Ram Chassis Cab vs 3500 Pickup for next vehicle? Input needed! For flatbed truck camper.
- Thread starter SimplyAnAdventure
- Start date
rruff
Explorer
Your assessment is spot on. The highest stress point when you hard mount a stiff flatbed to a frame that is made to flex is at the forward mount. On a Tundra the frame rather quickly "transitions" from thick and tall closed C to thin and short open C right at the forward leaf mount. In this configuration those two will coincide. Add in a camper CG that is well aft of the axle, and this isn't surprising.
tacollie
Glamper
The guy with the Tundra discussed some of his Instagram posts. He crested a hill and either hit a wash or a bump on the other side. Judging by his other post on IG he likes driving fast off-road. He had added some cross members and did box the frame. With the bigger camper on the short bed truck it created a nice lever. He claims that his upgrades to the frame gave him an additional 2,800 lbs over stock GVWR ?
Sounds like his insurance covered him and he's already found another tundra to swap all his parts and camper to ?
RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
Regardless how much money ya throw at something, Ya can’t fix stupid ?
I have a 2015 Ram 3500 with an Alumline aluminum flatbed that supports a 2000 pd Bundutec Odyssey. 80,000 + miles, many of them offroad. The only suspension upgrades are upgraded shocks and springs in the front (Fox and Carli) and in the rear, leaf springs were rearched, added a leaf and upgraded the shocks. I am right at GVRW fully loaded. The truck handles that weight with no problems and handles well on and off road.
I considered going to a 4500 or 5500 but in many ways, they are more complex (switching out dualies for Super singles, etc) and I don't see what advantage that has. If I was hauling a heavier camper maybe.
I considered going to a 4500 or 5500 but in many ways, they are more complex (switching out dualies for Super singles, etc) and I don't see what advantage that has. If I was hauling a heavier camper maybe.
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rruff
Explorer
I looked at his IG photos and didn't see anything interesting...
Every time I've seen a Tundra frame boxed it's only the rear part. In other words he reinforced the part that was already made rock solid by the flatbed, and probably made the transition between that and the middle part of the frame even more abrupt. The part (and the only part) that might benefit from reinforcement would the transition area... and that would be adding extra plates to the 3 sides of the frame rail, not boxing it.
RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
When was the last time you did a close inspection of your frame rails under the truck close to the cab?
I wouldnt say there alot, but there are several on the Cummins forum that have reported, and posted pics of their frames cracking after hard mounting flatbeds and campers
RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
All hes doing is moving the energy around. The energy/forces have to go somewhere
RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
My C&C 5500 is the exact opposite and its boxed forward of the cab and open C channel behind the cab.
I put a goprop under it for some light offroading and the amount of movement in the frame rails was freaking nuts. Cant imagine the amount of stress on them and what would happen if it was stiffened up
RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
Also worth noting, if you look at the Classified section, the majority of them are almost new flatbed campers on 1/2 tons... Almost all say "Going to something bigger" or something along those lines.
Sooooooo.... Draw your own conclusion there.
Sooooooo.... Draw your own conclusion there.
I have the Hemi and not the diesel. I checked the frame 6 months or so ago and saw no evidence of any issues. When the flat bed was installed, they commented that flatbed installs on the diesel trucks always carried more risk. I assumed either the frames are different or the extra weight of the diesel engine were the issues.
rruff
Explorer
I think you may have misunderstood. The Tundra is the same except for a middle section that is heavy closed C... and the lighter open C starts at the forward leaf mount (regardless of bed length), and goes aft. When people box them they only do the light open C portion.
ramblinChet
Well-known member
Your are totally correct, AEV is appearance only. I guess that's why they have won multiple SEMA awards, deliver OE-quality engineering and manufacturing with 90% of parts made withing 200 miles of Detroit. Oh yeah, they design and build for Chevrolet, GMC, Jeep and RAM. Just forget about the 7,000 ft^2 R&D facility in Missoula and the 80,000 ft^2 warehouse and 120,000 ft^2 production facility in Michigan.
Carli and Thuren have <nothing significant to insert here>.
Anyway, for all the AEV lovers - here is a picture of my rig which takes me everywhere I wish. It's one of those appearance only AEV Prospector and FWC Grandby combos that weighs in wet at 8,660 pounds on a certified scale. But why should anyone worry about weight, we are just driving up and down muddy and rocky hills and such. And it all cost me around $77k delivered brand new - that included taxes, title, etc.
ski_bike_camp
Ski_Bike_Camp
I built a big rig on a RAM3500 truck. I started with a mega-cab and lengthened and "leveled" the frame. Check out the build here:
My rig weighs 13,200# with full tanks.
Some of things I used:
- BDS Leveling Kit (approx 3" in the front and not much in the back)
- Thuren Custom King 2.5. The FOX/BDS shocks were not up to the task up front. Only got 6,000miles
- Stazwerks Super Single 20" rims
- 3-point mount from the frame to my camper box. As someone mentioned, you will want some give in the flatbed attachment or there is some risk of cracking the frame.
My rig weighs 13,200# with full tanks.
Some of things I used:
- BDS Leveling Kit (approx 3" in the front and not much in the back)
- Thuren Custom King 2.5. The FOX/BDS shocks were not up to the task up front. Only got 6,000miles
- Stazwerks Super Single 20" rims
- 3-point mount from the frame to my camper box. As someone mentioned, you will want some give in the flatbed attachment or there is some risk of cracking the frame.