Slide in Camper weight???
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There are a lot of factors to figure in on the weight. Self contained or not, along with the width of the camper. My 8 footer is 1400 lbs dry where as my brother-in-laws 8 footer is 2300 lbs dry. So I would say to figure on at least 2000 lbs + for a 9 foot one.
Jim
Jim
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Way too heavy for an F-250. If you are thinking about hauling a truck camper with your F-250, then don't even look at any of the hard-side truck campers. Stick with the light-weight pop-up "off road" type, such as this one:
Four Wheel Campers
Or maybe the even the lighter-weight tent style that Dave linked to.
My 1973 Red Dale slide in, 9 ft., weighs 1680 dry according to the manual. Then there is the large water tank, dual propane cylinders, full size battery, porta-potty full of water, etc., etc., to add to that dry weight figure. The wet weight of a hard side slide in adds up real fast. If you tow, don't forget to add the tongue weight of the trailer.
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The reason I asked the question was for my brother. He is currently pulling a car (race type) hauler that weighs about 7-8K with a motor home. Has gone through three trannys and two engines in 120k miles, plus burns out his brakes every 15K...I think he expects his Motor Home to perform like a racer. Anyway, he is sick of it and I was trying to figure out if he went the truck and camper way, could he get away with a F350 or should he step up to the F450. I guess I should have given this information up front.
So I guess that means he will be hauling 10-13K, plus another 6K in truck wight...does that sound right? I guess the answer for the truck is depending on the camper...a light weight, get the 350, heavier...the 450.
Thanks everyone:thumbsup:
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If he is hard on his equipment (sounds like he is) heavier is better. I would go for the 450 if it were me.
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Properly loaded 13k tag trailer means about 1,500 pounds hitch weight (11 to 12 percent hitch weight). Figure at least 5,000 pounds for a nice truck camper when wet and loaded. So that's at least 6,500 pounds of weight on the truck, not counting driver, passsengers, kids, doggie, etc.
The Lance model 1191 camper costs over $30,000, and has a so-called dry weight of 3,530 pounds. But ignore that dry weight. By the time you add propane, food, drinks, clothes, and options such as AC and water heater, and with only a splash of water in the fresh-water tank, you'll have a problem keeping wet and loaded weight down below 5,000 pounds.
Lance 1191 truck camper
A 2008-up F-450 pickup has a GVWR of 14,500 pounds, and if it's the popular CrewCab 4x4 it's going to weigh around 9,000 pounds when wet and loaded with passenger(s) before you add the camper or trailer. 9,000 truck plus at least 6,500 payload = 15,500 pounds, or overloaded by at least 1,000 pounds.
So even the F-450 pickup is not enough for that load. He'll need a very special F-550. Ford makes it. Order the F-550 chassis cab with 60" cab-to-axle length, and order it with a pickup bed and 15k receiver added by a Ford ship-thru upfitter. Ford will build the truck with exactly the options he wants, then ship it to the upfitter for the bed and receiver to be added, without increasing the delivery charges. By the time the dealer sees it, it will be a complete F-550 pickup, ready to slide in the camper.
The F-550 can be ordered in XL, XLT or Lariat trim, 4x2 or 4x4, regular cab, SuperCab or CrewCab, same as the pickups except no fancy-dancy King Ranch or Harley Davidson trim. It has a GVWR of 17,950 standard, or 19,500 with the optional payload upgrade pkg. Stock GCWR is 26,000 pounds, but he'll exceed that with a 9,500 pound truck, 5,000 pound camper, and 13,000 pound trailer. So be sure to add the high-capacity towing pkg which raises the GCWR to 33,000 pounds.
With 9,500 truck weight and 6,500 pounds payload, that's about 16,000 pounds on the truck axles. That's a cushion of 1,950 pounds extra payload capacity in case he can't live without the multi-slide luxury camper that will weigh more than 5,000 pounds when wet and loaded. Surely even a former motorhome owner would be happy with a 11.5' truck camper with slides that has a wet and loaded weight of less than 6,950 pounds. So probably no need for the payload upgrade pkg that would handle a camper up to 8,500 pounds without being overloaded.
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My 9.5 camper with basement weighed 2850 lbs empty. I hauled it with my '95 F-350. I did add the four leaf overload, which was awesome with all that weight. But I knew that legally, it was overweight so we bought the '05 Dually. Both trucks weigh approx,imately 7400 lbs, so the 13000lb GVW is definitely a benefit vs 9200lb GVW in the older F-350's. I honestly think that a lot of RVers are overloaded legally' especially when it comes to slide in campers.
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"Estimated 2,500 pound payload and up to 10,000 pound towing capacity "
EarthRoamer XV-LT Overview
17,950 GVWR with 2,500 pounds payload means the truck and camper weighs 15,450. The wet and loaded F-550 CrewCab 4x4 PSD is going to gross about 9,500, so that means the camper grosses around 5,950. That's reasonable.
But what's wrong with this picture? It's an F-550 but has only 10,000 pound towing capacity? With the high capacity towing pkg, the 2009 F-550 has 33,000 GCWR. So that means they're allowing 23,000 pounds for the wet and loaded truck and camper that grosses only 15,450?
Nah, something's wrong there. I suspect the receiver is the limiter on trailer weight. Replace the receiver with one that has 15k tag trailer weight capacity, and be sure the basic F-550 has the high capacity towing pkg, and it should easily tow a 13,000 pound trailer in addition to that heavy camper body, without exceeding either the GVWR or GCWR of the F-550.
However, if they didn't order the high capacity towing pkg, the F-550 has only 26,000 GCWR. Subtract 10,000 for the trailer and that leaves 16,000 for the truck and camper. Subtract 9,500 for the truck and that leaves 6,500 for the wet and loaded camper that their other numbers indicates grosses 5,950. That's a reasonable fudge factor. So maybe they just screwed up and didn't order the high capacity towing pkg? But if you order one of those very expensive Earth Romers, specify that it will have the high capacity towing pkg as well as a 15k receiver, and you'll be good to go with your 13k trailer.
One reason to not order the high capacity tow pkg is it requires 4.88 axle ratio. Without either the high capacity tow pkg or the increased GVWR pkg, the 2009 F-550 can be ordered with a 4.30 axle ratio. So I suspect Earth Roamer gave up trailer towing capacity to get the "highway" gears instead of the real truck gears.
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I just posted that cause I think they're B/A, and I would LOVE to have one. but I really didn't look at the payload/tow capacity. I wonder how much a stripped ambuance would go for? Make that to a weekend warrior for cheep. I've seen a guy here in Columbus, Ga with an old ambulance I think a '91-'93.
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