Newbie needing beginners advice

[GAR2]

Hello everyone, I have tent camped all my life and am now about 8 years from retirement. I purchased a very clean 2002 f350 superduty 7.3L PSD 4wd cc drw 8’box and have bought but have not installed yet the 5K rear load lifter suspension. My truck is rated 11,500. Pounds gvwr and I will need to scale my truck to see how much room/weight I have to play with. I want the cab over to extend over the full crew cab and the camper to stop at the end of the bed so I can pull my fish n ski. I do know I will need to buy or build extensions for the front jacks to clear the rear dual wheel wells. I am a Boilermaker Welder/mechanic by trade so fabrication isn’t an issue, but I know squat about campers. Any advice for a beginner and my style truck would be greatly appreciated. Safe travels! Glenn

[GAR2]

emcvay - that’s a good looking rig, sorry for the late reply...... work, holidays, travel, not enough time??

[Grit_dog]

GAR2 wrote:
Thank you— I read the towing guide, but what I take away from it is you should never exceed the GVWR and the F/R-AWR depends on weight distribution and should also never be exceeded. I did notice my truck has a GCWR of 20,000. LB for payload and trailering. I think the most important comment I read in the guide was “if exceeding GVWR and are involved in an accident your insurance company may not cover the claim”. This is the exact reason I run ‘D’ plates and have my truck semi-annually inspected in the State of Illinois, due to our Secretary of State Laws. We have lots of truck owners ((IL) running ‘B’ plates and no inspections on their 3/4 & 1 ton pickups- For me it’s not worth the gamble to spend a few extra dollars. I don’t neccessarily agree with the inspection, but it’s IL Law and there are some people who don’t maintain their vehicles.

And here is where we separate church and state. You're licensed to 12klbs and state inspected.
The naysayers will tell you over 11,500lbs on your truck is somehow illegal and you have a great chance of losing everything in an accident when you get sued.
Try finding one of those folks to provide a real world example of that....
BTW, in your example with D plates, the naysayers would still call you 500lbs overweight at 12klbs with your truck (which you aren't).
For your truck, I wouldn't blink twice at anything under 5klbs ready to camp. Truck will haul that with authority, safely, with minimal mods.

[GAR2]

I also read “Picking the perfect truck camper” from “Truck Camper Magazine” — it is helping me narrow down my choices

[GAR2]

Thank you— I read the towing guide, but what I take away from it is you should never exceed the GVWR and the F/R-AWR depends on weight distribution and should also never be exceeded. I did notice my truck has a GCWR of 20,000. LB for payload and trailering. I think the most important comment I read in the guide was “if exceeding GVWR and are involved in an accident your insurance company may not cover the claim”. This is the exact reason I run ‘D’ plates and have my truck semi-annually inspected in the State of Illinois, due to our Secretary of State Laws. We have lots of truck owners ((IL) running ‘B’ plates and no inspections on their 3/4 & 1 ton pickups- For me it’s not worth the gamble to spend a few extra dollars. I don’t neccessarily agree with the inspection, but it’s IL Law and there are some people who don’t maintain their vehicles.

[Optimistic_Para]

BTW, you can find the Ford Towing Guide for your 2002 here:

https://www.fleet.ford.com/resources/ford/general/pdf/towingguides/2002_All.pdf

[Optimistic_Para]

GAR2 wrote:
Picture didn’t copy- here’s the weights ‘02 F350 7.3

GVWR - 11,500. LB
FAWR 5,200. LB
RAWR 8,250. LB

Guy on another forum recently posted the CAT scale weights of his truck and camper combo. Just FYI:

FAWR 4500 lbs. Actual weight 4320 lbs.
RAWR 6780 lbs. Actual weight 6380 lbs.
GVWR 10600 lbs. Actual weight 10700 lbs.

Notice that his GVW was 100 lbs OVER his GVWR, but both FAW and RAW were safely UNDER the FAWR and RAWRs.

