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Pickups Pickups - Archived Discussions Cabover Campers & Camper Trailers (pickups) 
1377 messages, Last post on Nov 20, 2003 at 1:43 PM
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Dang, I wish you would have asked that yesterday when I brought the camper to work. The logbook is in the truck, and it is at home today, and I'm driving the 1500. I think we averaged about 14 mpg. Don't know why it is down about 1 mpg from last year, but it was. Could be the taller tires (I added 5% to the miles each tank to account for the height difference) changing the effective final drive ratio, or maybe the air deflector I added to the front of the camper, or maybe higher speeds. We got our best mileage up in the Colo Rockies going up Pikes Peak, Mt. Evan and into Rocky Mountain National Park. Lower mileage cruising across the plains. The worst tank was probably in the 12's and the best was in the mid to hi 15's. Don't quote me on that, it is from a frequently defective memory. I do remember paying $100 (Canadian) to fill the tank in Labrador City. The oil minder finally went off in the middle of Newfoundland - 7200 miles from the last oil change! Not bad considering I had about 1500 miles of around town on the oil before we left. I carried the Mobil 1 and filter with us, and paid $10 (US) to have it changed in the middle of almost nowhere. Mike L |
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can be fun, if you can get away from the crowds. If you're going after Labor Day, that should make it quieter. Vince is dead right, it can be a zoo. Especially during the summer and on holidays. The 4th of July is pretty spectacular there. The fireworks displays that the campers and local beach-front residents put up are often better than the professional display that the town of Pismo puts up on Pismo pier. I lived up that way for 25 years, and used to ride dirt bikes in the dunes before they fenced them off (to protect some obscure weed, I think). My daughter lives in one of the houses on the beach in Oceano (that's one spot where you actually drive onto the beach. Take Grand Avenue in Arroyo Grande to US1, head south on US1 to the next light in Oceano - Juan's Cantina is on the NW corner - then head west about 3 blocks to the beach... If you're coming from the north, you can pick up US1 right in Pismo, then head south a couple of miles to Oceano/Juan's. Be prepared to pay a day-use fee. I'm not sure how much, but $40 rings a bell. You might want to check that out before you go. Bring a 12-volt air compressor... letting a bunch of the air out of your tires will make a bigger footprint on the soft sand and give you lots better traction, and you'll need to pump 'em back up after you get back on pavement. And watch the tides. (My wife used to drive around in her J-10 Jeep pickup on weekends and pull 4x2 folks out of the sand after they got stuck. The tow guys - and some of the camper guys with 4x4's - charge a bundle of money for that, she did it just for kicks...) JT |
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Thanks guys for the info. on the tires. My stock tires have been great so far, (Steeltex 245/75-16E)but when I do replace them, I'll more than likely go with MICHELIN. Come winter, I change over to my narly M/S studed tires & an extra set of rims & several hundred lbs. of sand bags. Get around in the snow with no problem. If I go to Pismo in Sept. I'll be well informed, thanks to Vince& JT. My main reason for going there was to try & find a Manx type dune buggy, & If not, I might head over to the Ruby Mountains in Nevada..a great place to have a buggy. Filled up my propane tank this morning..might need my heater this week end. Twenty nine this AM, but then, It's Truckee! |
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| I don't know if you are referring to a use fee at Oceano but at Pismo proper it's about $4 to enter. I don't know if they even check the days but probably it's per day. Airing down the tires really does help but I didn't do it because I didn't want to bother filling up again. As long as you are careful you can get away with it. The tide warning is wise; that beach is so flat the water really comes a ways up. | |
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From time to time I have thought about dropping the Sunlite pop up onto my EZ dumper trailer (with the sides and back removed) so that I could move it around when it is not on the truck. Today at the lumberyard I saw a guy who had dropped his camper onto the very back end of a low bed trailer like the lawn service guys use. He had propped it up on half a dozen random 2by whatevers, and secured it to the trailer by a heavy duty nylon load binder that went up over the roof of the camper. Then I noticed that the front end of the camper was held down to the trailer with a log chain that went over the roof of the cabover portion. (He had put a couple of 2x4s on the corners of the roof to protect them) The chain was tightened with a heavy duty chain binder. Looked like an exercise in destructive testing underway. I don't know how the guy made it to the lumber yard with the rig in this position. Nearly all of the main body of the camper was behind the second set of wheels of the tandem trailer and he had nothing up front in the trailer to counterbalance it. Maybe he was in buying bags of sand. I'll keep an eye on the newspapers to see what happened. I enjoyed Vince's description of the jack collapse in Montana and how the horse shoe blacksmith got the wreck back together. Wonderful what a guy with an anvil and forge can do. |
