Possible newbie looking for general info

[larryflew]

Currently 37 foot 5th wheel campers. Looking at leaving the big guy in one place for a while. Problem is we are leaving it has n AZ and are from MN. Traveling with a couple mini Doxies would be easier if we don't have to find dog friendly motels so we are looking at older nive condition truck campers but have questions.

First, found a really nice one but it's for short bed - would this work in our full size bed?

Related second question, would most truck campers fit with the 5th rails for mounting the hitch still in the bed?

[Bedlam]

Short bed camper on a long bed truck is fine. A long bed camper on a short bed truck will be a problem with fore and aft CG.

[Yeti_plus]

I carry a short bed camper on a long bed truck. I built a spacer to keep the camper from going too far forward, and we use that 16 inch space for storage. Rear tie downs are in the same place as they would be on a short box truck, front tie downs angle forward more than normal. Centre of gravity is fine since the distance from bumper to axle is the same. Approximately 60,000 miles with this setup, many of them on some of the not so nice roads in the North ( Dempster Highway) and East( Trans Labrador Highway).
The problem will be once you have travelled with a TC for a while you won't want to travel with the 5th wheel.
Brian

[Grit_dog]

"Traveling with a couple mini Doxies would be easier if we don't have to find dog friendly motels so we are looking at older nive condition truck campers but have questions.
If your travels are limited enough that motels are an option, certianly doesn't seem like finding dog friendly motels would be more difficult than the entire process of buying, stocking and hauling a truck camper, but ICBW. Never had an issue when traveling with our pets.

First, found a really nice one but it's for short bed - would this work in our full size bed? Depends on the camper. Some "short bed" campers will slide all the way forward in a long bed, some wont. You can set a sb only camper back in a long bed, without issue, save for the angles of the tiedowns may not be right or need some custom work to make that work.

Related second question, would most truck campers fit with the 5th rails for mounting the hitch still in the bed?" Um, no, not unless you build up the truck bed to the rail height so the camper sits above the 5ver rails.

[larryflew]

Weight is fine as its a 1 ton. Center of gravity is probably fine also. Possible problems would be mounting to yhe frame being back farther.

[cewillis]

Some people have used short bed campers in a long bed, leaving room in front of the camper (such as for a fuel tank). But it depends completely on what truck and camper. Where the camper CG sits with respect to the truck rear axle is important. This is ASSUMING the camper weight is reasonable for your truck.

[Lwiddis]

37 feet isn’t that big IMO.

[larryflew]

dwrat wrote:
Generally speaking, it will not fit your long bed truck.
As for rails still in the bed, you need a flat surface so you could build up the bed with wood around the rails.

Thanks. Platform is easy. Too bad the nicest one we found is short bed. Thanks again.

[dwrat]

Generally speaking, it will not fit your long bed truck.
As for rails still in the bed, you need a flat surface so you could build up the bed with wood around the rails.