MilesBFree
Member
hi, thinking of building a flatbed camper on a Ram 3500 with single cab and 8' bed. That Ram's payload is 4,600 lbs for the single rear tire axle version and GCW of 11,000 lbs.
I put together a spreadsheet to estimate the weight and while i can get the weight right at the payload ON PAPER, i suspect in the real world weight will be more, perhaps significantly more so. But if I didn't fill the fresh water tank until i got to the last mile before the campsite, it might work.
Wanted to ask if anyone who has built one of these what your finished weight was, if your weight estimation was pretty close, and if it looks like I covered most all of the components. (I know if will vary significantly.) I'm not gonna force this onto a chassis that won't handle it so ok with the answer that i should give up on the 3500 single axle and go to the duellie or even to a 4500 or 5500.
I don't want to go to the duellie version of the 3500 as that adds expense not just for the truck itself, but for the conversion to super singles, lift required for the larger tires, etc. A couple of places show prices around $20k for the conversion. I could very likely DIY that as well and save on the labor cost, but trying to not complicate this or stretch the build time out. Other drawbacks include the weight of the tires when changing a flat, cost for new ones, difficulty balancing, body mods for huge tires, etc. It just snowballs...
And the 4500 or 5500 alternative loses a number of nice cab features / comfort items.
(However, the payload of the duellie version of the 3500 has a payload of around 7,200 - 7,500 lbs so lots of fun to be had outfitting it.)
Looking at this habitat box since i can fit in all mods cons we are looking for:
Here is the layout I am thinking (not to scale but this was drawn on graph paper first so design-wise it fits):
Here is the spreadsheet I started:
I put together a spreadsheet to estimate the weight and while i can get the weight right at the payload ON PAPER, i suspect in the real world weight will be more, perhaps significantly more so. But if I didn't fill the fresh water tank until i got to the last mile before the campsite, it might work.
Wanted to ask if anyone who has built one of these what your finished weight was, if your weight estimation was pretty close, and if it looks like I covered most all of the components. (I know if will vary significantly.) I'm not gonna force this onto a chassis that won't handle it so ok with the answer that i should give up on the 3500 single axle and go to the duellie or even to a 4500 or 5500.
I don't want to go to the duellie version of the 3500 as that adds expense not just for the truck itself, but for the conversion to super singles, lift required for the larger tires, etc. A couple of places show prices around $20k for the conversion. I could very likely DIY that as well and save on the labor cost, but trying to not complicate this or stretch the build time out. Other drawbacks include the weight of the tires when changing a flat, cost for new ones, difficulty balancing, body mods for huge tires, etc. It just snowballs...
And the 4500 or 5500 alternative loses a number of nice cab features / comfort items.
(However, the payload of the duellie version of the 3500 has a payload of around 7,200 - 7,500 lbs so lots of fun to be had outfitting it.)
Looking at this habitat box since i can fit in all mods cons we are looking for:
Wolverine Flatbed with Departure Angle Camper Shell - Total Composites
Wolverine Flatbed with Departure Angle Camper Shell The Wolverine is a premium 4-season empty truck camper shell designed and engineered by Total Composites. This empty shell comes in 2 sizes and it's specifically designed for full-size truck flatbeds. Our proprietary system of extrusions and...
totalcomposites.com
Here is the layout I am thinking (not to scale but this was drawn on graph paper first so design-wise it fits):
Here is the spreadsheet I started: