I am starting to think that my truck might be a camper special.
my grandpa keeps saying that it was special ordered with a 1 ton underside even though its a F250...
And i thought i read some where that a camper special is pretty much an F350

so is there any way to tell if my truck is a camper special just by the frame? (because the body is not original)

 

they will have helper springs and a sway bar font and rear, auto tranny and normally a rear bumper that will extend out to match the camper

as for the rear my two old CS had just a dyna 60 in them the 350 had the 60hd or the 61 (dont know never owned a 350 just guessing)

also I believe the wheel base was longer

 

I have a 1974 camper special, however its a 2wd so no sway bar or overload springs in the front, and i know which bumper you are talking about but i don't have it. I do have the rear sway bar and overload springs, auto, ac, and yes the WB is longer.

 

These are the spring that are on the truck...

Rear



front drivers side



front passenger side



Are these the camper special springs??

and there is a sway bar in the front and back...

 

No one nkows if these are Camper Special spring?

 

Springs mean nothing. My 77 F-100 has overloads just like that.....and it's definitely NOT a camper special. I have no idea if your truck is a camper special or not. But I WILL clear up some wrong information.

Your truck has a Dana 44 front axle. F-350's have Dana 60's. Some F-250's could be ordered with a Dana 60. These trucks "could" be considered similar to a 1 ton.....since they technically had the frame and axles. I hate to disappoint grandpa, but your truck was NOT "special ordered with a 1 ton underside".

Camper special trucks do NOT have an extended wheel base. Only 2wd F-350 single cabs have the extended wheelbase. It has nothing to do with the camper special package.....because it applies to ALL F-350's and ONLY F-350's.

All F-250's and 4x4 F-350's use Dana 60 rear axles. 2wd F-350's have Dana 70's.

 

This is the only issue I have with your post...because not ALL 350's had the extended wheel base. Only the ones that were Super Camper Specials. In which case, they were on a 140" wb with the bedside tire carrier, instead of the plain old 133" wb.

 

Nope, ALL 2wd single cab f-350 trucks have the extended wheelbase.

 

No, they do not!

(sigh) I've typed this same info over 100 times here on FTE, as have others "in the know."

140" Wheelbase:

1973/76 F350 Super Camper Special. These are Regular Cabs.

1973/79 F350 Regular Cab Trailer Special.

1977/79 F350 Regular Cab Camper Special = Ford dropped the name Super after 1976.

These are the only trucks on the 140" wheelbase period!
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Is it a Camper Special...or not? There are no codes within the VIN or on the Warranty Plate that denote a Camper Special.

You cannot go by rear springs, because any load rate spring could be ordered. Ditto for shock absorbers.

You cannot go by sway bars, either, as all trucks of certain years 2WD & 4WD had them.

And...since 30 plus years have passed by, who knows what parts have been swapped around?

There is one foolproof way to know if it's a Camper Special or not, another not so foolproof way if you want to crawl under.

You can order a build sheet from martiauto.com.

Marti got all the data from Ford in the late 1980's that pertains to 1967/79 Passenger Cars, Trucks, Bronco's and Econolines when he heard that Ford was going to throw all of it into the trash!

Camper Special's came from the factory with a multi-pigtailed wiring harness/plug to be used for the camper lights. This harness was placed inside the glovebox at final assembly.

This harness plugged into the Camper Special only taillamp wiring harness, that has an extra plug for it.

If the taillamp harness does not have this extra plug, it's not a Camper Special. But...one has to consider parts swapping. Is the harness original to the truck...or not?

 

Here's my Super Camper Special:



Who told you that...? That's The Biggest Load of Crap I've ever heard...
If you got a '73 F-350 Style-Side with the "Super Camper Special" package it had a 7" longer wheelbase than normal to compensate for the Spare Tire Carrier.
A Normal Regular Cab, Long Bed non-Super Camper Special WheelBase is 133". F-250 Camper Specials are not much different than regular F-250s, Not rare or anythin'.
F-350 Regular Cab, Cab & Chassis were offered in 137" & 161" WheelBases.
These are "2WD F-350 Regular Cabs" and, of course, according to YOUR definition, that would make these trucks 140" Wheelbase Super Camper Specials/F-350 Camper Special/F-350 140" WB Trailer Specials, Which They are NOT. They were usually ordered with no bed, and the buyer of the Cab & Chassis or the dealer would have a company put on a bed. Be Careful what you post...Cause THAT was a crock of shi...er crap.
My F-350 has a Dana 70.
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1979 Ford Pickup Towing/Camper Special Cut Out.

1977 Ford Pickup Towing/Camper Special Cut Out.

 

Settle down.....I suggest you go back and re-read my post. Never did I say anything about all F-350's single cabs being 140" wheelbase. I realize some are 137". I only said the wheelbases were EXTENDED. I didn't realize I would be taken so literal. What I meant was all 2wd F-350's have wheelbases LONGER than the 133" wheelbase F-250.

 

I know this is an old thread. It popped up when I did a general internet search trying to find some information on my own 75 F250 Camper Special.

The original poster made reference to "1 ton underside even though its a F250".

This is pretty accurate in a lot of cases. While this does not address the original poster's question about the Camper Special option, you can tell from the VIN if your truck is a heavy duty version.

Mine for example is an F253. This is a heavy duty version of the F250 and mine has a GVWR of 8100 pounds, which is more than some F350s of the same era and even some F350s today.

This is easily confirmed by the first four digits of the VIN. Mine for example is "F253". Were it the non heavy duty version, it would simply be "F250".

I don't think the trucks had to be the heavy duty version to be a Camper Special, as I have seen some F100 Camper Specials and they certainly did not have the heavy duty front suspension, including the heavier front spring pockets and heavier springs.

I am by no means an expert and not trying to stir the pot. Just making observations on what I have seen. I do know the heavy duty designation for the F253 and higher numbers is correct though and is easily verified by the Camper Special article on Wikipedia. Yeah, I know. It's not the most accurate web site by far, but they got that part right.

If I am off base on anything, please let me know, as I am still learning about these trucks myself.

 

The only way I know to positively ID a camper special is if they have this connector for camper lights on top of the frame rail just ahead of the left rear wheel.

 

Yup. I think that's probably right. I was more addressing the "heavy duty 3/4 ton" idea, because mine is one.

Mine has that connector, but a local U Haul installed a receiver and spliced into the tail light harness.

I plan to straighten all that out.

 

On my 78 f250, I have a small toolbox on the passenger side of the bed, that and their isnt as many holes for straps to connect, because it was made to haul campers back in the day.