[Optimistic_Para]

GAR2 wrote:

The GVWR was what I thought 11,500. but how do I use the front and rear axle weight rating once I get a camper and take to a CAT scale? And will the axle ratings be something I’ll be more concerned with when I get around to buying a 5th wheel or will it apply to a truck camper as well (how long and how weight is distributed over front and rear wheels) ? I am narrowing my choices down to a tc no longer than 10, a wet bath, and I’m split on hard side vs pop up - Thanks!!

With a Travel Trailer, about 10% of the trailer's weight is carried by the truck, pretty much all of it on the rear axle - UNLESS - you are using a weight distributing hitch. (This is the TONGUE WEIGHT) The remaining 90% of the trailer's weight is carried by the trailer's tires, axles, and springs.

With a 5th wheel, about 25% of the trailer's weight is carried by the truck via the 5th wheel hitch in the bed, again mostly by the rear axle. (This is the PIN WEIGHT) And again, the remaining 75% of the 5th wheels weight is carried by it's running gear.

In both cases, you need to be concerned with the Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR).

With a truck camper, 100% of the camper's weight is carried by the truck. If the center of gravity of the truck camper is directly above
or a bit in front of the rear axle, both front and rear axles will carry some of the weight. If the center of gravity is BEHIND the rear axle, not only will the rear axle carry ALL of the weight, the rear axle actually acts like the balance point on a teeter-totter and the front axle weight can DECREASE. Possibly to the point the steering will be affected and it will become unsafe.

[GAR2]

Picture didn’t copy- here’s the weights ‘02 F350 7.3

GVWR - 11,500. LB
FAWR 5,200. LB
RAWR 8,250. LB

[GAR2]

Kayteg1 wrote:
Dually with 11k weight rating? Must be big underating for taxes?
What is rear axle rating?
As others indicate - with dually you can have bigger camper and still tow good trailer with proper hitch.
From my research - 8 foot camper will not have full bath, if any and for me toilet and shower is main thing why I carry camper.
Congratulations on nice truck. Check the oil cooler orings before taking it on long trip.

Here is my gvwr info:

[]https://i.imgur.com/3B7POKDl.jpg[/IMG]

The GVWR was what I thought 11,500. but how do I use the front and rear axle weight rating once I get a camper and take to a CAT scale? And will the axle ratings be something I’ll be more concerned with when I get around to buying a 5th wheel or will it apply to a truck camper as well (how long and how weight is distributed over front and rear wheels) ? I am narrowing my choices down to a tc no longer than 10, a wet bath, and I’m split on hard side vs pop up - Thanks!!

[Bubtoofat]

I have a Northstar Adventurer 8.5 truck camper. The floor length is 8.5 feet so you would have 6 inches of overhang with your 8 foot bed. My camper resides on a short box (6.5 feet bed) and has 2 removable storage compartments at the back on each side to accommodate an 8 foot bed. Good camper and incredible customer service.

Mike

[GAR2]

OK- I didn’t know if the goal was to have contact on both— but I’m guessing the most important measurement is the clearance between over Cab section of camper and cab roof- which would then allow for a measurement of a “box” to be put in the bottom of the bed for the camper lower section to sit on.

[hornet28]

A TC sits on the floor not the bed sides

[GAR2]

Thanks “emcvay” —- I hadn’t thought about size of bathroom (6’2” 300#) are all bathrooms the same size. I’ve been looking at Members rigs- that helps. Is it just the picture angle- the tie downs look awfully close to side of bed/painted surfaces. My truck came with a Reese 5th wheel hitch which I have taken out leaving the rails. I will need to build a base for the tc floor to sit on? Does the camper sit all the way down on bed rails? And if so what kind of protection for top of rails? Sorry for all the questions. Thanks

[hornet28]

A couple of years ago I had a 8 1/2' Shadow Cruiser. It was a nice camper but too small for us and our 65# Golden Doodle. If I'm remembering correctly it only weighed about 1700#. As someone mentioned earlier you could extend the tongue of the trailer rather than using a hitch extension