Bedlam
PNW
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It is not a motorcycle rack or motorcycle off the rear. The owner had two e-bikes which weigh 60-80 lbs each. Verify your information before posting or I will delete posts or lock this thread. This failure was on a 2020 Ram 3500 DRW crew cab long bed.
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Grit dog
Black Diamond, WA
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Bedlam wrote:It is not a motorcycle rack or motorcycle off the rear. The owner had two e-bikes which weigh 60-80 lbs each. Verify your information before posting or I will delete posts or lock this thread. This failure was on a 2020 Ram 3500 DRW crew cab long bed.
I heard it was really a Ram 1500 with dual wheels! Lol jk
Please don’t lock this. It’s entertaining. Hope y’all had a happy healthy Holidays up there!
My only question is how did he get it unloaded down there with the front jacks removed?
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Camper_Jeff_&_Kelli
Seattle
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Bedlam wrote:It is not a motorcycle rack or motorcycle off the rear. The owner had two e-bikes which weigh 60-80 lbs each. Verify your information before posting or I will delete posts or lock this thread. This failure was on a 2020 Ram 3500 DRW crew cab long bed.
What makes me scratch my head is, the center of gravity is supposed to be within a few inches of center over the rear wheels. Is it known whether the cabover was loaded down with heavy items? I carry a few hundred pounds of cameras, computers, clothes up there myself. I've also hit some pretty hard air worthy dips in the road with no consequence coming down out of the mountains.
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srschang
Western NY
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Just went out and popped the hood on my truck (I have the same truck). The motor mounts look to be at or slightly behind the centerline of the front wheels, so the engine is balanced over the front wheels.
I'm surprised the broken truck ended up in an inverted V. It's like there was a huge weight in front of the front wheels and behind the rear wheels. I would have thought the the weight of the Crew Cab, transmission, and transfer case would have pulled the center of the truck down in a normal V.
I went out and looked at the engine again. The motor mounts are ~12" from the flyhousing, and ~18" from the front of the engine. So some of the engine weight would have been pulling down on the truck ahead of the front wheels, but still..
* This post was
edited 01/02/23 01:21pm by srschang *
2022 Ram 3500 Dually Crewcab Longbed Cummins, 2019 Northstar 12 STC
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SoonDockin
Oklahoma
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I know my Arctic Fox 1140 center of gravity mark was just a couple of inches in front of my F450 axle. If that guy has put a 2x6 across the front for the bump stops to hit, it could possibly be real close.
I bet all things being equal, he just lost the frame quality lottery.
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dodge guy
Bartlett IL
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When I seen this on Facebook I immediately went and looked up that TC. 3 slides and a dry weight of 4500lbs! Now add in all of their stuff, clothes, food/cooking, water and 2 Ebikes and rack hanging 6-8ft behind the rear axle and this as bound to happen! At the size of that TC why not just get a 4X4 class C?
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Me Again
AZ - Summer in NW WA
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covered wagon wrote:I found out that it's a short bed truck with a camper for a long bed. Radically changing the dynamics. Then compound that with the extended hitch and motorbike. Wow what a risk!
The only short bed dually RAM is the Mega cab and this a crew cab.
2021 F150 2.7 Ecoboost - Summer Home 2017 Bighorn 3575el. Can Am Spyder RT-L Chrome, Kawasaki KRX1000. Retired and enjoying it! RIP DW 07-05-2021
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covered wagon
USA
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I hear you all. My source said it was a short bed. So looked at it and thought it was a short also. The rear axle appears to be too close to the back end for some reason all the weight and mass of the camper seems to be too far to the rear of the axle.
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Bedlam
PNW
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This truck empty will be 9-10k lbs, add the camper to this and what ever you think you will carry (people, animals, water, gear, supplies) and you see this was close to 16k lbs GVW. The AAM axle is rated for around 11k lbs before it is derated for this Ram, so you know it was close to maximum too even if within tire and rim limits. The fact the owner only used brochure weights and had no actual weighings to know real-world travel weight leaves us guessing and leaves him with the bill to correct this.
The question still remains whether the truck frame was modified with welding or drilling prior to failure. We know it was welded post failure to get back to the US which most likely compromised it even more from the emergency repair in Mexico. There have been questions about getting the frame repaired rather than replaced, so this may be the reason.
My Host, like the Eagle Cap, have the fresh water tank forward of the axle to help CG. My camper is actually tail heavy without water due to the dual 30# LPG tanks, stairs and generator in the wings while also supporting a rear slide out section.
The question has come up many times why people choose such large truck campers rather than a motor home. The answers have been repeated multiple times in this forum section, so there is no need to get sideways on this failure thread.
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FishOnOne
The Great State of Texas
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Here's some more intel on this Ram 3500 frame failure
Link
'12 Ford Super Duty FX4 ELD CC 6.7 PSD 400HP 800ft/lbs
"250k Miles"
'16 Sprinter 319MKS "Wide Body"
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