Truck camper & towing

[rolltideram]

I have found a good deal on a Sunlite pop-up truck camper. It currently rides in a lwb 3500. I guess it is 8' long because it is even with the rear of the bed. I want to put it in my swb 2500 and tow my trailer with a Suzuki Samurai on it. I know I would need an extension on my hitch. I have a class IV. I guess I just want to know if it would be ok to buy this camper or should I keep looking for one that fits a swb. thanks, JC Corder

 

[DPelletier]

Well,

without knowing the weights of the camper, trailer (loaded) and actual weight of the truck, its hard to make an enlightened comment, but here goes;



- the camper itself is probably light and not a huge deal to haul by itself, the two areas where it will have the biggest impact is 1) center of gravity of the load on the truck and 2) the effect it has on towing your trailer i. e. the length of hitch extension required.



- I would weight the truck and get the trailer gross weight and tongue weight.

- Then I would get the manufacturers weight on the camper and check the center of gravity. You don't want the center of gravity to be too far behind the axle. My last two trucks came with a camper loading sheet that indicates an acceptable "zone" for the Cof G.

- Check the camper weight, truck weight and trailer tongue weight vs. your 8800 GVWR to see if you are going to be overloaded. You will need at least 500lbs extra capacity for gear etc. in the camper.

- Finally, you need to consider the length of the extension that you might require and its effect on your hitch capacity. The longer the extension, the less weight capacity it has. You can increase this capacity by using a weight distributing hitch. If you are over the load capacity of the hitch using the extension that you need, you can replace the factory hitch with a "class V" hitch like the Reese Titan or Superhitch.



Hope this helps,

Dave

 

[justatruck]

That's a slide in type right? I don't think there would be any width issues due to the beds taper; I think what would slide in a long bed would slide in a short bed. If it was a super well fitted (not squarish) cap type unit I could see that the rails might not be flush with the topper, but I don't think that would be an issue for you.

As far as towing, I think I'de try it (or visualize it) w/out a hitch xtension. As long as the trailer is a flat deck, and it's long enough so that you don't have to pull the Zuki all the way up front I would guess that you'de be fine. Sure is easy for me to do all this guessing sitting here at my computer. It' just hard to say w/out seeing your set-up. Overall, I think it will work, but I also think you'de be happier holding out for something that fits right. That little bit of length (of the camper overhang) hanging out, over time probably wont be very good for the camper structurally. I hope this helps.

 

[Deezul1]

I used to have a 3/4 ton truck with a 11. 5' cabover on it that weighed 3000lbs and hung over the back 3. 5'. I towed a 16' flatbed utility type trailer with a 1000lb sand rail, gas cans, fire wood and tools all the time. The hitch was extended out to the rear of the camper and this setup worked fine and it wasnt even a Diesel. The trailer loaded was prolly 3000lbs. I had airbags on the truck too.

 

[Gonzo 1066]

camper and towing

We have been towing a cargo trailer weighing about 9,000# behind oru Dodges with a camper for about 11 years and close to 300,000 miles. I have a hitch extension that I built onto a class IV hitch and it works fine. I use load equilizers and watch my tongue weight. I have had no swaying or hitch problems, however we are not hot rodders. We seldom tow over the legal speed limit. I welded two extra reciever tubes on the outer edges of the hitch and built a A frame to go to all three recievers on the hitch, works great!!

 

[VicR]

Can't really help you on the towing issue, but I have a 2000 Sunlite pop-up slide-in and just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. We love the camper and I would definately buy one again. That said, I would not be comfortable with having the camper hang 18 inches past the end of the bed unsupported. Judging how mine is constructed, I think it would self -destruct and the lift mechanism would probably get tweaked with that unsupported overhang. The frame on mine just wasn't designed to handle that. Just from eyeballing it, the tail gate down doesn't provide a flat surface either, and I think the tail gates wouldn't like that weight either.



The campers are pretty light so I doubt CG would be a problem, and mine has plenty of width left at the back so I wouldn't worry about that either.



Good luck with it



-Vic

 

[OTRPU]

My good fishing buddy has a 99 Ram 2500 4x4 Long bed. He just loves his Sun-Lite popup slide-in camper. But he can't quite close his tailgate, campers just a smidge to close. He pulls a 20 ft Voyager Pontoon boat on 26ft tandem trailer behind his. I think I'd want the camper inside the truck. I've seen short beds with 8 ft campers, so guys do it all the time. If I were him I'd take the tailgate off, that's what I did when I was running a F350 PSD with popup camper. If it's a good enough deal and you don't mind the camper hanging out alittle, go for it. Like I said, I seen lots of people done it.



Cheers,

Steve J.