My Lance doesn't fit in my 04.5!

[Dave Beck]

Ihave a '99 Lance 1130 on an '04 3500 dually. I found that the bed height varied about 3/4" front to rear besides being a bit low overall. I put one of those rubber liners in and shimmed the rear with a piece of 3/4" plywood. Problem solved. If you really want to go all the way, then try outlining the entire camper with a piece of 3/4 and fill the middle with some of that pink styrofoam building insulation. ( keeps the floor warmer in winter ).

 

[Bill Stockard]

Originally posted by LThurman

my 02 lance 815 fits just fine. mine is and 03 and it is above the bed rails about 1 inch. Is there a difference between the 03 and 04. 5 in rails hight. I guess i need to go measure my buddies 04. 5 b/c i was thinking about upgrading the truck in few years

Yep, my '03 Lance 1121 fits the bed of my '03 3500 perfectly with only a rubber bed mat which I purchased at Tractor Supply Co. for less than $50.



Bill

 

[DPelletier]

LThurman,

all LWB 3rd gen boxes are the same.



Dave

 

[Diesel Dually]

There are also light weight trailer / stall mats available at horse supply outlets. They are more expensive, but much easier to move round when not in use. I don't have a price but around 25% higher than the standard heavy weight type.

Some auto supply outlets are also selling mats for garage floors that interlock and may work as well for less money. .

 

[Scooby]

Solved!

Today I bought 2 4X6' stall mats at a tack shop. They are heavy! ~ about 95 lbs. each! They are an honest 3/4" thick and will solve the problem perfectly. They were $43. 00 each which is a lot less than the 3/8" thick mat that Dodge wants for $159 from the dealer!



Thanks for the suggestions! Now I really am a Happy Camper

 

[jack-green]

lance

my lance 835 fits on my short box 04. 5 with 1/4 inch or more space. just got back from oregon coast, 800 mi round trip no problems. 17. 2 mpg empty, 15. 9 with camper 20mph headwind i/2 the time

 

[TAllen]

I just bought a new long bed 4x4 for putting a slidein camper in, and in the glove box I found a paper that said a slidein camper not recomended for this truck. Now what, a Ford.



Tim

 

[GFritsch]

Dropped the Bigfoot on the dually this weekend. Bedrails cleared, taillights did not hit, everthing seemed cool until I tried to open the door. As noted earlier this combo requires a thicker mat to give door clearance. Also with this camper and a Dodge dually the rear tie downs hit the fenders. I will have to build an extension like DPellieter shows in his readers rig photos to move the rear tie down points back with the tork lift set up. Or cough up the 130 bucks for the ones tork lift sells. I was pleased with how little this 3000 lb (empty) camper dropped the truck even with the air bags empty. --guess I will add the a/c and generator now.



Greg

 

[DPelletier]

Thanks for the update Greg.



Tim,

throw the paper in the garbage and load it up.



happy camping

Dave

 

[Scooby]

Tim,



What truck did you buy? I didn't find a note like that in my truck...

 

[TAllen]

I bought a 2004,slt, 2500 4x4, 600, longbed, auto, 373 rears. The paper showed where to load a slidein camper, were the cg. of the camper should be on the truck, and also were it should not be. And between these two diagrams it said A SLIDEIN CAMPER NOT RECOMENDED FOR THIS TRUCK. I'am keeping the truck and buying a lance. I hope it doesn't void the warranty.



Tim

 

[Scooby]

Tim,



You'll enjoy both! I had my Lance on my 01 2500 4X4.



One BIG recommendation: DO NOT rely on Lance's (or your dealer's) weight figures. My 1030 was claimed to weigh-in around 2800 lbs. My truck had a GCVW of 8900 lbs and the truck empty weighed 6800 lbs. As you can see, I was already overweight using the conservative factory number of 2800 lbs.



Come to actually weigh the truck and camper (not fully loaded with passengers, fuel, water, gear) and I weighed in at just under 11000 lbs!!



The 2800 lb figure apparantly came from an empty, stripped down model... (I don't know what that means, but I could only imagine no refridgerator, oven, microwave, a/c, generator, etc... ) My camper was loaded with all the goodies, so I expected it to weigh a little more, but not an extra ton!



The warning is just to be careful, otherwise you'll be like me and "forced" to get a new dually a few years later