Truck Camper 102 / Beginners Guide to Truck Camping Part 2
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- Опубліковано 22 тра 2024
- We set out on our truck camper adventure several years ago. Initially truck campers are very intriguing and look like something that would be very easy to get around in. They are! But while they're very easy to get around in, there are a lot of things you have to consider first. This video is a follow up to our Truck Camper 101 Video that will help to make you aware of what is necessary to consider when you're thinking about Truck Camping.
As always, we hope you find the video useful and informative!
Thanks for watching!
The Runaway Roses
#RunawayRoses #Torklift #Etrailer #truckcamperlife
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►►►►►►LIST OF OUR CAMPERS (PRESENT AND PAST)◄◄◄◄◄◄
►2020 Lance 1172 - We purchased from Southland RV in Atlanta, GA - August 2022 before our 3 week trip out west.
►2020 Bigfoot 10.4 Truck Camper - We got our 2020 Bigfoot 10.4 Truck Camper in October 2021. We were contacted by a couple of subscribers (now good friends) who had theirs up for sale in Upstate New York so we headed out on an adventure. We sold our 2014 Bigfoot 10.4 within one day of listing it online.
►2014 Bigfoot 10.4 Truck Camper - We got our 2014 Bigfoot 10.4 in August 2021 from RVOne near Charlotte, NC. Todd was headed to buy a brand new Bigfoot 10.4 just before we got the Lance 975 but when he got to Southland RV, it was sold. That's when we decided to go to the Lance 975. We knew at some point in the future we'd have a Bigfoot again and here it is.
►2021 Lance 975 - We got our new 2021 Lance 975 from Chattanooga Fish n Fun in Hixson, TN in August 2020. After looking at several models, we decided on the Lance 975 (Check out Brad's channel from Chattanooga Fish n Fun, he gives great, thorough overviews of some really nice boats and campers.) We sold the Lance 975 in August 2021.
►2019 Northern Lite 10-2 Truck Camper - Bought and delivered from Mountain Motors in Troy, MO on 12/2019 and sold it in 01/2020.
►2005 Northern Lite 10-2 Truck Camper - Picked up on 8/10/2019 we did major repairs, maintenance and renovations to this one and sold it in 12/2019.
2008 Bigfoot 21RB - Sold 12/2019, we went across country to purchase from a dealer in Pueblo Colorado.
►2006 Casita Spirit Deluxe - Sold 07/2018 when we bought our Bigfoot.
►2002 A-liner - Sold 05/2017 when bought our 2006 Casita Spirit Deluxe. - Авто та транспорт
LOL! You change campers like I change underwear! Y’all definitely need the biggest truck possible just in case! Do they make a triully? Hehehe!
Brings back old memories, started with a Dodge V-10 paired with a Lance TC that was sold by a local dealer as a package. Towed a trailer with a off-road Jeep, the V-10 could not handle western mountain grades and the MPG was quite frankly horrible (6 mpg), so I upgraded to a new 04' Ford F-350 DRW that I paired to a Lance 1121 (my wife insisted on a dry bath) and improved my IL to Utah fuel mileage to 10 mpg Truck campers have everything but floor space, spent > a year of my life in a truck camper, every month of the year I went out even in upper Midwest winters we were always warm and cozy. My only suspension upgrades were air bags, and at least in my 04' Ford 6.0 the tow haul was a transmission reduction not a true engine brake, but it worked fine.
Thanks for sharing this video. Good information for those wanting to get into truck campers. We’re currently traveling in Oregon and there are truck campers everywhere out west. After owning two travel trailers and one fifth wheel, we’ve discovered that sight seeing is so much easier with our truck camper by allowing us easy access to overlooks, small parking areas, boondocking in the National forests, etc. With trailers we were dealing with license plate fees, brakes, wheel bearings, and tires. None of that with a truck camper! We are so glad that a year and a half ago we made the switch.
Thank you for the reality in the dually v. SRW war. I travel solo, so I’ll be getting a dually. I don’t need the drama! 😉 Think you for your continued contribution to the truck camper community.
Guy’s you are putting out great content. I have a tip you might want to share with everyone about truck camper/truck compatibility. Some, not all trucks have a sticker in the glove box that pertains to truck camper loading and weight capacity. My 2020 3500 SRW Duramax Silverado has a payload capacity of 4100#, but the sticker in the glove box states if a truck camper is installed the total weight of the camper can’t exceed 3225#. This is significantly lower than the trucks stated payload. People need to be aware of this before purchasing a truck only by stated payload on the door jam.
