BradW
Mayor of Flat Rock
Senior Member
Joined: 10/29/2001
View Profile
|
lonegunman wrote:You truck will haul a 4,000lb camper when prepped correctly and you won't die. I regularly haul my Arctic Fox 865 on my F-250 with zero issues.
Are you also towing an 6,000 lb trailer with a 1,000 lb tongue weight on an extended hitch?
bradw
Wake Up America
2019 Lance 1062 and 2018 F-350 CC PSD 4X4 DRW
Tembrens, Rear Roadmaster Sway Bar, Torklift 48" Extention and 30K Superhitch
Our New Lance 1062 Truck Camper Unloading at Dealer Photos
|
larkyblast
calgary
New Member
Joined: 05/28/2019
View Profile
 Offline
|
BradW wrote:larkyblast wrote: The tongue weight on my biggest trailer as we load it would be 800-1000lbs. Loaded it will be 4000 - 6000lbs depending on trip(3000 empty).
This will be a problem.
1,000 lb tongue weight
long hitch extension
8' floor length hardside truck camper
srw truck
short bed truck
I would think long and hard before going down that road.
Good Luck,
bradw
Thanks Brad, I appreciate this.
This is the main attraction to me to the northstar liberty, the 7' floor length. The main drawback of course is the 13 hour drive to buy it sight unseen.
I thought about it a lot last night and if I get the bigger camper, I will give up on towing my bigger trailer at the same time. I think I'd still be fine towing our smaller trailer since I can move it by hand, tongue weight is probably 50lbs.
AS luck would have it though, a dealer in my city just got the Cirrus 820 and 720 in stock!! I can't believe this. Now I can go see both units and decide on the 720 or the Northstar. I was only considering the much heavier 820 because I could not find a 720 closer than Utah. I am leaning to northstar but the dollar just went down again so it's becoming more and more expensive.
Brad what do you think about the 8' camper but with a camper that is 1000 lbs lighter? The Cirrus 720 is supposed to be 2600lbs loaded (same weight as the northstar, just a foot longer), so even with my bigger trailer might be ok.
Going to look at both Cirrus this weekend!
|
hedge
Airdrie, Alberta, Canada
Senior Member
Joined: 07/27/2009
View Profile
Offline
|
larkyblast: would you mind sharing what dealer it is that carries the Cirrus, I promise I'm not going to go buy it from under you, just like the campers and would like to take a look at one.
2017 F350 Platinum DRW
2013 Adventurer 89RB
|
noteven
Turtle Island
Senior Member
Joined: 02/13/2011
View Profile
|
larky & hedge - any snow yer way today?
why would we want good heating systems in a camper in Albirda? ??
the factory weight and balance placard will be inside a cabinet door - on my 820 it’s on the wardrobe door. The “published” weight is standard equipment. Added options and kgs are shown on the data sheet for the particular camper and a final weight stated.
* This post was
edited 06/07/19 01:18pm by noteven *
|
BradW
Mayor of Flat Rock
Senior Member
Joined: 10/29/2001
View Profile
|
larkyblast wrote:
Thanks Brad, I appreciate this.
This is the main attraction to me to the northstar liberty, the 7' floor length. The main drawback of course is the 13 hour drive to buy it sight unseen.
I thought about it a lot last night and if I get the bigger camper, I will give up on towing my bigger trailer at the same time. I think I'd still be fine towing our smaller trailer since I can move it by hand, tongue weight is probably 50lbs.
AS luck would have it though, a dealer in my city just got the Cirrus 820 and 720 in stock!! I can't believe this. Now I can go see both units and decide on the 720 or the Northstar. I was only considering the much heavier 820 because I could not find a 720 closer than Utah. I am leaning to northstar but the dollar just went down again so it's becoming more and more expensive.
Brad what do you think about the 8' camper but with a camper that is 1000 lbs lighter? The Cirrus 720 is supposed to be 2600lbs loaded (same weight as the northstar, just a foot longer), so even with my bigger trailer might be ok.
