Alright, I've kinda posted this before but didn't get the response or info I was looking for so I' gonna try this in a little different fashion. My truck is a 2003 F250 Crew Cab Short Box (6.75') V10 3.73LS With 285/75/R16s and a host of add ons. As it sits with a full tank of fuel and me in it the total vehical weight is 7020lbs!!! (Dang thats heavy, 4000lb front axle and 3000lb rear axle) I am planning on putting in an 8.5' slide-in camper that weighs in (loaded) around 1800lbs. It will hang out of my truck about 2ft. I know how to drive with a load and am not worried about be over loaded (weight wise) by a few hundred pounds as long as the truck itself wont be over stressed. I'm not looking to break any land speed records, just enough to get down to the lake and back safely (round trip of 200-300 miles). My bigest concern is the how my overall load will be distributed across my truck, I'm kinda figuring around 4200lbs front axle and 4600 rear axle.

Just wondering if anyone has done anything like this and your experiences in doing so. I will be pulling a small finshing boat behind (16'-18' depending where I go), The tongue weight of the boats are almost negligble (100-200lbs). Let me know what you guys think. I'm not going to break anything am I? WIll the truck be sagging severly in the back? What are my rear and front axle ratings? Also my GVWR is 8800 so say I'll gross 9200-9300 with the tongue wight of the boat. as long as I drive with some care my brake should be alright shouldn't they?

The camper came off of a 97' F250 Ex cab Long box. He also pulled a boat and had no problem. My biggest concern is that 2ft hangin out the back. On the 97' with the boat it leveled the truck just perfectly. Don;t know if it mattters but the 97 was also a diesel.

Alright guys help me out and Give me you thoughts and concerns.

PS. I live in ND and our HPs are quite lenient on the recreational vehical Traffic (heck I've never heard of or seen any body get a ticket for being over loaded with camper/toy hauler as along as its not a comercial load) I think it has to do with our prevelant farming comunity.

 

I have the same truck as you except 2004 5.4 4x4 and 235 E and has a wet weight of 6600 pounds. The truck has a 8800 GVWR. I have surpassed it a little, no big deal. The front axle is rated 4800 and the rear axle is rated 6084. By no means would I ever exceed the axle limits, especially the rear since my tires are only rated for 6084 pounds. Now, how is your truck going to handle??? Philip.

 

i have a 2001 psd cc sb, it is 8000 lbs on the hoof with me and the family in it, i have a 9 foot lance camper (2500lbs) and pull a 20 foot boat. the truck will be fine but if you put on a set of rear airbags and some rancho rs9000 shocks it will be much much nicer to drive. i hauled my camper and boat once with the stock suspension, and it was a bit scary.

 

Yeh, thats kinda what I am really looking for in a round about way. Is it gonna handle like Sh!% with that extra weight hangin off of the back? Help me!! It makesme feel al little better knowing the truck can handle it but still concerned about the actual handling!!

 

it looks like we both posted at the same time, it will be scary with the stock suspension. see my previous post for info

 

Wlihnter,
Yeh, I think we were pretty similtanious with our posts.
The only thnig I'll have over you on a stock setup is I think you weigh about 1500lb more than me. Other than that it sounds like a similar setup. What are the chances a set of air bags off of a 96 F350 Dually will fit my pickup. I ask because dads pickup has them but he has no need for them (they were on it when he bought it), he just runs a few psi in them to keep them from deteriorating, he aired them up once but he said it really had no effect on the handling of his camper, the truck just rode a little rougher. I pretty sure I could get them from him for little or nothing. Anybody know????

 

i dont think they will fit, i got mine from JC Whitney and i just looked up the part numbers, they list one part number for the '63-'96- f100,f150,f250, and f350 2 or 4 wheel drive, (incl dually) and another part number for '97-03 superduty f250, f350. you be able to modify them to fit but they most likely will not bolt right on.

 

Wlihntr,
If your still around here what do they cost and how hard of an install are they. Do you have an on board compressor or do you run the air nossels and fill them as needed when needed. Is any one brand suppiroir over the other? any reason why or why not to get a particular brand or set? I'm kinda green when it comes to Air bags. any help an sugestions would be appriciated.

Thanks for all of the replies so far.

 

i hve the firestone superduty bags and they proven very good units ove the 3 years i have had them. they are around $250.00. i do not have an on board air compressor, i ran the lines along the frame to the rear bumper and there where 2 holes (one on either side) already in the bumper wher i mounted the valves, do not "T" the lines to one valve run one for each bag. the install is pretty easy, you do have to drill 4 holes in the frame and on my truck the tops of the u-bolts on the leaf springs where to tall so i had to cut them down. when i am loaded i run 80 psi in them but with your lighter load you would probably run less.

 

If that camper is designed for a long bed truck, don't put it on a shortbed one. Your center of gravity (cg) will be too far behind the axle, and it will not handle well.

The weight isn't a problem, but the c.g. point will be.

If it is a short bed designed camper with an overhang, the camper will be designed with a proper c.g. Just make sure you have "e" rated 3415 lb tires at a minimum and some air bags. Rancho adjustable shocks work well too.

 

You can get the differn't brackets for the ai bags, pretty cheap, better off taking the bags off your dad's trucks and just getting new brackets for your'se, kinda worried about the long bed camper going on the short bed, is this camper flush with a long bed and just 2 foot longer on a short bed or did it hang 2 feet off the long bed? Put the camper on the truck and see how much it squats, if it's not that bad and you have overloads you could always make some brackets so the overloads touch as soon as the load goes in the bed, I made a metal piece that goes off the ends of the perches so the overloads touch when the truck squats a 1\4in. That way the truck doesn't have to go 3in. down before the overloads do there job.

 

You say you have 285's what kind are they? There are a lot of soft tires out there, driving on the sidewalls is no fun, you need a stiff tire that isn't going to walk all over the place, maybe you already have a good tire???

 

--The weight isn't a problem...

ive got a reg cab, long bed f250. gvwr is 8800. truck weighs 6k fully loaded. payload of 2800lbs. the f350 is an identical truck. gvwr of 9900. truck weight 6k. payload of 3900lbs. does my truck handle like crap with 3900 in it? ive had 5k in the back of it and would feel comfortable driving it anywhere.
people always talk about how its unsafe to exceed your gvwr by even the slightest margain. but lets use some common sense here. the previous body style truck, 90-96 models, have the same gvwr as the superduties but weigh about 1500lbs less. my uncle has a 94 model f250 reg cab, gvwr of 8800lbs, weighs 4500lbs fully loaded. that gives him a payload of 4300lbs. anyone out there think its safer to haul 4300lbs in his 94 than it is in a superduty?
you are only talking about a gvw of 9200lbs and the f350(same truck structually) has a gvwr of 9900lbs. youll be a little overweight legally, but come on guys, lets not sit here and tell the guy his truck is going to handle like crap because hes over his legal limit. the same people that tell you your truck will handle like crap with your gvw wouldnt even hesitate to put that same load in a 350 even though theres no difference in the trucks.
and about your center of gravity...have you ever driven with a big load of 2x4s hanging over the tailgate? thats about what itll feel like. makes no difference on a 250 or 350. now if you had a half ton or a ranger, your bumper would be dragging the ground with the extra weight on the rear end.

 

The camper sticks out of an 8' bed by 1/2'. My bed measures 6.75' so 8.5-6.75=1.75' just 2' is a nice round number. I am actually planning on upgrading my tires to a set of BFGs before doing this. The tires I have now are all but garbage (expensive garbage but non the less) the size will stay the same though (75/285/R16s), also considering the Revos. My largest concern is as some one has also stated "Center of Gravity"!!! I was kinda thinking that I may have to do some Creative loading as far as our gear and that goes. The only benift I have is much of my stuff end up in my boats, Coolers, grill etc... I know what you mean about squishy side walls walking all over the place. I'll talk to my dad this weekend but for $250 I may just buy a new set of Air Bags and not worry about the pain of removal and customizing, I seen some on the JC Whitney site that looked pretty decent for like $240. I am not a hudge fan of over loads (had them on my last truck) so I'm going to try something different if I add a load carrying device to my truck.

Thanks again for all the great posts, It nice to know where to find some help.

 

ib250,
I was writing my post as you were, happening an awfull lot today. thanks for your comments. I do agree that I'm not worried about exceeding my GVWR but more so about my handling issues, I'm proably just gonna be creepin along at 60mph or so, its not a race and I am only driving 100miles one way so as long as the handling isn't absulutly like sh%& It'll be alright, the deal is I can use this camper for FREE untill I buy a fifthwheel (which may be 2 years down the road, Good friends are nice to have)