Installed camper on '03

[L_Rutigliano]

Anyone installed a slide-in on the back of your '03?



I just did today for the first time with the new truck. At the back of the bed rails, there is only about a 1/4" - 1/2" clearance between the bed rail and camper body. In the front, there is approx 1" or more clearance.



Did Dodge flare the bed rails to be taller at the back?



My camper is an '03 Eagle Cap. With the '01 Ram, I had tons more clearance and the front/rear were equal.



I rocked the camper to try to see if hits the bed rails, but it didn't. Still, its a little concerning to me. I thought I might have issues with cab being too tall, but the cab is fine.



Any comments will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Bill Stockard]

Ask me in a couple of weeks... I have a '03 Lance 1121 waiting for the arrival of our '03 3500 DRW.



Bill

 

[roadranger]

lrutigliano- Congrats on your new Eagle Cap! Just took delivery of our EC 950, and it's extremely nice. No clearance problems on our '01...



BTW, weighed up this unit before leaving dealer, and full of 46 gal. fresh water and all gear to camp it weighs in at 4130lbs.



So, on my '01 2500 it GVW's out at 11,800lbs.

Flame away... .



Drove it home from the dealer 800 miles at 230lbs over the 16in. rear TIRE rating.

Have got 19. 5 wheels/tires on order to get all components within weight specs.

 

[DPelletier]

Roadranger, no flaming from me! I haven't weighed mine yet but I am probably close to your GVWR. If I was just hauling the camper, I probably wouldn't worry about the tire issue, but I will be towing a Wells Cargo 16' trailer as well. How heavy is your trailer with a typical load? Do you mind if I ask roughly how much your 19. 5's are? Did you go with Ricksons?

Thanks

Dave

 

[roadranger]

DPelletier- You might want to think about climbing on a truck scale to see what you've actually got.

I'm 11,800 GVW with the camper, and pulling the trailer puts my GCVW at 18,800. Rear axle weight is 7200lbs-it's rated for 7500lbs, so the tires are the weak link.



I've got two different trailers to pull, depending on what toys we're playing with--hence the truck camper.



The heavier one is right at it's 7000 GVW limit. With the new camper I've got to run a 30in. stinger for the hitch. Went with the Reese Titan V, a Reese load equalizing hitch, and the Reese anti-sway bars.

That hitch ball is now about 5 feet behind the rear axle, and I don't want the tail to wag the dog!



I went with the Ricksons.

Would have liked their Alloy wheels for the unsprung weight savings, but they won't be out till the middle/end of summer.



So then I priced out 5 Chromed Steel 7. 5 wide with 245 tires- totaled out at around $3300



Ended up buying 4 Powder Coated Steel 6. 75 wide with 245 tires load range H for about $2300. I'll use the current 16in. spare as a 'donut' type spare, as it works, and it still fits up underneath the truck. (19. 5's won't)

 

[sellesd]

I put a 2001 Lance Lite 915 with all the options (2700#) on a 2003 2500 4X4 Quad Cab LWB. I did not notice any clearance problems.



Truck seemed to handle the weight OK, but I found it scary to drive, actually to turn. The guy I bought the camper from called me a baby After putting on Firestone Ride Rite air bags, it turns fine.



After talking to several people, they said that I could leave the factory Bed Liner in, but have found out that may not be a good idea. We just had the worst snow storm in 90 years and I had the camper on the truck. Of course I had to get the truck out in the snow, had to know how it handled it after all. It went through the snow OK, but once the bed liner got wet it was slick and I noticed the camper moving around the bed of the truck. After catching my breath, we unloaded the camper and made sure nothing got hurt. I think the foot or more of wet snow on the top of the camper contributed to the movement.



We have to get a rubber bed mat before we load it again.

 

[Cobra]

lrutigliano,

Just the other day I was at the Dodge dealership where I bought mine. I was eyeing up an 03 and the salesman told me if I wanted an 03 I should measure the clearance on my slidein because the new trucks have higher bed rails.



Congrats on you new Eagle Cap. I have a Coachmen that I am not very happy with and would like a new slidein. When the time comes I intend to buy it in Montana to save on the sales tax.



My rig weighs in at 10,600. Empty holding tanks of course. In the winter I pull a closed in trailer with a Harley inside. GCW just over 12,000. Truck handles it with no problem.

 

[randyn]

Weight Ratings???



Am thinking of getting a camper & am trying to understand the weight ratings I'm seeing. From the Dodge web site I see a payload for my turck ('03 quad 4x4 swb large rear axle 4. 10) of 2220 lbs. A small camper Lance Lite 845 has a dry weight of just under that, about 2150 or so. I'm assuming I'd be over weight w/ just a few extras. The weights I'm seeing in the above posts for 2500 truck campers are much higher. I think I have a higher payload than the lwb trucks. So????????????? Is it just that the ratings are really conservative? As I understand, the only diff. between my truck & a 3500 is the springs and larger rear brake calipers. If you put on helper springs do you get higher rating? Haven't been able to acess the towing site recently, keep getting error on page indication. Was going to see what a 3500 4x4 srw swb quad could tow & haul. Any comments will be appreciated.



