Welcome 11Ryan11!
I'm curious where you got your camper weight rating? Does Chevy supply a camper loading sheet with new trucks? I know that the Ford version is a little misleading in that they assume that there's a 150 lb person sitting in each seating position to come up with their rating. If you are only carrying 2 people in your 6 person capacity cab, then you can legally add 600 lbs to your rating(4 x 150).

Of course your boat will add some hitch weight to the truck, so you need to subtract that weight from you rating. The best way to figure out how much camper you can get is to hitch up the boat, load the wife & kids & gear and head to a scale. Get the truck weight (don't weigh boat trailer axle) and subtract from your GVWR to get allowable camper weight per Chevy.

My suggestion is to not be too concerned if you go over Chevy's recommendation a little. As a general rule, as long as your bumper is not dragging on the ground you won't have any problems with the police. Police care about your registered weight (not Chevy's limits) and then usually only if you are a commercial vehicle.

You could consider getting a nice pop up camper that'll work for you. Try to keep weight to a minimum by traveling with little water in the tanks and don't bring along the cast iron cookwear. Your biggest worry should making sure you don't overload your rear tires because that's where all your weight is going.

quote:

Originally posted by Dave:
I currently have a large travel trailer, however I am considering replacing it with a truck camper.

I have a 06 3500 Crew Cab dooley with the duramax and allison. From what I have been seeing I am really quite limited on the truck campers I can choose from with out over loading the truck.

I have been looking at Lance, Bigfoot and Okonagen. However it seems all their 11 foot units will overload a 1 ton truck. Some of their 10 foot units will also do that.

This is where my concern lies. Everyday I see these 11 foot units with slides on 1 ton trucks. Many on trucks that are not even a doolly.

With me and the wife in the truck I have 4025 pounds of payload left. That is with a full tank of fuel subtracting the scaled weight from 11400, the GVWR.

Am I correct in figuring 3000 to 3200 pounds is about the max dry weight for a camper?

About how much weight do you add in clothing, food and such? I know in my TT many times I have had over 1000 pounds of stuff.

I Should I look at even a lighter camper if I plan to tow my boat, it has a 400 pound tongue weight? My combination wieght is not a concern as it is 23500 pounds.

I was very surprized to find out how heavy these units are. Especilly after seeing so many on 1 tons pulling large boats or horse trailers. They have to be 1000 to 2000 pounds over the GVW.

Hi Dave,
join the crowd. My camper dry weight is 2645 lbs. It's not only how much stuff you put in it. It is a bit strange how the manufacturer arrives to a dry weight. You can keep the weight down by having less options. I guess you could do without extra batteries, A/C,awnings, fill up fresh water, and fridge after arrival, use hydraulic jacks, no tv, or dvd player, no satellite dish,..... NOT!!!!!!
I guess the other option is to get a truck that can handle it. Well you're in luck, you got one. My truck is 1000 lbs over the GVWR with all the stuff ready to go. I pull a Thule enclosed utility trailer behind. I changed the OEM hitch to the Reese Titan receiver and use the Reese 48" long extension. I do use a weight distributing hitch (Reese) I got some pictures for the hookup in the photo section. As far as the tires are cincerned they are good 10800 lbs, I mean the rear axle. I think GM is a lot stronger than they claim it is. I have no ride rite air bags and I'm not sure if they are any help. I used to have a set on my 99 K2500. I do have the camper on my truck most of the time and I noticed the truck sits a little lower than my buddy's truck with the same camper same truck with the exception that his is an extended cab. Having observed all this the truck is still nice and level even with the trailer in tow.
good luck
Larry

Dave

If the dealer you are favoring is 400 miles away, could be a bad idea UNLESS you get something in writing from the owner or general manager of the camper saying you can go to this facility or that facility, near your house for warranty work.

Thanks for the advice Harold. I got the camper weight rating on a sticker in the glove box. mabe it is missleading like the ford so I will look into that. I'll be heading to the scales soon and putting in a little more reserch into different options.

Ryan

quote:

Originally posted by Harald:

I'm curious where you got your camper weight rating? Does Chevy supply a camper loading sheet with new trucks? I know that the Ford version is a little misleading in that they assume that there's a 150 lb person sitting in each seating position to come up with their rating. If you are only carrying 2 people in your 6 person capacity cab, then you can legally add 600 lbs to your rating(4 x 150).

Your biggest worry should making sure you don't overload your rear tires because that's where all your weight is going.

GM puts a sticker in the Glove box giving a slide in camper weight rating. For example on my dually it is 3165 pounds. GM also figures each seat to have 150 pounds in it. I have put my truck on a scale full of fuel. If I subtract the weight of the truck from the GVWR and then subtract the 750 pounds of people GM thinks will be in my truck I come with in Ten pounds of their camper weight. It will only be me and the wife in the truck so I can safely add 400 to 450 to the camper weight rating if I want to.

