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I have a question. I am thinking about getting a truck camper, but I am worried about being able to tow my Pinzgauer if I put the camper on the truck.
I have a 08 F350 with the 6.4L diesel dually with the manual transmission. I will be towing my Pinzgauer on a car hauler trailer. The Pinzgauer weighs about 5000 lbs and the trailer is about 1800 lbs. The truck camper is about 2300 lbs dry.
The Lance truck camper web site also sells a trailer hitch extension that appears to extend the trailer hitch past the end of the camper. I guess this is needed to tow when you have the camper on. But wouldn’t this change the way the weigh is distributed when towing the trailer? They show replacing the factory hitch, but wouldn't the factory hitch be the best for this application?
So, my question is, if I’m towing (lets round up to) 10,000lbs, can I safely tow with a 2300 lbs camper? Will I need the hitch extender? Will that be safe with the weight? What other questions should I ask?
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Here is the F350 towing the Pinzgauer.
Yes you can safely tow while hauling a camper. You only need a hitch extender if your camper overhangs your regular hitch setup. The biggest problem is generally the trailer tounge jack interfering with the camper, while hitched or turning.
If your looking at a 9' camper (guessing due to weight stated), you could probably use your normal setup, if the trailer jack is back far enough.
I had a 9.5 ft camper and pulled a 22 ft cuddy cabin boat. Only trouble was in an extreme, tight turn, I had to watch that the boat didn't get into the back corners of the camper. I'm talking about greater than 90 degree jackknife. I did move the trailer jack back a bit as it was too close to the camper to operate.
Rebel is correct. Using an extender does increase weight on the rear axle. Whether you need it depends on which Lance camper your are considering. I am guessing you have about 1,000 pounds of tongue weight on your trailer ball, but it would be helpful to actually use a scale to weigh it.
I think it is great you are asking these questions before making the purchase.
I was worried about the hitch extender because I thought that my trailer was on the heavy side. Nice to know that it isn't considered heavy by you all.
I have not picked out a camper yet, but thought that asking questions before buying was a smart idea given the $$$ involved.
Moving the trailer jack might be fun..... But now I know to look at the jack location. I did not think of that before.