live2travel photography
Adventurer
Just read through the entire thing. Looks like you do some nice work. Almost all the large trucks here have crappy lifts on them. Wish people would build their rigs like you.
Help me choose a truck for a pop-up camper
- Thread starter live2travel photography
- Start date
CodyY
Explorer
Thanks. That one's for a customer. My personal rigs have taken a back seat this year. New (then full remodel) house, new baby, and now back to a day job, I haven't had time to sneeze. 2014 was tough. On me; and my marriage, 2015 is looking up though. Side jobs will be just that from here out.
I'm planning on a diesel Canyon/Colorado that will be the little brother to the #ranchtruck.
Owner of 03 duramax 4x/cc/lb w custom bed
I will reply with as much detail as i can when i get to my laptop today. And add pics. The question rolling around your mind is exactly where i was 7 months ago. Regarding truck, bed and camper. Everyone had great ideas to help me along the way but not to many that actually did what i wanted to do with the exception of two, one being the owner of the rig in your posted pic. I made a few mistakes along the way as well as good decisions. Money was the number one factor that held me back from doing exactly what i wanted.
Your truck decision IMHO is personal as u will get toms of pros and cons from here. Some opinions will be close minded. I think there r benefits to both gas & diesel. Full size or not. I love them all. Have u made up your mind between a flat bed w boxes or utility? New or used camper? Standard FWC or a flat bed FWC?
Im the original owner of my truck. Yes the 03 LB7 has had issues. But after 11.5 yrs i think i worked out the bigger ones. One being the injectors. After the second set i was determined to diagnose why. In my research and mechanical background i decided it was the filtration. After putting on an aftermarket fuel filtration system the injector issues magically vanished. I used the FASS system, one of two i looked at. And included a tank pick up tube to elevate to the chevy 1/4 tank issue. Running strong with about 75k miles. I would never own a diesel again without it. The truck has been excellent in the big picture. Not saying i would not own a newer ford or dodge or a toyota for that matter. It would be awesome to own a toyota diesel. I drive diesel fire trucks for a living and have operated large scale heavy equipment prior. Guess what they all have in common? Zero injector issues and external dual filtration. This truck was my first personal diesel. And it wont be my last. I plan on using my set up for another 6 yrs as of now.
I built a custom steel utility bed. To put on 03 2500 hd. I would NOT do it again. Labor and cost. Having never built a bed before, we, my fab guy and I, learned a lot. All the welding and cutting with my help in fabbing the puzzle took 4 months and cost me $4600 for shop time labor and material and $2500 for Linex. I shouldve pick a better linex guy. I shouldve dropped some material size. Its extremely heavy and should be on a 350/450/3500/4500. For 10k i would go to a company similar to Highway Products in Oregon or Douglas Truck bodies in Northern Ca for a custom Aluminum body. Or a used in great condition standard utility bed w modification to fit the camper. But if i was to start from scratch with any full size i might go flat bed.
Ill get back to u with pics of my build later today if u are interested.
Either way good luck in this cool journey ahead of you.
I will reply with as much detail as i can when i get to my laptop today. And add pics. The question rolling around your mind is exactly where i was 7 months ago. Regarding truck, bed and camper. Everyone had great ideas to help me along the way but not to many that actually did what i wanted to do with the exception of two, one being the owner of the rig in your posted pic. I made a few mistakes along the way as well as good decisions. Money was the number one factor that held me back from doing exactly what i wanted.
Your truck decision IMHO is personal as u will get toms of pros and cons from here. Some opinions will be close minded. I think there r benefits to both gas & diesel. Full size or not. I love them all. Have u made up your mind between a flat bed w boxes or utility? New or used camper? Standard FWC or a flat bed FWC?
Im the original owner of my truck. Yes the 03 LB7 has had issues. But after 11.5 yrs i think i worked out the bigger ones. One being the injectors. After the second set i was determined to diagnose why. In my research and mechanical background i decided it was the filtration. After putting on an aftermarket fuel filtration system the injector issues magically vanished. I used the FASS system, one of two i looked at. And included a tank pick up tube to elevate to the chevy 1/4 tank issue. Running strong with about 75k miles. I would never own a diesel again without it. The truck has been excellent in the big picture. Not saying i would not own a newer ford or dodge or a toyota for that matter. It would be awesome to own a toyota diesel. I drive diesel fire trucks for a living and have operated large scale heavy equipment prior. Guess what they all have in common? Zero injector issues and external dual filtration. This truck was my first personal diesel. And it wont be my last. I plan on using my set up for another 6 yrs as of now.
I built a custom steel utility bed. To put on 03 2500 hd. I would NOT do it again. Labor and cost. Having never built a bed before, we, my fab guy and I, learned a lot. All the welding and cutting with my help in fabbing the puzzle took 4 months and cost me $4600 for shop time labor and material and $2500 for Linex. I shouldve pick a better linex guy. I shouldve dropped some material size. Its extremely heavy and should be on a 350/450/3500/4500. For 10k i would go to a company similar to Highway Products in Oregon or Douglas Truck bodies in Northern Ca for a custom Aluminum body. Or a used in great condition standard utility bed w modification to fit the camper. But if i was to start from scratch with any full size i might go flat bed.
Ill get back to u with pics of my build later today if u are interested.
Either way good luck in this cool journey ahead of you.
ExpoMike
Well-known member
Not recommending any specific truck but given what you want to do, I HIGHLY recommend a 1 ton truck. My 3/4 ton Ram, with our FWC, ready to roll is sitting at just shy of 8600 lbs. on an 8800 GVW weight limit. Looking back, a 1 ton might have been a better option for the extra legal capacity. I have been very happy with our setup outside of wishing I had more outside storage.