GM also gives you a location they want the camper center of gravity to be on your truck. That makes finding the right camper even harder.

I have also found I will have a hard time finding a 10 foot or smaller TC with a center of gravity far enough back for my Dually. The Centor of Gravity for my truck is to be at 39 inches from the rear of the bed. Most 10 foot campers have it at 48 to 52 inches. The Lance 1181 has it at 39 inches, but it is 4000 pounds dry, with no options.

Rear tires are no concerne for me. The 4 E load range tires added together are more than the rear axle is rated for, the two on the front are rated for more than that axle.

I have had corrispondence with Lance, Okanagan, Eagle Cap and Apenlite on their campers, and weights. The dry weight is for a base camper with no options. The sticker on them that gives the wet weight is for the base camper with water and propane only, not options or batteries or such.

Every dealer told me the wet weight sticker on the unit was for the camper as equiped with full fresh water and propane. I beleived them until I was on a lot that had 6 of the same floor plan TC's. All 6 had the same wet weight, yet one was a base unit, no generator, TV or anything extra. The other had a generator, up sized fride, inverter, solar power, two six volt batteries, TV, DVD, Satilite and such.

I have pretty much figured out if I get a TC that will keep me under GVWR I will end up overloading my front axle as the Center of Graivty is to far forward. If I get a TC with the center of gravity near where GM wants it I will go over my GVWR but should be able to stay under the front and rear axle ratings.

Dave, I suggest that you consider air springs on the rear springs. While they will not improve your GVWR, they will improve the ride because you will be able to level your unit once the camper is on your truck. Before we added air springs (Firestone brand), the truck/TC had a significant sag owing to the weight of the camper. With the air springs we leveled the unit and the ride really improved. Also, a few months later we added rancho (with the adj feature) which improved ride and stability even better.

On camper weight, we have the Bigfoot 3000; with all the options, water in tanks etc, the weight increased by over 1000 lbs.

Hemi

Just one note on center of gravity. Not all manufactures measure it the same way. Be sure to ask the camper manufacture it the measures from the front of the camper or the back. And check your truck to see if they measure from the front or the rear of the bed. You may have to do the math not just compare the numbers if they are measured from oppsite ends.

Actually Brakes can be upgraded along with everything else you might want to improve. Larger, slotted drilled discs, with improved pads and dual actuators can be installed if brakes are a concern. I have a 4000 lb camper pulling a 27' searay 10000 lb boat and trailer. 265,000 miles on the truck, Been from illinois to arizona, mexico and california. All driven without a breakdown. Proper maint and preparation, I believe make trips worry free.

quote:

Originally posted by Don and Sarah:
Just one note on center of gravity. Not all manufactures measure it the same way. Be sure to ask the camper manufacture it the measures from the front of the camper or the back. And check your truck to see if they measure from the front or the rear of the bed. You may have to do the math not just compare the numbers if they are measured from oppsite ends.

That is very true, good of you to point that out as many people will never realize that.

Lance measures from the rear of the bed. Okanagan and Eagle Cap measure from the front of the bed.

My truck gives the location for Center of Gravity from the rear of the bed.

If you know where the manufacture measures from you can do the math to figure out where it is on your bed.

What they do not give you is a generator in the rear will move the center of gravity towards the rear. Again I have found their center of gravity is for base units, not optioned out units.

FWIW here is what I did for about 7 years. I bought a brand new (back in '99) F-350 Single rear wheel. At the time I had an old 9.5 slide in. About year later I bought a Lance 1030(10'11") and I added a Reese titan V receiver and extension to the truck to tow my boat (5500# with 550# on the tounge). When I loaded the camper it was HEAVY. I scaled the truck and camper loaded except no water. I came in at 10900. Gross was 9900. Add the boat to that and I went even higher. I added some Firestone Ride-Rites, Rancho 9000's and stayed with E rated tires aired up to 80-90 psi and kept the speed to 65-70 on the highway.

I felt safe, sure a dually or F-550 would have been much better, but I made due.

I only had one problem, a firestone tread seperation on the rear. No big thing other than getting to the spare with the camper on the truck.

I recently moved up to a 35' trailer for more space and thought I would sacrifice a little weight, but I ended up buying an ATV rack to haul my two large 4x4 machines. With that rack, firewood, generator and the trailer loaded up I now hit the scales at just over 18000 with only 7500 of that on the trailer axles.

Bottom line...I am overweight, but not concerned. I don't exceed any of my axle (although very very close on the rear)or tire ratings, just my GVWR for the truck.

I wouldn't think twice about getting a large camper on a dually. Especially when you consider if you bought a 2 wheel drive, regular cab, small gas engine you would probably save enough weight to get that certification sticker to give you the number you want. Big truck & big motor needs big toys to go with it.

Just my humble opinion.