Most capable, dependable, affordable truck camper truck?

[F350joe]

You can find a good, already sorted out, 7.3 diesel if you look hard enough in your price range. I flew in to AZ to get mine and the big items had already been done. If you can’t find that I would look at the newer v10s as was already suggested. There is a YouTube video for just about everything that can go wrong with any ford truck. Learn to use a multimeter, get the shop manual and a good code reader and there is really not much you can’t fix yourself. You will be better prepared in the trail if you learn to take on repairs yourself.

 

[Bayou Boy]

No reason to get a 3/4 ton when you can get a 1 ton.

Definitely. If you are starting from scratch go 350/3500. Then, since budget is limited, either go pre DEF/EGR diesel or newer large gas motor. Go Ford or Ram due to solid axle. GM trucks eat suspensions when you lift them for decent size tires. Pick the first one that meets your criteria that is a good deal. They are both good trucks.

A lot of guys posting here are just brand fanboys with little actual truck camper experience. Me and a few other guys here have dozens of thousands of miles with multiple TCs in the bed of our trucks.