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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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Check with your insurance company - you may find the SUV has significantly higher insurance costs - and that may help you decide. The SUV will have a more carlike ride, but the pickup may handle the load of the trailer better. Air Bags (not airshocks) would help the SUV handle the trailer. The advantage of airbags is you can pump them up when needed and lower the air pressure when the trailer is at home. And you can still choose the shocks you want. Air shocks put a static load on the shock mounts that were not designed to carry weight. Good luck, Mike L |
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Have you taken a closer look at these larger SUV's ? they are actually built on a truck chassis. So to think your not driving a truck because it's an Excursion, Tahoe or Yukon is a misnomer. The combination I have would serve you well or go for the quad cab (4 dr.)set-up now available with a shortened bed for cargo. The length is going to be very close when compared to the SUV's you'd need to tow with, gas mileage will not be oustanding no matter what choice you make. Ray T. |
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I am the new proud owner of a six-pac hard side truck camper on my ford ranger. What tricks, helpful hints, etc are out there about loading, unloading, or storage? BTW the ranger seemed to handle the #1000 payload. I've been following the various discussion on this thread with interest. |
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Congrats, I just got my T100S just before Christmas. I have a Dodge Dakota Quadcab with a V8. I like the camper alot. We put A/C and a few other options. I built a new table becuase the other one was to big and added a under cabinet toaster oven next to the vent fan. Lots of projects done and more on the way. Good luck. Robert |
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Sorry, I forgot some of your questions. Not sure which refrigerator you have but if it is the small one, just above it where the outside light switch, waterpump switch and the battery meter is, is wasted space. Cut it out and make storage out of it. Where the heater thermostat is mounted next to the seat is also wasted space. Change the thermostat out to a digital and add a small 12v fan so you can keep air curculating when the heater turns off, you will be much more comfortable. The dumb sink drain cap outside, replace it. Go to Camping World, they have a cap that fits it and it changes it to a garden hose fitting. Run the hose to a small jug on the ground or placed in the bed when the camper is still loaded, that way you can always use your sink. I mounted a lighted ac switch to control the converter/charger. I dont always want it on so now it is switched. All of my switches have been replaced with lighted ones so I can see what I have left on and they dont really draw anything to worry about from the battery (dc switches at least) I dont have any loading/unloading ideas as I have only done it once so far. Let me know how your doing and if you come up with anything, let me know. Robert |
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henne, Thanks for your reply. I'll have to talk to my wife before I start cutting holes. I noticed when I was lowering my camper that the back legs would alternate touching the ground when lowering either the front or back supports. I guess that means I could lower one of the backs all the way but that would leave it ready to teeter and I feel better if it didn't move too far. I am also concerned that if it is leaning too far that there would be too much strain on the supports. I also worry about lowering each leg too far would rack the supports and I don't know how much they will take, although #1050 is a light weight. Also how high do you lift the camper to slide the truck in and out? Probably high enough to allow one to disconnect the electrical outlet, rather than pull forward enough to expose it. If you unload the camper on a slight slope, will the legs take the strain? How do you line up the camper? the clearances are rather small. My wife and I are considering putting the camper on wheels so we could push it into more perfect position as well as into the garage between trips. |
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I have found it is best to only lower or raise each leg 3-4 inches at a time and always keep the front higher than the back. I connect the powercord after the camper is in all but about a foot or two. When disconnecting, I do that through the access panel from inside so that I dont accidently forget. Loading, I measure the back of the bed and make sure the front and back of the camper are about 2 inches higher so I have plenty of clearance and I just back it straight in under the camper. I have a natural nack of backing up to trailers and such so I just do it so I cant really give any advice on it. I just back up and its always centered and straight. When the camper is down in camp mode, there is a little wobble from where the legs slide up inside themselves. I am fashioning a rod or line to put tension on the legs so that the sleeve is always pushed against one side with slight pressure to get rid of the wobble. Let me know how things are going. Robert |
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| we are currently pulling our 24' travel trailer max 6020# wet with a 94 explorer. We just purchased the camper in June and were told this vehicle would work with it. we are finding out however it pulls but that's about it. we are wanting to upgrade but not sure what to go with either a suv or a pickup. 3 people over 5'8 would need to be comfortable on long trips front and passenger seat alike. we are however on a limited budget so the newer vehicles are out of range we are thinking 97-99 in that area. we checked into a suburban but that is a lot of vehicle for 3 people. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.. sorry for the long post!! | |
| Don't count on that Explorer transmission to put up with your trailer for very long. Your best bet is a full size SUV like Tahoe or Expedition if you want to stay with an enclosed rear. Also good would be a 4-door full size truck however they are still too new to be very cheap. Whatever you select I'd try to stay away from one that has been used for towing since it does stress the tranny and you don't know if it was maintained properly to take that into account. Any auto trans towing that load should have an aux cooler. Most trucks do but I don't know about SUVs. It's cheap to add one if needed. You should also have a load leveling hitch with sway control and good shocks like Bilstiens on the truck. | |
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I finally managed to get the FourWheel camper in my garage but it took a bit of work. I can't fit the truck in the garage with the camper on so it has to come off in the driveway, then somehow go up the slanted driveway into the garage. To accomplish this I built a 4x9' dolly out of 2x6" boards and six wheels, 4 locking casters and 2 fixed, so I can turn it. I mounted a 2000lb manual winch to the back wall of the garage, connected the cable to the dolly, and cranked it into the garage. The back goes airborne as it crests the angle change at the garage entrance but it's always on at least four wheels so it works fine. It was a little scary because I didn't know if everything would hold and it took a surprising amount of pull to get it started. I draped large canvas drop cloths on the cable as MikeL and I learned in a 4-wheel safety class. If that cable snaps it is deadly. In the end all worked well except that I can't park my car in the garage any more  .
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