AH64ID

Dodge advertises a 6.75' bed, is that not the case?

Scotty

Several of us have learned that our trucks may be powerful towing rigs but the manufacturers limits are something that really can limit a persons options if they followed what the door sticker says. Most people do not take that into consideration. I never did til I got written up. It just seems unrealistic to limit a truck like Dodge...or Ram as it is now no longer Dodge puts on their door sticker for the manufacturers limits.
And the bed is 6'3". When we did the stretch on my Mega I was there for the entire surgery and they had to add frame at the back as well as a section in between the cab and bed in order to make the standard 8 foot bed and bumper fit correctly. For some reason I always thought the short bed on a quad cab was a bit longer then a short bed on a Mega. Maybe not.

Scotty

zulusafari

Well, looking at different sources just confuses the issue more. Some swear the GVWR is like the hand of the Almighty, others say it is only in play for towing, others say it means nothing. Everyone agrees that tire weight rating and axle weight ratings are more/most important. That must be why so many get by with big loads, running 19.5's or other upsized components. I am hoping to take the truck to a certified scale this weekend to get better weight readings. The local Transfer Station scale has my Mega at 8100 lbs. with me, the wife, half fuel, and the Retrax cover on. It will be interesting to weigh out with no tailgate or cover, and all of us, with full fuel.

I have the load range E load group 121G (3195 lbs each) tires on the truck. Will the handling and mileage suffer much upsizing to 285's? I still use this truck regularly, and don't want to sacrifice too much mileage. I get 21 now, and that is a big hit with my wife!

zulusafari

I bought the truck used, but there isn't anything in the paperwork I found in the glovebox on this. I did learn how to turn off the annoying horn beep when locking the truck, though!

TonyB

Zulu,
I have a short story, then a few thoughts for you...

Starting in 2002, I started researching trucks, for the purpose of hauling a 10' Lance camper, and towing the bass boat behind it. At the time I was dies hard Ford. I have learned how Ford handles warranty claims, issues with the 6.0 then 6.4, and have seen the light. We now thoroughly enjoy the '06 3500.

All along the way, I have been researching campers. With every brand I would find, I kept coming back to Lance. In the end, I bought a used Lance 1025. It is heavy, and I'm glad I bought the dually.

By the GVWR, I am at the weight limit: 11500 I am within ~200lb of the weight limit on the tires. They are rated for 2910/tire; 11640 total. By GAWR, I have another 1000lb of wight capacity that can be used. So, if I went to a higher weight rated tire, I would be able to increase weight capacity accordingly.

Some thoughts:
The Truck: Watch your weight closely. The more weight you put on the truck, the more unstable it becomes. This is where a dually's wide stance has an advantage. On a SRW, you can add helper springs, like hellwig. You will need airbags. Even my dually needed airbags; my camper buried the suspension. I would also look into upgrading the load range of the tires.

The Camper:
We really like the Lance line of products. Fit and finish are top notch. Ours was not equipped with AC or a generator; I added them last spring. I found no structural, mold, or rot issues when installing the AC and generator.
I also bought the torklift frame mount tie downs with the fastguns (turnbuckes), superhitch, and a 24" supertruss extension. I couldn't be happier with the products. The tie downs are a solid frame mount, unlike the happijack system, that 'ties' into the frame through the truck bed in front, and the bumper in the rear. The superhitch, and the supertruss do not flex or move with the boat. Granted my boat and trailer grosses ~3500lb.

HTH

Tony

bkrukow

There ya go. Dont plow snow with the camper in the box.

Scotty

Well that just ruined all my plans.

zulusafari

Thanks for all the replies, everyone. I guess I will forego plowing snow when hauling the camper, though! Talk about bed weight for traction, though!

Thundercloud

Zulu,

I have a Bigfoot 2500 series 9.4 SB (short bed) camper that the floor length is 9'4" and its dry weight is 2850 lbs. With Timbrens and bump stop pad extensions on my overload springs (allows overloads to engage sooner and not squat the rear) it rides great and handles fine up to 70 mph. I also tow a small trailer for toys and I use a Tork Lift SuperHitch and a 42" SuperTruss stinger hitch extension. Works great and with that setup I can tow 8,500 lbs. or 12,000 with a load distribution hitch. I have up graded my stock tires to Toyo Open Country AT in the 285/75R17E that give me a 3900+ lbs. load rating per tire. Giving the size family you have I would look at the Lance 861 and do similar mods to you truck as mine and you should be please. I have seen that camper on a Megacab and it looks cool. Look at the options on the Lance 861 in terms of the bunk bed over the slide-out dinette. Also check out rv.net open road forums in the truck camper section. There is lots of great info and folks there on that site.

zulusafari

Awesome information Thundercloud, Thanks! How does the truck ride with the wider tires? Did you lose much in mileage when not hauling the camper? I get pretty consisten 21 mpg with the stock size Nitto Dura Grapplers, and like how they perform in adverse weather conditions while still having a comfortable ride and quiet running. They are the E rated 121R, iirc, rated for 3195 lbs. They have an up-size that gets to around 3700 lbs rating, but I hear the Toyo's have better still.

Does the Smarty Jr. allow you to adjust the speedo for the bigger tires like the regular Smarty tuner??

AH64ID

What are you using for rims?

Yes it does, very adjustable, mine is set to within .3%.

KWKING

Take a look at Lance campers,this year they have all been re-designed ,they are lighter since they dont use wood for framing anymore and have bigger tanks,but still get heavy real fast as you go up the model scale.I almost bought a 915 last year,but now I am glad I didnt,becuase the new ones are lighter.Ford srw trucks seemed to have very high payloads compared to Dodge srw and I just dont see how they can handle those weights,almost every camper brochure I ever looked at ,always showed the camper loaded on a Ford truck,like Ford owned all the camper companys or something.I see tons of srw trucks with big campers on them and sometimes ask the drivers how they perform and they say fine,but just looking at some of them would make you think otherwise.Here is an article about the new Lances http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/t...010-lance-850/

Thundercloud

The truck to me rides better with the wider tires. I have the fronts pressured at 55 psi and the rear at 45 psi, of course empty. They soak up the bumps good. I pump up the front to 65 psi and the rears to 72 psi when the camper is on. I did not lose much if any mpg switching to the larger tire but then again the G56 manual tranny is lower geared then the auto tranny. I am getting 19 -20 mpg right now empty and I just got back from a 10 camping trip in Idaho and I was getting consistanly 15+ mpg with the camper on. I have the Smarty Jr. and made the speedo corrections when I put the bigger tires on.

Thundercloud

Just the stock aluminum clad wheels. I believe they are rated at 3200 lbs. and are made by Alcoa.

AH64ID

Yeah everything I have found puts the alum rims at 3195, so just be cognizant that just because the tires can hold more doesn't mean the wheels can.