Thanks for the comment. That is a good point about what the manufacture states is acceptable weight for truck camper use. We did partially cover that in a video about our F350. Our truck is truck camper certified per the ford specs with extra heavy front springs. I don't remember the exact amount off hand but it also states a specific weight load. I may have to talk about that more on another video one day. Thanks for the tip and thanks for watching!
I'm guessing the main point is that weight ratings usually include both axles, but when you're putting 90% of your load over your rear axle you need to consider the weight rating for the axle (which should be on the door sticker), not the truck.
Good video, thanks for sharing!
Good info again from you two. I have also found that you will generally find that commercial lease sales people are more knowledgeable than regular sales people. You should also combine that with talking to the Tech's that service the model you are looking at as well as the service manager.
Welcome back to the northern lite gang, y’all 🎉.
Good points on this video.
That on board tire pressure monitoring system looks soooo nice. You guys are so dialed in!
Always like watching your videos ,even when it didn’t apply to my adventures as far as the camper! But recently bought a new 2023 northern lite 8-11 wet bath limited after selling my 5th wheel 36 foot toy hauler! So much for downsizing slowly lol 😂! Wanted to be more nimble and explore further ! Had a dually before current F350 srw and its my daily driver as well so I like it better then dually ! But I have factory truck camper package on this truck and added timbrens and upper stable loads and it rides and handles great ( Probably upgrade shocks in near future) But you can easily become overweight quickly for sure! I’m looking forward to travels out west ( from western Pennsylvania) ! Been watching your channel for long time and had my sights set on only norther lite if I went the truck camper route ! Let adventures begin and maybe run into you guys in future travels!
Great info. Hopefully new truck campers listen to your accurate message regarding capacity vs online chats, where being overweight is often downplayed. It’s an expensive lesson.
Thank you for this series of Video's. Seriously debating getting a truck Camper for wife and I. Great tips that I didn't know.
Thank you for the VOD. Great info.
I'm loving your beginners' guide series. I hope you'll go back to Cat and weigh the entire rig with the gas and water-storage tanks full.
One of the perks of having the Ford is the availability of the Canon extension. Baby brother to the super truss.
Exploring the fact of getting a truck and northern lights, have not done any truck camping. your information about the hitches the suspension etc good stuff .
Stopped really using my airbags after getting stableloads. Run standard air pressure now - 15psi. Much more effective engaging the overload springs. Don't need my felling wedge mod anymore either
Good stuff..
That’s what I run is a 36” super Hitch that’s rated at 20K and they make a stronger one but 20K is good for my needs and bonus is they drill a hole on each side so your sway bar links bolt right on and that is slick and it looks factory and no u bolt around the frame that looks like somebody put some stuff togather to make .
Thank you, well done.
Love your videos! This was a good one!
They say a dullay is hard to park and go threw any drive threw I’ve ever come across like the bank drive threw is the tight one but all the rest are a piece of cake . And if you blow a rear tire on a single wheel truck your in trouble with that 4000 lb camper on back it’s not good and could be a wreck going to a happening and if you blow a rear tire on a dullay you just say dam I got a tire that went down and even better you can have 2 flat tires and keep trucking to the tire shop.
I put some Bilstiens shocks on the silver ones like a 5100 but not sure the no but they are stock ride or 2” lift but they are the best shocks for hauling a bigger TC the ride is absolutely the best but when empty that are pretty stiff and I have the 7000 air bags with compressor and 2 gallon air tank and I slide fuel line over all my air lines and it’s remote and I did a rear anti sway bar on the rear and I have a long bed dullay 4x4 with 4 door cab and it drives and handles like a sports car and with a big camper and the dullays there is no comparison between singles and dummy’s and when not hauling you run your Dulles at 40 psi and it tells you this on the sticker from factory and I bought this Dodge 3500 in 05 and went looking for a Bigfoot that was a 05 and after a year I found a very clean 95 Foot and I have a extended truss hitch so I can pull my jet boat and it is one sweet rig and Iam a old retired car hauler for GM so I’ve got a 6 speed manual and a manual 4x4 selector. I have 152K on the clock and Iam getting 13 miles per gallon when fully loaded with TC and boat !!
Long time viewer.. congrats on the milestones, love your channel..
We have northern lite8-11 so we understand why you keep going back to the brand..
A tip we learned was to add bed mat in the area around the wheel wells. Bring to the same level as your under camper mat..this helps with lateral stability of the camper..
Love your videos!
Thank You so much for sharing
Come to Oregon, dang it! 😊
The sticker on our 2017 Arctic Fox 1140 shows 3900 pounds. With very little of anything in the truck camper and only 10 gal of water, paper plates, paper everything minimal clothes small amount of food in the refrigerator our camper weights a whopping 5200 lbs. 😏 these numbers they put on these campers are somewhat bogus because the only upgrades we have is a generator one solar panel and air conditioning. They must weigh these units before they put the heavy wood cabinetry in. 😳😳
If you want a diesel get a 450 truck and weight won’t be a problem ever if you want a gasser you can use a 350 but Dulles are the way to go their hand eking is like nite and day .
Will I need to mod a typical camper's jacks to clear my 8ft wide flatbed/dump bed? Wasnt planning on camping with it when I bought the truck but now I cant stop thinking about the idea. It's setup as a dumptruck so it should haul great.
Todd have you found anything to stop that ufly black streak from the ac draining around the front of the side awning and down the propane door ?
In your experience, are the all fiberglass campers like northern lite heavier than aluminum frame lance , apples to apples? Thank you for the video
What is the difference in "functionality" between upper stable loads and timbrens ? Why would you get both ? If one of them is not enough ? Contemplating my options to reduce sag and front to bag sway.
I am going to give my opinion on trucks for a slide in camper. A lot of people will purchase a F-350 or a ram 3500 and then add several thousands dollars of after market accessories to set it up to handle the load. I ran the numbers befor i purchased my new truck and camper this year. I purchased a northern lite 10-2 and a ram 4500. I ran the numbers and by the time i purchased the oversized front and rear sway bars, air bags system, helper springs for the rear , switched out the front springs to a stronger pair to handle the load, put on stable loads and everything else without labor cost to install everything it was going to cost $4100.00 more that what a 1.5 ton truck cost me and i never have to worry about some service writer saying that my warranty is void because of the after market parts i put on it. Thats just my opinion. But i would suggest looking at the F-450 or ram 4500 before making the purchase of a one ton truck.
A lot of F 450 have less pay load than a F350,it is a heavier truck and add a diesel and the numbers go way down.
@keiths1088 that's why I went with the ram 4500 with the 4.44 gears and the heavy tow package
What’s the number on your door stick for combined weight of occupants and cargo for your 4500 ? My F350 is 6507 I have a 2023 Northern 10-2 .
@@keiths1088 gvwr is 19500 lbs, payload is 9150 lbs, max trailer is 28870 lbs
To get numbers like that in a Ford you would have to go to a F-550 and ford doesn’t make a pickup that size ,it would be a cab chassis
Thanks for the great infos. We bought a Siverado 2500HD this winter and really hoping to have a truck camper for the upcoming summer season. What would you recommend to bring with you to inflate the tires if needed ? does a small compressor could work?
I bring a portable Viair air compressor with us as well as a 8 ton bottle jack and all the needed tools. Thanks for watching!
Great video. Thanks. Does your F-350, with the 7.3 gas engine, have the power to handle your payload? In other words, are you happy and satisfied with its performance? I've been considering the same setup as you have.
So far we have been very happy with our F350 7.3L gas truck. It has plenty of power and has no problem hauling our truck camper around. If you spend a lot of time in the mountains it may be worth having a diesel with the extra power and exhaust brake. Or if you plan to haul and tow something heavy together it may be worth having the diesel. But honestly I have been very happy with the 7.3 gas motor. Thanks for watching!
‘20 F350 DRW 7.3 Gas w/. ‘23 Lance 975 … No issues at all … 10.4 mpg TN to TX
Hey Guys, question on towing rate with a Truck camper. I have a older Dodge Ram 1500 I use for towing toys. I recently bought a travel Lite truck camper. I was worried about the weight as I am pretty close to my payload limit. It swayed a little, but I added air bags and now it seams to handle the Camper with no problem. I would now really like to tow my 19ft boat too. I typically remove the tailgate when adding the camper so my regular hitch is accessible. I am probably very close to my payload limit, but wondered if I could tow the boat as well. I don’t believe the tongue weight is excessive on the boat trailer because the truck never sagged at all with the boat only even prior to adding bags. Any thoughts on this and how can I calculate Payload & Towing, are the separate or additive?
Hi Restoreamerica, Thanks for the question. To be honest it sounds like you're asking a lot out of a half ton truck, especially an older one that doesn't have the capabilities that some of the newer ones have. I don't know what your camper weighs. You may want to figure that out first, then estimate maybe another 500 lbs +/- worth of stuff you put in it. If you know what your boat and trailer weigh you could estimate 10-15% of that as tongue weight. I would suggest loading your camper up and weighing it at a Cat Scale to know what the total weight is. That way you can find out if you have extra payload available for the trailers tongue weight. I would stay within the truck's specs. They payload should be on the sticker inside your door jam. Good Luck and be safe out there. Thanks for watching!
Todd, do you have any thoughts on dual alternator/ battery for the truck. I’m looking to change my ford dually flatbed for a new GMC gas. Like to charge camper with truck.
Just put a dc to dc charger in my northern lite to power the 600ah lithium battery bank. Turns out the factory alternator (2017 ram 3500 Cummins) didn’t need to even be upgraded because at the fullest of full usage without the dc charger, I was utilizing about 40% of the alternator. Even with the 50ah dc charger, I am still at about 70% capacity under full usage.
Just food for thought!😊
It sounds like downbytheriver501 knows more about it than me. I have thought about putting a dc to dc charger on but I haven't got around to doing it. I haven't had a need for a dual alternator so far. I question if that's just one more thing to possibly go bad and wonder if the truck will run with one good alternator and one bad one. If just by chance one does go bad. I have a friend that has an old Ford Van with a 7.3 diesel with two alternators one of the two did go bad and he couldn't drive his van till he replaced it. But that is an old van so maybe the newer trucks don't have that problem. Sorry I'm not much help. Thanks for watching!
Todd and Carla another awesome vlog. We are considering trading or selling our 2022 Grand Design 303RLS Fifth wheel for a truck camper but are having a tough time believing manufacturers on the weight of their models.
We have a 2021 Ram 3500 dually tradesman with a payload of 5562 and GVWR of 14,000 Lbs. Would your Northern Lite be too much for this truck? I noticed you traded your RAM because maybe because you were overweight with your RAM but I believe it was with a Lance at the time.
Also love my engine brake with my Cummins because even without towing I feel RAM undersized it's brakes.
Bob the northern lite 10-2 comes in at around 3300 lbs dry
Bob, I am curious if your ram has a rear anti sway bar as I get the impression Ram didn't seem to offer that or at least not standard equipment. I hear you on camper manufactures fudging the weights, some have played games with using a weight number of a bare bones unit and not accounting for added items such as built in generator, air con, awnings, no batteries and so on and of course its always a dry weight. I looked up the swaybar offerings for your pickup on both Hellwig and Roadmaster, and without a doubt in this case Roadmaster makes far larger anti swaybars for your unit and all of the big three can use all the help they can get with swaybars, stable loads etc to give the best stability possible, it makes a HUGE difference if caught in a side wind and going around curves etc. While you would have to check with Roadmaster to ensure fitment, from what I see on their website they offer a factory replacement front bar that is 1 5/8 in diameter, and a rear swaybar to fit where there was no factory oem unit and its 1 1/2 in diameter. Those are some beefy bars !. I pushed my brother into swapping out his front/rear factory ford units on a 2006 dually a few years ago ( his camper would be somewhat heavier than the Northern Lite we believe ) and he already had a spring shop put two more leaves in each spring pack, air bags and ran it that way for a few scary years and while it carried the weight, the handling was unsafe and unpredictable. And then he added upper/lower stable loads a few years after that and they certainly helped but those upgraded anti sway bars finally made that truck handle like it should have from day one with a top heavy load like a camper with basement system for holding tanks. By the way airbags typically do NOT add to stability like a lot have assumed, in fact they reduce stability as they are pumped up as it takes weight off of the main springs and now puts it onto those airbags. Ideally if a person is using a truck like this pretty much exclusively hauling the camper, adding more leaf springs per side if required is really the best solution ( but rides rough empty then ). Those sway bars are not cheap, but if you plan on keeping your truck for a number of years its worth it if you feel its not handling the top heavy load of a slide in camper.
