Crumm
Fordoholic
It can be done A few years ago I started a thread asking about hauling a camper with my slightly lifted F350 but no one really came back with much. I tested the theory this weekend and it worked fine.
The truck is a 1996 F350 with a ORU shackle reversal on the front which raises the front about 2.5". To bring the rear up a little so it would match the front I installed a 2" add-a-leaf. Once the truck was up to this elevation the stock tires just looked silly so on went a set of 315/75/16 tires which are 35" tall. The truck is also equipped with a set of rear air-bags.
Back in 1996 when the truck was new I hauled a 94' Lance camper around for a couple of years but at that time the truck was at stock height. Saturday I picked up a 2006 Adventurer camper that has a claimed weight of 2842 without options. I have yet to weigh the unit now that it is on the truck but I am guessing with the installed options it will be around 3500 or a little more-11,000 gross
When I arrived at the dealer to pick up the unit I only had about 10 psi in the air bags. They did not have a compressor on site so my first few miles were without much help from the bags. To my surprise when we set the unit down on the truck the overload springs did not even make contact with the blocks. I only drove a short distance before finding a air source where I could air up the bags to 50psi but even with the flat bags the truck handled the camper just fine. Once the bags were aired up the handling was improved.
The 300 mile drive home was on a typical Alaska highway with it's fair share of corners, hills and frost heaves. It took about 20 miles to get use to the 12 foot tall elephant on the back of the truck. I did have to reinstall the seat cover a couple of times like when I hit the first 4' frost heave and when we found a good rut in the middle of a hard turn but all in all it was a easy trip. Now that I traveled that first 300 miles I know that the next 100,000 will be a piece of cake. I am going to install some energy suspension 9.9109 or 9.9104 bumps stops on the overload spring perches so that the overloads will help keep the truck stable.
Moral of the story is that a camper can be carried in a slightly lifted truck without a problem. With that said I would not want to haul the camper with anything over 4" of lift.
Pardon the dirty truck, frame and suspension. The roads were a bit sloppy down in the valley.
Overloads with 50 psi in the bags:
Airbags with 50psi:
Side view - hardly squats at all:
The truck is a 1996 F350 with a ORU shackle reversal on the front which raises the front about 2.5". To bring the rear up a little so it would match the front I installed a 2" add-a-leaf. Once the truck was up to this elevation the stock tires just looked silly so on went a set of 315/75/16 tires which are 35" tall. The truck is also equipped with a set of rear air-bags.
Back in 1996 when the truck was new I hauled a 94' Lance camper around for a couple of years but at that time the truck was at stock height. Saturday I picked up a 2006 Adventurer camper that has a claimed weight of 2842 without options. I have yet to weigh the unit now that it is on the truck but I am guessing with the installed options it will be around 3500 or a little more-11,000 gross
When I arrived at the dealer to pick up the unit I only had about 10 psi in the air bags. They did not have a compressor on site so my first few miles were without much help from the bags. To my surprise when we set the unit down on the truck the overload springs did not even make contact with the blocks. I only drove a short distance before finding a air source where I could air up the bags to 50psi but even with the flat bags the truck handled the camper just fine. Once the bags were aired up the handling was improved.
The 300 mile drive home was on a typical Alaska highway with it's fair share of corners, hills and frost heaves. It took about 20 miles to get use to the 12 foot tall elephant on the back of the truck. I did have to reinstall the seat cover a couple of times like when I hit the first 4' frost heave and when we found a good rut in the middle of a hard turn but all in all it was a easy trip. Now that I traveled that first 300 miles I know that the next 100,000 will be a piece of cake. I am going to install some energy suspension 9.9109 or 9.9104 bumps stops on the overload spring perches so that the overloads will help keep the truck stable.
Moral of the story is that a camper can be carried in a slightly lifted truck without a problem. With that said I would not want to haul the camper with anything over 4" of lift.
Pardon the dirty truck, frame and suspension. The roads were a bit sloppy down in the valley.
Overloads with 50 psi in the bags:
Airbags with 50psi:
Side view - hardly squats at all: