3500 and Hauling the Camper

[BigFun]

I just became the happy owner of a 2005 3500 DRW QC G56 Larime. I also have a Lance 1161 to haul around as well. I'm going down this coming week for install of the camper tiedown system. For those of you who haul campers and have an 04/05 600 DRW truck, how's the handling and hauling? I traded my 01 3500 89% DTT auto plus toys which did pretty well. I'm looking forward to getting this baby on the road in the very near future and would like your comments and opinions.

Thanks, BF

 

[GFritsch]

Our truck handles our 1060 Bigfoot very well. We use the tork lift tie downs and firestone airbags. New shocks and rear sway bar are in the future, but the truck handles very well now.



Have fun

Greg

 

[Bill Stockard]

I haul a Lance 1121 with our '03 3500 Q-cab dually 2-wheel drive. I formerly had a '00 3500 C-cab 6-spd dually that hauled a '94 Lance 990EC and later an '01 Lance 1140. All were/are 11'6" heavy campers with all the options including built-in generators. The '03 Lance 1121 is heavier since it has a slide-out.



Both the '00 3500 and the '03 3500 were/are equipped with the same add-on suspension upgrades (check my signature) except the '03 has a Hellwig anti-sway bar (no factory anti-sway bar) and the bolt-on overload spring bump stops. Neither trucks were/are daily drivers and the camper is on them 95% of the time.



The '03 with its higher GVWR and does a better job of handling the camper even though it's a heavier unit because of the slide-out. With the air bags at 40 PSI, the truck sets level and the suspension doesn't "bottom out" on rough roads.



My wife has no problem driving the truck/camper combination which gives me a chance to take a nap in the passenger seat while on long trips. We have hauled the Lance about 20K miles and with the suspension modifications, we are very pleased with way this truck hauls the large heavy camper.



Bill