anyone own a livin' lite 8.4 s? thoughts?

kojackJKU

Autism Family Travellers!
I am looking at the livin' lite 8.4s to go into the back of a bagged F150 Super Crew. We are not going to be doing any FREEWAY driving, just secondary road, which is all we have in newfoundland. The way I see it, is that in the late 80s we had a full size camper like this that weighed more, and a 2wd F150 that had half the payload of a new F150 and it did fine. People towed big friggin trailers with full size cars. I figure that the F150, with helwigs and airbags will take this camper just fine.....

I am wondering about the camper and build quality. Living in a high salt and moisture content province....the all aluminum construction is a big draw.
 

kojackJKU

Autism Family Travellers!
Not really over loading. Only 100-200 lbs. Punched the numbers with the high payload option f150
 

kojackJKU

Autism Family Travellers!
Of course there is overhang....Just like there would be on any other truck. it's made for 6.5' boxes. I know the dimesnions....I am asking ABOUT THE CAMPER>......not the truck.....ANYONE have the CAMPER? or one of their other models that can comment on the quality of the CAMPER?
 

crazyjane

Observer
I had a 9.6S on a RAM 3500. Camper weight said a little less than 3000 lbs so I got truck w/ 4430 or so carrying capacity. On the way home I noticed quite a bit of sway so I bought some timbren's and a big wig swaybar. It helped a lot but sway was always there. I went back to my dealer for a separate issue and they had started selling the CIRRUS model campers and appx 3 mins later we had both decided we really liked this one much better. The reasons were that the 9.6S was a nice camper but had a terrible condensation problem without the A/C on, even with all three roof fans on and all windows on. Now granted I live in NC and not wanting to run a generator at night when almost everyone else is in tents may have contributed. But season was irrelevant, always happened. Another reason was for two people 9.6S was too big. We could never fill it up, most of the closets were empty and we don't go out to hang out in camper. But when looking at CIRRUS we did take another RAM 3500 w/gas motor for a ride and this one had torklift on the springs, that one didn't have sway at all.
But back to your question of quality. I liked the latches alot theyre not going to come open. We never had any worries on the physical camper, everything always worked. I'd have to say it's a solid product.
Livinlite is very optimistic with their weights, going from the 9.6S to our new CIRRUS 820 is quite a bit of difference. I have the cummins motor and I was never short of power for either camper but weight tag on CIRRUS says 28XX and one for 9.6S said 29XX, you wouldn't want to put any money on 9.6S as a winner at drag strip.
If you already have the F150, well thats what you have to work with but going off my experience I wouldn't think too long on a half ton truck. I'd figure out a way to get a bigger truck.
 
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ripperj

Explorer
I looked at a bunch of Living Lites a few years back, they seemed pretty bullet proof, but all the ones I looked at had crazy sharp edges on the cabinet door corners, like real bleeders.
Not sure if that changed in the last two years.
I do like the wood looking interiors now vice the sterile metal from before


Sent from my Passport
 

kojackJKU

Autism Family Travellers!
I do believe that the 8.4s is lighter than this camper from lance....hence the reason I looked at it for an F150....Most of the time, my camper will be sitting on its supports in the back garden. I do not want a tank of a truck for the 90 percent of the time I will be driving. If I bag and hellwig swaybar the F150, I am sure I can dodge around and not have any adverse handling problems....

thumb_Lance-650-Overland-Edition-graphics-close-up.jpg
 

kojackJKU

Autism Family Travellers!
wow, I just looked...the 8.4 is quite hefty compared to the 650.....hmmmmm food for thought. maybe I will go with the lance.
 

NMNCummins

New member
I have the 8.6 with bathroom. It has been a great camper and my 2500 Dodge Cummins hardly notices it. I'd be happy to try to answer any questions you might have.
 

Jetsrt4

New member
I have a Camplite 8.5 which is basically a 8.4s without a slide. I have it on a 2015 f150 with a 6.5 box with a 5.0. I put 2700 lb leafs on it and load e tires. My rig is fine. Add the extra 500 lbs for the 8.4 slide and I think you are really pushing what a f150 can do. The aluminum f150 takes about 500 lbs more load than what the steel version would do. I would look at a lighter camper or 3/4 ton truck. Good luck.
 

c7train

Observer
Can anyone speak to the insulation or 4-season ability of these campers? I'm curious about quality as well.
 

NMNCummins

New member
I've only stayed in mine down around 20F. The furnace kept it plenty comfortable. I can't speak for any temps below that.

As far as quality goes, they are well built structurally. They are built on what seems to be a K.I.S.S.(keep it simple stupid) platform and this is why I was drawn to them. Mine is a 2012 model so it's pretty basic. They have been bought out by a different company now and they are getting "prettier"

The biggest complaint people have is the sharp cabinet corners. I was going to take my grinder to them but the previous owner or factory beat me too it. The plumbing under the sink is half-a$$ed at best but doesn't leak. (I'll end up redoing it to make more room). It also seems they forgot to caulk the shower at the factory so it leaks onto the ground but since it's aluminum I don't have to worry about rot(I'll caulk it this spring). That's about it for the negatives.

The positives.
-Lightweight, the sticker claims it's less than 1900 lbs with water and propane on board. I'm going to weigh it this year to find out exactly. The 3/4 ton Dodge CUMMINS hardly notices it, I can do 75 mph on the freeway, or crawl along on the backroads.
- I like the basic stove in it, hot water heater keeps up when showering, and both the heater and A/C unit work great.
-K.I.S.S. interior makes it easy to clean maintain

If you have anymore specific questions I would be happy to help
 

::Squish::

Observer
When we started our research I liked the idea of these, but the hard side no slide options Trouble is their listed (which is almost always low) was very high
and put us into needing a 1 ton truck, we were still hoping to get by with either a camper for my Taco or stepping up to a F150

Also as other have said the construction of the older camper left a lot of sharp edges
and my back ground in industrial design, I couldn't live with something so... home made looking.

Finally there were a lot of issues I had with the construction, steel and stainless steel screws going into the frames, that's a recipe for extensive rust when living as close as we do to the ocean.

So finally we passed on the concept, the irony is we ended up getting a 1 ton truck after all, and have a bigfoot TC
 

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