the camper. And then, there's the camper's structure. It is designed to have a reasonably flat 8' bed under it. Having only a short bed under it means the camper is not supported properly, and may accrue some stress damage.
If it were me, I wouldn't do it.
Yeah that what I figured. Too bad cause it has a nice big bathroom, everything fully functional nice interior and for only 3 grand 😓
I was told that when loaded the overload springs don't touch on that guys F350, but looks like his F350 has like 100 leafs so could very well be around 3k which is beyond what my truck can haul around. Might be worth it for me to beef up my back end with Springs out of a F350 short box and add an extra overload leaf....that along with the 2'' bump stop spacers should help hold a bit more weight. There's some tiny campers for stupid crazy money and then there's some bigger units like posted above selling for very reasonable amounts and guess that's because there's less people willing/able to haul them just like with bumper pull units.
That camper is going to be crazy heavy, no way it's 2200 lbs. But even worse, the center of gravity will be way behind the axle. Which is going to cause the front to stand at attention, making it steer, brake, and handle really bad. I predict that if you do buy that camper, you'll be looking for a new truck shortly after.
That camper is going to be crazy heavy, no way it's 2200 lbs. But even worse, the center of gravity will be way behind the axle. Which is going to cause the front to stand at attention, making it steer, brake, and handle really bad. I predict that if you do buy that camper, you'll be looking for a new truck shortly after.
Yeah 100% agree. The Winnebago pictured below currently weighs 1400lbs and has a box length of 128'' so in my CCSB it would hang out 4 feet lol, but I'm going to completely gut it and only put back insulation, vapour barrier and 1/8'' wood siding leaving it a completely open space inside with no furnace, fridge or stove and I'm guessing that will drop the weight to around 1000lbs. I will of course build a small closed of toilet area to put in a dry 5 gallon bucket type toilet and for heat I'll use a diesel heater and for a back up heater I'll either install a second diesel heater as they're cheap or I'll put in a small wood stove.
Plan is to just turn this unit into a basic winter camper for this season and then come spring/summer I'll get a truck with an 8' box and then I'll go to town adding creature comforts to the camper like plumbing, small fridge/freezer, slide out, awning and so on and I'm HOPING that even with a 4' overhang it won't be an issue if the total weight of the camper with cargo isn't more than 1200lbs and if it doesn't feel safe on the test drive I will of course park the camper till I get a new truck.
What are you thoughts on that?
Here's the unit destined for a reno:
Here's my truck with 1600lbs of plank flooring on a 4x4 pallet centred behind the rear axle:
Sounds like a good plan. Make sure the eyes for the front tie downs are in really good shape! It's going to be biased towards wanting to move backwards, and the rear tie downs eyes will be too far back to do much good.
You might want to "help" it out with under-floor structure. Since it is designed to sit in an 8' bed and you'll be putting it in a 6.5' bed, the bottom of the box will be supporting in an area that is not designed to be on the edge of the bed. Maybe a custom-made receiver-mounted support at 8' would be in order?