Going to look at both Cirrus this weekend!
Lighter is better. Moving the camper CG forward is better. A shorter hitch extension is better. Less trailer tongue weight is better. Using a WD hitch is better........etc.
We originally hauled our 9' 10" 2,600 lb claimed weight (4,000 lb actual) on a 1996 F-250. We hauled it many times from Alabama to Colorado or Yellowstone and never had an issue with tires, axles, etc. Having said that, did it drive that great on the interstate? No, it rocked around quite a bit. Was it fun to drive? Not really. Was it tolerable? Yes.
What I'm saying is, if you don't plan on trying to also tow that heavy trailer, you would likely be OK with any of those campers if you do the following:
stay within the tire ratings
keep good tires on your truck
stay within the axle ratings
make sure your camper CG is in front of the rear axle
drive very conservatively
expect the truck to drive quite differently than it does empty
expect to want to make suspension mods like Rancho shocks, air bags, Timbrens, etc.
expect the camper to weigh 1,000 lbs more than factory dry weight
take your truck to a truck scale and weigh it empty, weigh the axles separately
calculate how much weight will be on each axle
|
|
|
towpro
Compass PA
Senior Member
Joined: 02/08/2011
View Profile
Offline
|
BradW wrote:
Less trailer tongue weight is better. Using a WD hitch is better........etc.
stay within the tire ratings
keep good tires on your truck
stay within the axle ratings
I run a dually and when camper is on back and I am hauling my 7x14 dual axle v nose trailer (that only has a motorcycle in it), I run Weight Distribution Hitch. I can feel the difference.
2022 Ford F150
Sold: 2016 Arctic Fox 990, 2018 Ram 3500, 2011 Open Range
Sold Forest River Forester 2401R Mercedes Benz. when campsites went from $90 to $190 per night.
|
BradW
Mayor of Flat Rock
Senior Member
Joined: 10/29/2001
View Profile
|
towpro wrote: I run a dually and when camper is on back and I am hauling my 7x14 dual axle v nose trailer (that only has a motorcycle in it), I run Weight Distribution Hitch. I can feel the difference.
I think a good WD hitch can make a big difference with an extended hitch. On our last drw truck hauling a 4,000 lb TC, we also towed a 7,500 lb car hauler trailer on a 24" extended WD hitch. To me, the rig drove better on the interstate with that set up than it did when I was towing our small aluminum boat (2,500 lbs?) without the WD hitch.
bradw
|
Bedlam
PNW
Moderator
Joined: 06/13/2012
View Profile
|
My WDH is set up to restore 100% of the front axle weight when hitched. I know there are conflicting ways to set one up, but this works well when you already have significant weight on the rear axle. For the short time I ran 18" tires and rims on my F250, I actually could crank the WDH tighter to apply more weight to front and unload more from the rear. This worked well on the highway but I felt it was too tight when driving on uneven surfaces.
Chevy Sonic 1.8-Honda Passport C70B-Host Mammoth 11.5-Interstate Car Carrier 20-Joyner SandViper 250-Kawasaki Concours ZG1000-Paros 8' flatbed-Pelican Decker DLX 8.75-Ram 5500 HD
|
DieselBurps
SLC
Senior Member
Joined: 11/24/2013
View Profile
Offline
|
The Cirrus is a way better built camper than the Northstar. Plus the Cirrus doesn't have a cassette toilet, meaning you can swap the crapper out in the cirrus for a better composting toilet.
|
Grit dog
Black Diamond, WA
Senior Member
Joined: 05/06/2013
View Profile
Offline
|
Again, bedlam is spot on. Pick up what he's layin down and you can do a lot with your current truck, safely and comfortably.
2016 Ram 2500, MotorOps.ca EFIlive tuned, 5” turbo back, 6" lift on 37s
2017 Heartland Torque T29 - Sold.
Couple of Arctic Fox TCs - Sold
|
|
|
