Am I out of luck with a hard sided camper?
- Thread starter twitchee2
- Start date
Dustytires
New member
I used to have a tongue pull toy hauler, so the lift was not a problem. Then the kids grew up and we sold the trailer and downsized to camper, but I did not want to un-lift the truck or give up my 34/35" tires! In hindsight the biggest mistake was not taking the camper and truck to Deaver immediatly and getting proper springs. I imagine there are at least 1 spring maker in every city in the US, it aint exactly high tech its just mechanical know how. I really don't need the 19.5s, the Dura Grapplers are pretty tough compared to all the other E rated tires in the 34" range I have burned up in 250k miles, but I got 5 rims off Pirate Offroad classified for $400 and mounted them with lowish priced Double Coin 265/70 tires off EBay. These type of tires wear like iron! Nothing like normal E rated tires. I run them at 70 front 90 rear and after almost 20 thousand miles they hardly show any wear. I read about how long commercial grade tires would last, and watching tread wear on these they will outlast at least 3 sets of E rated, I should have paid the extra for some Hancook DH01 or Toyo 608 as they would probably be quieter than the Double Coin RLB490. The tread shape on the Double Coin are a bit too perpindicular to travel, the reality is the noise is only noticeable when at mid speeds, at highway speed the wind around the camper is way higher than the tires!
Unless one goes to a 450 or 550 class truck all you need to do is add springs and tires. easily bought and installed to get the capacity up. Look at the huge weight contracters are putting on their 2500 and 3500 class trucks, they ain't smoking rear ends and the gearing works as well so go jump around inside a camper and see if you can handle the small space then have fun!
Unless one goes to a 450 or 550 class truck all you need to do is add springs and tires. easily bought and installed to get the capacity up. Look at the huge weight contracters are putting on their 2500 and 3500 class trucks, they ain't smoking rear ends and the gearing works as well so go jump around inside a camper and see if you can handle the small space then have fun!
Mundo4x4Casa
West slope, N. Ser. Nev.
I think I am the 'jeff' mentioned above. my friends call me jefe (Hay'-fay). If you control the sway and add some suspension help on the back, you should be O.K. with a hard side. Since you live in So. Cal, my advice is to get a pop up camper. It will glide under the trees easier and have a slightly lower COG, compared to a hard side. A hard side will be taller, quieter, warmer, maybe heavier, and better equipped to take on long trips, off-season. My Dodge has a 3" lift, which I think would translate to a 6" lift on a Chevy, as they sit pretty low to start with: front and rear with 8 leaves on the back (3 are upper secondaries, or overloads) There is a thicker helper down low in the pack which works great when the rig is MT. Down at the end you can see the Jet Black Stable Load block:
You know, after looking at the pic above again, I should just cut and chamfer the lower overload springs down to about 10" long as the suspension will never, ever flatten enough to bottom out on the thick overload.
A lot depends on which rear end you have. Is it an 11.5 AAM? If so, you can massage the suspension to keep the rig flat. Do you have the upper secondary or overload springs? I hope so. If not, use lower Stable Loads. My Chevy 2 series buddies swear by them. More leaves. Thicker anti-sway bar. Hairier shocks. For you, maybe double adjustable shocks on the rear. Air bags (which i do not recommend because of the recoil) Timbrens. Stable Loads. Mine work fine. My little Lance weighs around 1845 pounds, wet, and loads up to around 2680 pounds. I use 15.5" wide super singles on the back, on 12" wide rims to spread the load wider with less ground pressure (good for sand) and work the tire pressure to be appropriate for the terra I'm rolling on.
Look for my trip report above on Death Valley. There are some tire pressure talks in there. In the end, very few truck camper people adhere to the printed, factory specs on loading for very long before they start the inexorable climb to a more capable place with the suspension, with or without the sanction of the Big 3 Lawyers. I'd keep the lift but do a lot more suspension work.
regards, jefe
You know, after looking at the pic above again, I should just cut and chamfer the lower overload springs down to about 10" long as the suspension will never, ever flatten enough to bottom out on the thick overload.
A lot depends on which rear end you have. Is it an 11.5 AAM? If so, you can massage the suspension to keep the rig flat. Do you have the upper secondary or overload springs? I hope so. If not, use lower Stable Loads. My Chevy 2 series buddies swear by them. More leaves. Thicker anti-sway bar. Hairier shocks. For you, maybe double adjustable shocks on the rear. Air bags (which i do not recommend because of the recoil) Timbrens. Stable Loads. Mine work fine. My little Lance weighs around 1845 pounds, wet, and loads up to around 2680 pounds. I use 15.5" wide super singles on the back, on 12" wide rims to spread the load wider with less ground pressure (good for sand) and work the tire pressure to be appropriate for the terra I'm rolling on.
Look for my trip report above on Death Valley. There are some tire pressure talks in there. In the end, very few truck camper people adhere to the printed, factory specs on loading for very long before they start the inexorable climb to a more capable place with the suspension, with or without the sanction of the Big 3 Lawyers. I'd keep the lift but do a lot more suspension work.
regards, jefe
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bob91yj
Resident **************
Here's my set up. I too have a 6" lift and 35's on my Sierra 2500 Dmax (hindsight being 20/20, I'd lose the lift/tires).
It's loaded to the gills in that pic. I have an '05 Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited in the trailer, along with too much other crap.
Obviously not a hard side, the pop up with roof air meets our needs for four season capability(The roof air was another mistake, should have put a window rattler in the back window, it is nice that it is designed to run on a Honda 2kw generator, live and learn). My camper was actually built for a Ford Ranger, so it's narrow, and I have to sit it on a platform to clear the truck cab.
Offroad capability is not what I had hoped for, but it gets us there (eventually, VERY SLOW on rough roads). We usually just flat tow the Jeep. Truck gets us to camp, Jeep is for having fun/exploring.
It's loaded to the gills in that pic. I have an '05 Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited in the trailer, along with too much other crap.
Obviously not a hard side, the pop up with roof air meets our needs for four season capability(The roof air was another mistake, should have put a window rattler in the back window, it is nice that it is designed to run on a Honda 2kw generator, live and learn). My camper was actually built for a Ford Ranger, so it's narrow, and I have to sit it on a platform to clear the truck cab.
Offroad capability is not what I had hoped for, but it gets us there (eventually, VERY SLOW on rough roads). We usually just flat tow the Jeep. Truck gets us to camp, Jeep is for having fun/exploring.
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