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Hello everyone. I am been in the Dodge owners groups for a few years and I am now looking for advice from you guys. I have a 2001 Dodge Dakota Quadcab 4x4, 4.7 v8, 3.92 rear, auto. I am looking at getting a popup truck camper. Does anybody have any opinions on the Four Wheel Campers popups? Its the Eagle model and its about 690lbs dry. It is for a short bed, and mine is a mini bed  5'3". The Manufacturer said that the camper will fit my truck great with the tailgate down. Also, is it possible to leave the camper on its jacks at the park so the truck can be used without unhooking power? Do I need any sort of stand under the floor also? Do you have any recommendations on jacks? Thanks for everyones input, you have all given me alot to think about looking through the old posts. I hope you will all continue with your excellent banter. Robert |
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We've talked about those subjects in the past. Four Wheel campers are a respected brand of popup camper. They are lightweight and judging by the 10-20 year old ones I've seen on the road quite durable. It turns out some campgrounds don't like (or allow) campers to be off the pickup. We agreed to not ask, and just drop the camper and drive off. And I worry about going in the camper with the floor unsupported. At least put a 2x12 and a support under it. Or lower it onto some supports. Or ask the camper manufacturer about it. Mike L |
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Thanks Mike. I appreciate your time. I see you're in Santa Clara. I am in Fremont. Any close out of the way places you could recommend? Thanks again. Robert |
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That is close to an oxymoron for this area. I guess it depends on your definition of close. We've gone camping up in the Sierra's. They have distributed camping off the dirt fire roads. We've had good spots off 108 above Strawberry. Stop at he ranger station (Mi-Wuk??) and get a map of the fire roads. We've also camped a few times in the Los Padres forest. Go to the San Antonio Mission on Ft. Hunter Ligget (be sure and stop at the mission and buy a forest pass) then head north west on Del Venturi Road. About 10 miles out you will find a couple of campgrounds, or you can camp many places just off the road. Another favorite is Sequoia/Kings Canyon. Free camping after the first snow! And they have heated toilets. You get a lot day users coming up from Fresno to play in the snow, but the nights are very quiet. We've been the only ones there, we've also had a foot or more of snow while we were there. And my all time favorite is a little further - Death Valley. So many canyons and you can camp most places as long as you are 2 miles off a paved road and several hundered feet from a water source. Take the 30 mile dirt road out to Racetrack and check out the rocks that move across the dry lake bed. You have to walk about 1/2-3/4 mile out onto the far end of the lake bed to find the rocks. This has some of the quietest and most remote camping you will ever find. A couple of other really good spots: In the White Mountains at the Bristlecone Pine forest. Distributed camping or a free campground. 8-11,000 feet, so be prepared for cold nights. Lake Thomas Edison. Up 168 past Huntington Lake to the end of the road. Try the unofficial free campground a couple of miles before the Forest Service campground. Other nearby camping: East entrance to the Pinnacles off highway 25 south of Hollister. Basalt campground at San Luis Reservoir. Not on the water, but on the other side of the dam from the highway. In the trees. Hot showers - bring quarters. Limekiln State Beach or Plaskett Creek campground. Both south of Lucia on Highway 1 Of course, heading north on Highway 1 you will have many, many campgrounds to choose from. Get a AAA map called: Northern California Camping and the other one called: Southern and Central California Camping. Together they list over 1200 campgrounds. Mike L |
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| You are quoted in today's Wall Street Journal about people who buy a "pickup to boost their self-imgage". We all know the real reason to buy is so we can haul our rigs to the nice places you have just described in the post above. | |
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