travelnutz
West Michigan - On the Lakeshore
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Joined: 04/09/2006
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TCJohn,
Yup! 4 times 3750 lbs is 15,000 lbs if you could only distribute all the weight evenly. You'll most likely find that with a hard sided camper of the 9' to 10' size, you'll have much more on the rear wheel/tires than the front wheel/tires. Again, it's the weakest link in the chain syndrom! As I said, my Michelin 265/75/16 E's have a 3415 capacity per tire and mounted on the one ton truck chrome plated HD steel wheels and I have yet to overload them front (6830) or rear (6830) or 13,660 total. I know because I've weighed it several times with our different RV'ing configurations on the truck. Luckily, it doesn't cost me anything for weighing fees because, let's just say, "it's all in the family".
Wheels for a 17" 3750 lb capacity tire is harder to find than hen's teeth.
2004 Chev 2500HD D/A crew cab LB 4X4 - Air Bags - Loaded
915 Lance Camper with 2'X 8' rear porch (my own design n build)
29 ft Carri-lite 5th wheel - 1 large slide - specially built
36 ft Carriage - 3 axle 5'er -NOW SOLD- Looking at some new 5'ers
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TC John
Chihcago
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I have found some Alcoa Wheel in the 17 size and some other forged aftermarket wheels that will hold 3500 pounds per wheel....I am sure they will hold more but like all products of this nature over engineered...even at 3500 pounds that gives me plenty of room with the 3750 tires. Getting rid of the cast wheels is what I am after and looks like I am in luck.
That gives me a total of 14,000 pounds.....which I am sure is way more than I need...I weighed my camper in the rear and its 3000 pounds now without the truck camper...I am sure the camper loaded will be around 3500 pounds or so...how is the weight going to be distributed I am not sure of as of yet.
I can only guess at maybe 60 percent of that might end up on the rear..even if 2500 pounds ends up there I am still only 6500 pounds total on the rear which gives me some cushion...
I will keep you posted on the final weights...lets just see what a SRW truck can handle and still be in check with the saftey
I recently had the bed stacked with drywall so I am thinking this is going to be about the same weight....
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travelnutz
West Michigan - On the Lakeshore
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Joined: 04/09/2006
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TCJohn,
I think you're going to find approx 75% to 80%+ of the camper's base weight is on the rear wheels with a 9 1/2' camper with a COG of about 56" to 60". More so with a longer camper floor length or a short bed model. That is why the how and where you load the heavy cargo items becomes your best friend.
BTW, I have approx 30 gallons of gray water capacity in our Lance 915 by using my added 6.5 gallon Porti-Pottie and adding a simple slider dump valve after the OEM valves which are left open so the gray water can flow to both OEM waste tanks and empties like the OEM by opening the added slide valve. The new valve is just added on to the original OEM dump opening outside the camper. Twist it on or twist it off to remove the added valve from the original setup. With these above changes, Double waste tanks, the 6.5 gallon dump anywhere Porti-Pottie, the 30 gallon water tank plus the 6 gallons that are in the hot water heater, the 5 cubic ft refrigerator/freezer, the EU2000 Honda generator, the 1500 watt inverter with it's batteries having 675 minutes of 23 amp draw that can be quickly recharged with the Honda generator and my 40 amp automatic deep cycle charger, etc, we can go anywhere and boondock and stay in "like home" total comfort including A/C or heat for about 2 weeks without needing any outside support/utilities, running the truck engine, or adding any fuel etc. Not bad for a truck camper! Also, not one dime spent on CG's, resorts, or stores! You're only limited by your mind ability as to what you can do if you really want to.
As a side note!
I researched all the pop up truck campers specs 8' to 10.5' floor length I could think of (7) and found they all have an actual camper shell (box) max width of about 7' or less. I checked the cheapies and the expensive ones. Some gave their width over and including the camper jacks but subtracting the 2 camper jack's width made them actually less to much less than 7' wide of useable camper width. The majority of the more popular hard sided truck campers as well as mine have an actual shell (box) width of 7' 8" (92") min to 8 full feet (96"). That's an approximate one CUBIC foot (12" X 12" X 12") of additional usable room inside for each and every foot of the camper's wall length and height. Like approx 70-90 cubic feet! The normal home refrigerator is around 20 cubic feet is size so that's approx 3-4 refrigerators size of additional room usable inside a hard sided camper of the same floor length. This considerable extra amount of usable cubic footage/storage room tells me why they the pop ups seem so small, narrow aisled, and confined inside and also lack the needed storage room normal camping people need. The interior space/width difference between the two types of campers is very obvious when you're inside of them!
* This post was
edited 08/17/08 10:38pm by travelnutz *
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TC John
Chihcago
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A pop up was not even a consideration...I like to stop and walk into my camper without feeling like a lolypop kid!
80 percent means I will have about...6000 pounds on the rear...figuring its 3000 pounds now and the camper being wet at 3700.. I wil put the alcoa forgings on.,,..only 25 pounds!
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travelnutz
West Michigan - On the Lakeshore
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Joined: 04/09/2006
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TCJohn,
I know you said a pop up wasn't even a consideration. I was just sharing what the researched real facts/information is and why the "lollypop kid" feel was so darn prevelent when inside a pop up camper. I wonder how many other people have noticed the same "confined feeling" when in a pop up camper even with the top up especially with the really low, wiggle into when entering, door height they have?
You are a smart logical person for doing the right and safe alterations with your truck setup. Sure wish everyone else cared that much!
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TC John
Chihcago
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In one of the posts I just read about the guy that has owned two Pop up campers..he is now wanting to sell them or has sold them because he finally figured out he needs a hard side...it took him two trys but he finally gets it. There are so many posts on this subject that it shocks me why you would want on of those.......
now the best post I just read was this one "for some reason I get better mileage with my hardside than my old popup!"
I love that one. I got some forged wheels...not too hard to find that are rated at 3500 but would probably take more...so I am comfortable having not to succomb to the 19.5 deal. I dont need one of those huge lance campers/Host/etc.
According to one conservative truck camper builder people are trading in the heavy campers now and are comming to their senses...
They buy the Three slide camper and then trade them in....that came from a well known truck camper salseman on the east coast.
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Reddog1
El Dorado, CA (above the fog & below the snow)
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Joined: 03/09/2004
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TC John wrote:I have had race cars for years and know some people in the wheel industry so I talked to a few and they told me when it comes to Aluminum wheels that are cast you wont find any wheels more than the 3000 pound capacity.
Respectfully, you were given outdated or incorrect information on the cast Aluminum wheels. My Vision wheels are stamped with a 4000 pound rating. This is not what I was told, but what I saw. I too know several people in the wheel industry, and they can only tell you what their exposure is, and do not try to tell you what the entire wheel industry has.
Wayne
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scottz
Big Lake, MN
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Joined: 12/30/2004
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TC John wrote:
I have a SRW 2500 HD with some #3750 tires and would like to know how big I can go in a camper without being too stupid in size.
I have a similar truck. I consider my setup safe, check out my signature, camper is 10.5'. Let me know if you have any questions.
2004 Silverado 2500HD, Crew-LB, 6L-Gas, 4x4, Air-Bags, Hypertech III, Rancho 9000X/XL, Pirelli Scorpion ATR 265/75-16
2005 Lance 1030, Happijac Tiedowns, Lifeline AGM Batteries
2006 Tritontrailer ATV168 4 place, 2001 Kodiak, 2003 Trailblazer
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D&SBarnes
San Antonio, Tx
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Joined: 05/13/2005
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It doesn't really matter if your truck is a dually, SRW 1 ton or 3/4. If it can carry the 3000 pounds in the back, the ride will in all likelihood be rough when it is unloaded unless you have a fully adjustable air ride suspension.
My (LD) 2500 rode no better than my current 3500 dually, in fact the dually is better because it is a crewcab vs the 2500 regular cab just because of the longer wheelbase. The 2500 I tried to keep a bed cap and tool boxes loaded nearly all the time just to tolerate it.
Both vehicles were intended to haul susbstantial weight on steel springs, so neither one was going to ride like a sedan.
Progressive spring rates in multiple leaf spring packs can slightly help the ride, but nearly all brands and models of trucks use them now. I haven't experienced a (3/4 or greater tonage) truck yet that didn't ride & handle like one. A lesser truck is not really going to be suitable for toting a TC with tanks and facilities.
It is the price you have to pay to play.
Dave & Sue,
DINKS and dedicated to having fun as much as possible.
05 GMC LT crewcab dually
07 Northern Lite 10.2 CD SE, highly optioned version...
A lot comes on a SE.
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TC John
Chihcago
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I knew about the Vision claim.......however that being said not one of has the ability to check this information to see if its true...The vision is a chinese wheel and that alone makes me nervous...for obvious reasons.......in the world I know ,its hard to beat a forged wheel......Alcoa still stands out as the leaders in this wheel market......Forged and light....I probably will go with a forged wheel that is light and strong and will not crack or break in a big way if you were to hit a bump/pothole etc. Casting here in the USA is starting to use the "squeeze casting " method for wheel constuction and it is pretty good.but still not forged.
Too quote a good friend of mine who was a wheel designer at Alcoa and now a GM design engineer told me today and I quote: " A cast wheel cost about $15.00 to make and the forged wheel cost about $50.00 to make......now you know the rest of the story"
My truck is unloaded currently with airbags at 5 pounds and its an extended cab and rides pretty good. Much better than my 2002 dually.
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