My F350 1 ton is 9900 GVW so it looks like it adds 1100# rated capacity over a 3/4 ton. For people who carry a load I don't understand why someone would want a 3/4 ton, maybe it rides better but my 1 ton seems to ride well enough, for a truck anyway, even empty. I even put air bags on to keep the ride taut when loaded, I like them a lot.
As for diesel vs gas, my view is pretty tainted because I have an '04 6.0, enough said. It usually runs great, except when it hasn't. More expensive to buy, much more expensive to maintain, harder to get good service. I'm pretty sure I have spent more than what a new replacement gas engine would cost with 6.0 upgrades. When I looked into it, it seems that all of the diesels have their issues and they can all be hard to diagnose and fix when things go bad. I have never driven a gas F350 and the 6.0 provides pretty amazing performance for such a heavy beast so maybe if I drove a gas truck I might not have the same opinion - but I never plan on buying a diesel again. That said mine now has 180,000 miles and I hope to get twice that out of it (my wife put a quarter million miles on a Dodge Caravan before we sold it so I expect more than that from a truck).
As for diesel vs gas, my view is pretty tainted because I have an '04 6.0, enough said. It usually runs great, except when it hasn't. More expensive to buy, much more expensive to maintain, harder to get good service. I'm pretty sure I have spent more than what a new replacement gas engine would cost with 6.0 upgrades. When I looked into it, it seems that all of the diesels have their issues and they can all be hard to diagnose and fix when things go bad. I have never driven a gas F350 and the 6.0 provides pretty amazing performance for such a heavy beast so maybe if I drove a gas truck I might not have the same opinion - but I never plan on buying a diesel again. That said mine now has 180,000 miles and I hope to get twice that out of it (my wife put a quarter million miles on a Dodge Caravan before we sold it so I expect more than that from a truck).
live2travel photography
Adventurer
Looked at your build thread. only thing I want on mine is a sloped rear. I think it will give the rear a more offroad look instead of construction. But I like how professional your's turned out.
This seems to be what everyone says. I plan on keeping everything on the truck for trips only so it seems the 3500 is my best bet
I'm hoping to pick up a used truck that has had the majority of issues upgraded to ensure reliability.
Thanks for the info everyone
I have found a lot of variance on "tonnage" classification/definition between truck manufacturers, and even within brands (for instance, the new Ford "1/2 tons" can carry anywhere from ~1400 to ~3000 lb payload depending on model/trim). One must look at a specific model to make comparisons.
For example, when I was truck shopping I was dead set on getting a Cummins, regardless of what surrounded it. So off for a test drive of a new '06 2500 Dodge. The specific model I wanted (front bench seat) had a "No Truck Camper" restriction on it, and as you mentioned the GVWR was on the low side for the big non pop-up truck camper I was wanting to carry at the time. Okay, how about the 3500 then? It could certainly handle more load, but it had the same "No Truck Camper" restriction from Daimler.
Okay what next. My second choice was Ford, but they were having major issues with the Powerstroke I wanted no part of. Off to see the last choice, GM. Hmmm, 2500HD payload (and 9200 GVWR) was within 100lb of the Dodge 3500, no truck camper restriction, ergonomics were much better for me. Sold, and surprisingly a much better vehicle than I thought it would be, plan on keeping it at least another 3-4 years.
Shop by actual payload/GVWR numbers.
bob91yj
Resident **************
Chevy/GMC camper ratings are a piece of cake to find. Open the door to the glove box and you'll find a sticker in there with the "slide in camper" max weight. My '06 2500HD is 1489#'s. Don't assume the seemingly identical models have the same rating, for what ever reason, they don't (compared my truck to my buddies, one is a GMC one is a Chevy, same year, same options, different weight ratings (within 50lbs of each other).
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Advmoto18
Observer
Regardless of make, go for a 1 ton (F-350, Chevy 3500, Ram 3500) and you will never want for more or lack the payload overhead you wished you had.
Things pilots wish for...
Runway behind them.
Fuel they don't have.
And, sky above them.
Same goes for truck payload. You will always wish you had more.
Things pilots wish for...
Runway behind them.
Fuel they don't have.
And, sky above them.
Same goes for truck payload. You will always wish you had more.
The sticker on my 2500HD Dmax says the same thing. The glove box camper weight sticker is what you can carry if all seats are occupied, tank is full, etc. The manufacturer camper loading guide lets you figure out how much you can really carry (based on actual empty truck weight, GVRW, max axle weights, and acceptable camper CG location in the truck bed). On my 2500HD, with just me wife and dog, I carried a 2150 lb (actual wet weight not the 1648 factory sticker weight LOL) hardside camper and was within all specs.
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True true.
My problem (and I may be wrong here) with this is lets say one has an accident, and the insurance company won't pay due to being grossly overweight. Then its up to you to prove your aftermarket mods established a new GVWR rating that is acceptable for what you were carrying (proving this is likely to be more costly than sticking you with the loss). Myself, I'd just rather pick a truck payload that matches/exceeds what I want to carry, and be done with it.
Boondocker
Boondocker
I found your truck
I built this truck to do exactly what you described.
My buyer fell through this morning and my Expedition Ford Crew cab 4x4 is back
on the market.
This is mt Craigslist link.
http://cosprings.craigslist.org/cto/4821508491.html
You can also see more of my truck on EP under Expedition Platform.
If you have any question you can reply to my ad.
Good Luck and safe travels.
Boondocker
I built this truck to do exactly what you described.
My buyer fell through this morning and my Expedition Ford Crew cab 4x4 is back
on the market.
This is mt Craigslist link.
http://cosprings.craigslist.org/cto/4821508491.html
You can also see more of my truck on EP under Expedition Platform.
If you have any question you can reply to my ad.
Good Luck and safe travels.
Boondocker