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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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Hello, been following this for a while, now it is time to start looking...Went to the Lance dealership the other day and was looking at 820's 821's (slide out) and I think an 845 all for a short bed truck. They were all hard side campers weighing as much as 3200lbs (821)!! Anyway my truck is a 2001 extended cab 2500HD 4x4 with 8.1l/Alli shortbed. The Lance dealer, of course wanting my money, was telling me no prob, your truck can handle this with air bags installed. I calmly indicated to him that was over my GVWR of 9200lbs and that my cargo rating was 2200 and change (which seems low for an HD to me). He told me that the manufactures always lower their carrying capacities as a CYA. In fact my rear axle is rated for 7200lbs, not the 6000 and change listed on the door panel of my truck. Any thoughts?? Went to the Hallmark dealer and they no longer sell hardside campers for shortbeds stating liability issues and the fact that almost everyone they had sold were returned or had to be bought back after suits were brought up from saftey and liability concerns. They were stating they don't recommend ANY hard side camper on a shortbed due to the shorter wheel base. So are there any of you out there with short bed pickups that have hardside slide on campers?? Any problems?? I won't be buying until next years sportsman show about mid March, so that gives me enough time to research and get the right camper and get more opinions. Thanks, Bob |
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My low towing mpg pulling my TT ~5000lbs using my '99 1500 4.8L 5speed man 4.10 rear end was around 6.8mpg. High was usually around 10. My 2500hd (6.0L 5speed) does a little better, and I'm suprized.... maybe I tend to let the speed lug down slightly more before downshifting, as the 6.0L has a fatter HP curve down low.... I think your truck is working just fine. Bleed your brakes, it helped alot on my '99 |
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| The limiting factor to your weight carrying ability is the load limit of your tires.E-rated tires size 245-75x16 are rated at 3042# each.My 2000 2500 longbed ext.cab 4x4 with a loaded Lance 920 with 2 weeks gear and 2 people on the scale weighed 9800# with 5700 on the rear and 4100 on the front. This is not an HD so it will be lighter. | |
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Am really impressed with the Duramax, what a difference between the Dodge Cummins Dually I used to have and this GMC Dually. Took it over to Tonapah, Nevada from the Bay area and this machine just flew over the Priest Grade, came back over Sonora Pass as Tioga was closed due to a landslide and it that was a piece of cake also, however I was towing a trailer with 2 ATV's along with my Lance 11.3 camper and lost my trailer brakes coming down off of Sonora and had smoke coming off the wheels when I could finally pull over. 13 mpg with the camper and towing the ATV's, the truck only has about 1700 miles on it. Does anyone know if a extra fuel tank can be put on these (GMC 3500) ?? had one on the Dodge and it was great |
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I don't buy that business about short bed trucks if it's an extended cab. The wheelbase is the same as a reg cab long bed. Lance, and others, have been selling short bed campers for quite a while with no obvious problems. The important factor is to get the center of gravity over or in front of the rear axle. If I remember correctly, GM allows the COG to go all the way to the tailgate on sb trucks but I wouldn't want that. You can get a special brochure with this detail from the GM dealer and Lance will tell you where the COG is on any model. I know buying new is nice but you should at least look at the used market. You can easily save 25% to 50% on an almost new unit. It's harder to find the model you want of course. My opinion (take it or leave it) on slide-outs is no thanks. Here's why: -Makes you climb to get to the dinette. -You loose the end of the U seating area. It is actually quite a bit smaller space. -You loose the huge storage cabinet/kid bed above the dinette. -Additional weight, complexity, cost. Possible source of leaks etc. -Do they make into a bed with the smaller size? On the good side, it makes the space feel larger inside and gives some more floor space. This doesn't offset the negatives for me. Now if they made the back of the camper slide out, that has possibilities. I assume your 2200 cargo rating is from the glove box sticker. If you take the GVWR - curb weight you will find GM leaves a fair amount of buffer for people etc. 3200lbs + cargo is high for a 2500, that camper should go on a 3500. But don't worry about going a little over the max. The drivetrain can obviously handle it and with some suspension additions it would be fine. I don't know about the rear axle story but my first rule of sales applies: "Everything a salesperson says is a lie until proven to be true." A good rule to live by. |
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13mpg is great for that load and terrain. It helps to pay off a little of the premium you paid for the diesel! It must be nice to have all that torque. I guess you just mash the pedal and it goes. Anywhere. Which brakes were smoking, the truck's? That is a pretty extreme situation for a pickup. I'm surprised it would get to that point with only ATVs on the trailer. How heavy is an ATV? |
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Very well put, thanks for your opinions especially the COG info. I noticed that it seemed like there was less headroom in the slide out portion of the slide on camper. I figured between the 820 and the 821 there was about 300lbs difference...hey that's my beer room!!! Good point about the used market, never gave that much thought, but for the savings, it just might be worth it to check it out...what's the worst that could happen, I don't like the choices and keep looking, right??  Oh yeah one other thing, I noticed at the dealers, there are two types of mounting, one that is bolted to the bed, the other mounted to the frame. I would assume the frame mount would be better, but are there any shoulda coulda woulda's out there that either wish they got one over the other?? Thanks, Bob |
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| I had happy-jack and now torklift. Both have worked fine for me. The reason I went with the tork-lifts(frame mounted ones) is that the bumper on my 01 2500 hd GMC 4x4 crew cab SB seemed mighty thin to me. Others here have them and have no problems. With the spring loaded turnbuckles either should be ok. | |
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Watch out for the old "<fill in the blank> always underates the capacity of the truck. You can haul much more than the rating". First of all, if the truck is rated to haul x amount of weight and you exceed it you better hope you don't have a drive train repair that the dealer can refuse to warranty. Second, I recommend to all my camping buddies that they take their loaded trailer and truck to a public scale and get a certified GCW. A lawyer told me that any time an RV is involved in an accident and found at fault, the insurance company and lawyers will try to prove that the vehicle was overloaded, so lawsuit city. Another thing I learned the hard way: Some trailer manufacturers, namely Skyline (Layton, Nomad) will connect the brake wiring from the axle to the trailer harness using 3M Scotch Locs. While these are fine in some applications, they are specifically NOT recommended for exposure to road conditions and should NEVER be used in an electric brake circuit. I punched a Mazda Protoge through an intersection when he decided to slam on his brakes on a green light. I was really ticked that I couldn't avoid the accident as I consider myself to be a very good, defensive driver. I later found that the scotch-locs had been used on the brake wiring at the factory and exposure to water had caused them to corrode and loose continuity. So, I was trying to stop 7000# of travel trailer with a 1/2 ton GMC and no trailer brakes. After I found that, I removed the scotch-locs and soldered the wiring harnesses together. |
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That's a good point about the lawyers and insurance company. I never thought about that. It sounds like you had a pretty good case for a lawyer with that brake wiring. You'd think a manufacturer would know better. |
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