Any info good or bad on these campers

[nick11]

I have been looking for a camper for a while now and have narrowed it down to 2 campers -an 05 Arctic fox 860 silver fox edition and an 07 Eagle Cap 850. Both are equipped similar and in excelant condition. Any info or opinions on these would be appreciated
Truck is an 05 Ford F250 CCSB 4x4

[nick11]

I overlooked the wheels and now feel dumb for doing so - I thought the XD wheels that I put on were rated for more than the tires (3750) but I just looked them up and they are only 3200.

[JIMNLIN]

Thank you. For the responses - I should have added this in the beginning - I ave upgraded the tires to 3750lbs each E 285/70/17,

Hopefully you upgraded your trucks OEM wheels capacity also as per Fords '05 wheel specs shows the 17" wheels at 3195 lbs capacity.
The 18" and 20" both show a 3525 lb capacity.

[Tarkin75]

Nick, re: the timbrens.

So far Timbrens are the only suspension "add on" i've done to my F150. If you tow anything with the bed empty the Timbrens will provide a fairly harsh/bumpy ride. I frequently tow a ~2700lb sailboat and it's tongue weight is just enough to begin to load up the Timbrens, and I can see the boat bouncing all around in back in those instances as the suspension is pretty stiff at that point.

With the camper on though, the timbrens are fantastic, and the boat pulls nice and smooth and isn't too jarring back there.

With no weight in the bed, the timbrens don't ever "load up", unless you hit a really large bump, and the ride is pretty much the same as stock.

I like the timbrens as they were pretty cheap comparatively speaking to airbags, etc. But, for dual/multi use of my truck I might go with airbags and see if I can find a shorter timbren to use more as a true "overload" type of bumpstop.

Later
C

[Bedlam]

You will be fine with taller bump stops if your truck came with the camper package overload springs. I had to add the airbags and 19.5" wheels only because of what I tow and my Arctic Fox 811 is heavier than the 860.

If your truck does not have the camper package, you should add a helper spring package and those sway bars you already noted.

[nick11]

Thank you. For the responses - I should have added this in the beginning - I ave upgraded the tires to 3750lbs each E 285/70/17, Firestone 5000 airbags. I will be added helping 1.25 swat bars front /rear. I am a little confused on adding timbrens and torklift stable loads. Do I want the airbags to carry this weight or the stable loads/ leaf springs to carry load and just use air bags to keep from bottoming out on large bumps?

[jimh406]

The Eagle Cap is probably lighter. Quality varies somewhat due to TCs being built individually. A CC SB is about as bad as it gets for hauling a TC since the weight will primarily be over the rear wheel. There are people here that carry similar TCs on similar trucks. You'll probably need some mods to carry it very well.

[mkirsch]

You're not going to be able to haul either without making some pretty costly mods to your truck.

I wouldn't have any qualms about dropping 4000lbs of 2x4s and plywood in a stock F250 for the ride home from the lumber yard, but long-distance travel... I'd either want some better tires and suspension props, or an F350 DRW with 4000lbs in back.

[Sparky87k5]

I recently bought an Eagle Cap 850 non slide out model for my 04 F250 SC SB 4x4. When TC was fully loaded for our 6 week trip around the country we weighed 10,500. My truck was a V10 model and weighed 6600 without TC. That puts the TC camper at 3900 loaded and ready to go. After the trip I evaluated how well the truck did with airbags and rear sway bar added before trip. My tires were rated for 3400 each and rear axle was at 6650. I sold the truck and bought a F350 4x4 CC LB DRW and have found hauling the TC a much better experience.

The EC850 has been a wonderful camper for us and met all our expectations as well as having loads of storage. We were in temperatures of 11*F and 12" of snow in Montana and comfortable all night. No frozen pipes due to heated basement storage. In Texas we found temps of 90's and still comfortable.

[SugarHillCTD]

OK Nick, I'll give you my 2 cents.

Both of your possibilities are going to be HEAVY- probably close to or even over 4000# ready to roll for camping. (wow- both can carry 50 gal of fresh water!)

Not that this is a no-go situation for you but better to understand what you are getting into.

Our 855S Lance is right up there, probably just under 2 tons with 30 gal of fresh water. I have changed out tires to get 7940# axle capacity, installed Timbrens and BigWig sway bar plus "Doug T" custom stablelifts.

This is our 4th TC and heaviest one yet, but with the mods I really like how it handles- and we do quite a bit of back road traveling.

Good luck with your decision- others will probably give their input soon.

John

[nycsteve]

Do a search for threads about Artic Fox delamination.