@@charlesb4267 the problem is that people buy a truck that is no heavy enough to handle the load. By the time you spend all the money and timeto upgrade a F-350 or any one ton truck you would be better off buying a F-450 or ram 4500. Before I purchased my 4500 , ran the numbers and to put all the over size sway bars, air bags, helper springs, timbermans, and upgrading the front spring package to set it up to handle the truck camper I was way over the purchase price of a F-450 or the ram 4500. I saved $4100.00 by purchasing the bigger truck. Plus I didn't have the headache of having to deal with putting all that crap on and I never have to worry about some service writer saying you voided your warranty.
@@boondockingamerica I hear you as per going to the largest campers on the market, one tons were never designed for that weight but I feel the Northern Lite is still in that weight range that is ok for the one ton, its that some of these trucks can't carry the weight the manufacture claims they can as to the amount of sag they experience in the spring pack as well as not even having a rear sway bar from the factory. An F 450 for example, one would assume it should carry more but in fact it can't even carry quite as much as an F 350 because it has the very same rear spring pack, crazy but that is how they designed it. I have friends who have had a Northern Lite on a Ford one ton dating back 20 years and said it did handle it ok but they wanted to upgrade to a new version of the camper and bought a Ram 5500 with a deck and build boxes in the area ahead of the rear portion of the camper on each side and tow a trailer behind and wanted a truck that had no problems with whatever they decided to pack with. The lance camper that Todd had ( it never was said why they sold it .... ) , in my estimation that was just too much to ask for out of a one ton truck once that unit was loaded up with water and supplies.
I have a question, hope it's not a dumb one. I have a Northern Lite 811. I haven't got to use it yet, I'm waiting on a truck on order. I have had a Lance and a Eagle Cap truck camper in the past. The Northern Lite doesn't seem to hang down in the back as much as the others. Have you ever seen anybody try to load with tailgate stlll on the truck in the down position?
I haven't seen anyone try to load an 8-11 on a truck with the tailgate in place. So I don't know if that would work. I would guess that it would Not work because the drain hose connection may be hanging down and in the way. But I don't know for sure. Thanks for watching!
I have had Truck campers since 1980. I had 2 LANCE campers that were both JUNK, and the Company did nothing to fix the problems. Do NOT
Buy a Lance. Very expensive headaches and NO company support for problems. I am in Ohio and they wanted me to bring it to California to fix it,
and NOT for free. They Both had severe leaks that did not show up for 6 Months. By that time the floor was rotted and had to be replaced.
Tire air pressure question::
I have michelin E rated tires on my dually.
The stamp on the Tire says 80 psi cold for max load ..
The door sticker on the truck says
65 psi cold for max load for the rear tires.
Which one is correct 🤔
I was thinking the same thing! I have a F350 dually with a 10.2 also. Same door sticker.
That’s very unusual. I’d wager siding with the tire over the door sticker. 65 sounds like a D rated tire. I’d research and find out what tires your vehicle came with from the factory and that may solve the dilemma
That is a good question. In my old Ram it said 80 psi front and I think 75 psi rear on the door sticker. The tires were rated for 80 psi. However on my Ford F350 it says cold pressure 75psi front and 65 psi rear. I am going to go off the door sticker even though it's lower than the tire rating. It's rated that way for a reason I'm sure so I'll just take comfort in knowing that I have plenty capability for tire expansion under added pressure. When tires heat up they can sometimes go up by 10 psi +/- over the cold pressure. I don't want to recommend anyone over pressurize their tires over what is recommended. Thanks for watching!
It's always best to use the tire. Manufactors recommendations for pressure depending on the load you have. Too little tire pressure and your tires will overheat and blow out. Too much pressure will cause stability and traction problems. You should weigh your truck loaded, Weigh the front and rear axles separate, Then look up the tire manufacturers chart for pressure per load for each tire.
I have a 2020 F450 with a capacity of 4850 . What would be a good camper in my weight capacity to start looking at . I also have Firestone 7500 air bags on it as I have a 40’ 5thwheel I have pulled and in process of trying to sell .
I can't really recommend a camper but make sure you check the weight of the campers you are looking at. The fact that you are aware of paying attention to the camper weight and the trucks capacity, I'm sure you'll find something that will work. Thanks for watching!
@@RunawayRoses
Which brands are considered to weigh less that are of good quality
Have you found an easy way to take the tailgate off
No I haven't found an easy way to remove the tailgate. It does make it a lot easier when two people carry it. Thanks for watching!