RandyN

 

[Prairie Dog]

The only difference between your 2500 and a 3500 is the extra springs in the back and the cab lights on the roof. Brakes are the same according to Dodge literature.

 

[L_Rutigliano]

Thanks for the replies. I have an old bed mat from my '01 that I will put on top of the new bed mat. Should give me additional clearance with bed rails.



I weighed my camper and truck: 11,250lbs total, 4650lbs on front axle, 6600lbs on rear axle.



Empty: 7300lbs total, 4500lbs front, 2800lbs rear.



With camper on the truck, the helper springs just touch the bump stops. Truck sits level or just slightly lower in rear. It drives real nice. No porpoising and turning was fine.



The new 3500 SRW w/o air bags handles the camper better than the '01 2500 w/camper package and airbags. Odd though, the '01 didn't even touch the bump stops on the helpers with the same camper. I had like 4000lbs in the bed and the helpers still weren't touching (before I installed airbags). What good were the helpers on the '01?

 

[DPelletier]

Roadranger,

I will go through a scale to see what my actual weights are. My trailer is 2600 lbs dry and rated for a max of 7700 GVW. I expect it will weigh about 5000 lbs fully loaded which should give me an approximate GCVW of around 15,000 lbs with between 10,200 and 11,000 on the truck. The Ricksons look like the way to go. sure are expensive Especially when you look at the plain powder coated steel rim at about $250. 00 each! Supply and demand, I guess. I hadn't considered keeping the original spare, but maybe that is a thought, especially if I get a lower profile 19. 5 that has the same diameter as the stock wheels. This would also help with my already high gears (don't want to go too much bigger on the tire size). I am trying to keep my hitch extension length to a minimum. I ordered a custom tongue length of 5' on my Wells Cargo and hope to keep the extension length down to maybe 16 - 18".

Sellesd,

I wouldn't have a plastic bed liner under my camper. I use a thick rubber matt and subscribe to the concept that the friction is primarily what keeps the camper in the truck and that the tiedowns are a necessary safety measure to limit movement.

randyn,

I won't tell you to ignore the ratings, but if you look at the actual differences between the 2500's and 3500's you can make an educated decision regarding the accuracy of the factory ratings. According to the factory, my overloads and sway bars decrease my payload capacity - doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? 4X4 also significantly reduces payload. Adding the steel 19. 5 Rickson wheels would also lessen my payload rating, which makes no sense whatsoever. In a perfect world, each Dodge truck should be given a rating based on the exact configuration, but instead all 2500's get the same ratings. Don't get me wrong, If I was buying a new truck, I would get a 3500.

Irutigliano,

I have noticed that my 2500 handles better if I add MORE weight in order for the overloads to engage. I have to really load up the camper for the overloads to touch. I wonder if the new 3500 overloads are easier to engage. This would make sense as to why the new truck handles better even w/o airbags.

Just a thought.

Dave

 

[roadranger]

I took the Lance dealer installed airbags OFF my '01 2500. They wouldn't let the helper springs ride down on their seats, were a PITA to keep aired up properly, and shifted WAY too much weight to the front axle with the rear end sitting up 4" higher in the rear.



Truck handled MUCH better without the air bags when riding down on the factory helper springs with the 3200lb Lance camper.



When I ordered our new EC camper that I knew would weigh in around 4000lbs, I had a truck spring shop replace the single leaf factory helper with a 4 leaf helper spring pack. Handles the actual 4100lb EC camper just fine. Everything is within component weight specs, EXCEPT the rear tires. Going with 19. 5 load range H tires.

GVW 11,800

FRONT axle 4740

REAR axle 7060

 

[Cobra]

Roadranger,

When I bought my truck I bought and placed ari bags on the rear thinking they would be needed for the Coachmen that I was in the process of buying. I made two trips to Fla. and told my son-in-law how the rig swayed. He thought it would be a good idea to take the air bags off and try it. I did and it was much better. The air bags are in my garage on a shelf.

 

[roadranger]

Cobra-Yep, I don't think these Dodges' need any airbags, with their stout suspension.



Bags must be made to help out the Phord trucks! Oo.

 

[rrl989]

Ditto on the Dodge's for air bags. I went to remove them the this last weekend - Looks like I have to cut the u-bolts off as all the threads are mashed from the top bracket hitting the bottom !



Ron

 

[DPelletier]

I know I'm getting a little off topic here, but I wonder if anyone has ever tried relocating their overload stops so that they engage earlier (or always)? This may be a better solution than air bags other than a stiffer unloaded ride and would cost almost nothing.

Dave

 

[rrl989]

I thought about that also, but I think they are located in the center of the frame for a reason and I don't want to drill out any more holes in the frame. I'm thinking I will try to add something to those OV brackets so they engage earlier.



Ron