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2005 F250 with slide in camper Overloaded?

19K views 24 replies 14 participants last post by  jetjock15 
#1 ·
Hi, I'm new hear and ahave a question.

I'm looking at 2 PSD's. One is a 2005 F250 102k miles, and the second is a 2006 F350 with 130k miles.

In looking at some of the forums, it would seem that the F250 would be overloaded with a slide in camper. I don't have a slide in camper yet, I've been looking for a slide in pop up camper.

I was more interested in the F250 as it has a better interior and less miles. On the other hand the F350 has a better exterior and maybe I was thinking the 06 PSD was more reliable thatn the 05 PSD.

Does anybody have an experiance with the F250/F350 with a pop up slide in camper, and can provide an opinion. BTW both trucks are 4X4 SRW (not interested in a DRW)

TIA Dave
 
#2 ·
I have a 2003 F250 Crew cab 4x4
I have a hardside Lance camper that is 9'6"
According to the owners manual, you will be overloaded no matter what camper you run.
I also towed a car trailer loaded with an off roader toyota.
I put some airbags on the rear leafs, went to rancho addjustable shocks, and run a trans temp, boost, and EGT gages
A dually would be better for towing this set up, but like you, I didn't want one either.
Check out this site for a well of info RV.Net Open Roads Forum: Truck Campers
 
#3 ·
Thanks Loubell, that's what I suspected, my concern is that I understand that if you have an accident while over the GVW the insurance is invalid. I think I probably need to look at F350's.

If you add airbags, does that increase your allowable GVW?

Thanks again Dave
 
#5 ·
air bags do not increase your GVWR.
This is correct. But the bags do act as an adjustable spring. This allows you to maintain your good ride while empty, and still keep the truck level when fully loaded (or overloaded:wink[3]:)

How my set up looks:



I was in an accident last year fully loaded and they did not invalidate my insurance. The CHP, the other parties involved, and my insurance company never asked me one question about my weight.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I would check the spring codes on the trucks. Just because the one truck is a 350 doesn't mean that it has bigger springs. The trucks could have the same springs. If you were to build a truck you could get the same springs as a 350 in a 250. The only difference is a taller lift block in the 350. To check the spring code it is on the sticker in the door jam.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Pick the camper first.

It going to depend on what you want in the camper. A modest size camper will overload an SRW F350. Many of the large campers are too heavy for an F450.

The only thing that makes sense is to pick the camper first. Get the dry weight of the camper and add the weight of it's water capacity plus the weight of it's holding tank capacity. Add the weight of options like A/C, generator, fuel, etc. Add reasonable weights for groceries, cooking utensils, clothes, propane, sporting supplies, people and pets, tools, bathroom supplies, linens, etc.

Now that you have the weight which depends on your idea of a camper will be from 3000lb on up over 7000lb. Then look at the actual payload sticker and / or slide in camper certification on a truck to determine what you need. Without slide in camper certification your not really going to be able to use the entire payload because the weight is too far back on most large campers. Unless you follow the COG recommendations when calculating for the camper which may not be possible depending on the camper your going to not get it right. I would only go with a certified vehicle.


A 250 is not usually certified for slide in camper and the payload is only 2500lb. This is not safe for even a small camper without a slide out.

Don't rely on any sales pitch from the camper dealer or the truck dealer. Most of them lie about what is right. I had a camper dealer try to sell me one that was 1900lb empty. Loaded minimum weight is going to be 3000lb. 3000lbs would actually be empty. people, fuel and water weighs 1000lbs alone. This was a very small camper. He said it was perfect for my c1500 which I already know has a payload of 1200lbs. A salesman at a Ford dealer told me an F150 can haul 3000lbs. I looked at all of the payload stickers and the most I found on the lot of F150's was 1280lbs.

I would love to have a camper but I went with the 5th wheel because it works for what I need and takes way less truck for hauling it.

There were a lot of truck campers turning over in Colorado last winter when I was there. Anything can be done but if you want to be legal and safe make sure you know what your getting.
 
#10 ·
On another note if you decide on a pop up some of them are around 1000lbs. Also the low profile makes them safer to haul with a lighter truck.

Campers do get smaller pretty fast so you might factor that in.
 
#11 ·
I live next to Yosemite and see quite a few truck campers in the RV mix that rolls through town. I would guess that 90%+ of them are technically overweight. You are not over what the axle can handle, what the brakes can handle, or what the transmission or leaf springs and shocks can handle. You are overweight because the engineers at Ford decided that the truck, as a whole, should only carry N amount of weight in the bed due to handling and stability, liability, etc.

In my opinion, in order to do this safely in a 3/4 ton (and up) truck, you need several things.

1. Your tires are the weakest link. Make sure that they are E rated, in good or better condition, and visit the scales to make sure that you are not overloading them.

2. A camper makes you top heavy. Do these two things to keep the sway in check. First, install adjustable shocks and set them on thier firmest setting while loaded. Second, if your truck did not come from the factory with front and rear anti-sway bars, visit a wrecking yard or the aftermarket and install a set. If your truck does have anti-sway bars and it is older than about 6 years, replace the factory worn out rubber anti-sway bar bushings with the polyurethane kind.

3. When your truck is loaded heavy and is nose high, the front axle is rotated backwards on its axis. This affects the caster angle and will cause your already different handling truck to wander. Install air bags. This will level the truck and keep the caster angle of the front axle closer to stock specs.

4. Center of gravity. Weigh the truck unloaded at the truck scales. Add the camper, and weigh it again. If you lost weight on the front axle, the majority of the weight of your camper is behind you rear axle. To fix this, you need to make sure that you have everything possible in front of the rear axle (RV batteries, food, fresh water tank full, and waste water empty, etc). If you are still tail heavy, SELL IT AND BUY A DIFFERENT CAMPER!

5. Drive it like an RV. If you use your SuperDuty as a daily driver, and you are used to how it handles, forget everything you know and get ready for a new lesson. You are now wider, heavier, and top heavy. If you can forget about how great your truck is zipping in and out of traffic on the way to work, and drive it like the RV it now is, you will dramatically reduce the chances of getting bit by being overweight.

Truck campers are great, and I have taken mine to remote locations that a travel trailer or 5th wheel could never go. And from the above info, you can see the reason why duallys are prefered over SRW. Just remember that you are overweight, and that ultimately YOU are responsible for your rig and what you put in it and on it.

Here is a teaser shot of a guy with a DuraMax on the colorado river with a lighter weight pop-up camper.
 
#14 ·
Wow,

some great information!!

Can I increase the GVW of an F250 legally? Heavier springs etc, or should I look for a F350?

Has anybody tried a pop-up camper with a F250? That's my plan, it would seem that if I get a pup-up camper that weighs 1500#, that I would still have a 1000# of capacity left. Does that make sense?

Thanks for any advice
 
#15 · (Edited)
No, you can't change it.

Yes, the pop up your looking at might be OK. The weight is pretty good if it is total weight and the low profile keeps it from being to top heavy on the road.

For the type of camping I would guess your doing with a pop up like that I doubt your other cargo would exceed the limit of the truck. Just remember to figure in fuel for the truck, propane, camper battery, water, etc, and people and deduct that from the 1000lbs.

You should be able to get COG info for the camper. The COG loaded should be ahead of the rear axle as shown in the trucks owners manual.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Well, to complete the story, I ended up buying a 2001 F350 with a 7.3 diesel. I've had it 18 months now, and love the truck, miles were on the high side but it is in fantastic condition.



After I bought the truck, I bought a 4wheel campers Granby pop-up camper, as configured it's about 1000#. It reduces the economy from 18mpg to 14-15mpg, but doesn't affect the truck to badly. when I get time, I will take it over some scales with/without the camper to see how heavy it really is.

It's a great combination.:)

The best part is my wife really enjoys the camper. Sometimes it's hard to tell is shes going to be enthused about something, but the camper really gets her entusiastic about getting out and camping!!





 
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#23 ·
Man, that's a great little set-up! My wife would love that! How much does one of those campers run? (If you don't mind me asking)
 
#24 ·
I only paid $1500 for the camper used, new it's $12,295

Four Wheel Pop-Up Campers Current Price List

My wife loves the camper, but for comfort, I think the Northstar range is better, but heavier. Mine weighs approx 950#, so it doesn't effect the handling of the truck much.
 
#25 ·
had a 01 7.3L before, one of the best trucks ever made, you made a great choice. On the other hand, any of the trucks you looked at could of hauled that camper! In all reality if you want to haul the new age in bed campers with all the slides and all, you need a dually minimum. F450 is really the workhorse you want.
 
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