ppine
Northern Nevada
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My first Rv was a medium sized TC on a one ton Ford. They are heavy and make trucks top heavy. They are difficult in the wind. They take some time to load and unload. The big campers just make everything worse.
I like travel trailers.
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RobertRyan
Australia
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3 tons wrote:RobertRyan wrote:valhalla360 wrote:mellow wrote:Off road has many different meanings so not sure what your going after but some of us have heavier TC's and enjoy going off the pavement and find it practical as you can't tow a trailer to those places.
Yep, huge difference driving on a sandy beach and going rock crawling.
Yes very True. Still smalller TC's are much more adept on extreme roads
Hey RR, do you still have your jumbo Eagle Cap??
3 tons
Your mixing up your Australians, do not know what he has now
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StirCrazy
Kamloops, BC, Canada
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RobertRyan wrote:This is what the post is about
How practical is this top heavy monster on a small trail? Excessive overhang and a high centre of gravity. A photo of a broken RAM 1 Ton went viral showed what overloading and the fulcrum effect can do. Should large Truck Campers be more like Expedition Vehicles? Expedition Vehicles do not have broken chassis
![[image]](https://i.imgur.com/sUn6pv2l.jpg)
![[image]](https://i.imgur.com/XV5yddDl.jpg)
This is actualy quite silly. The first pic is a dually with a large camper on it, and nothing looks that bad. as long as the center of gravity is in the proper place at or ahead of the rear axle this will be fine as long as you're not grosly overloaded.
The second picture is the same thing, but what's different? They put an enclosed car trailer behind it and added a **** ton of weight behind the real axel that is most likely at its limit to start with.
The first pic is all good, second pic, the owner deserved what he got.
2014 F350 6.7 Platinum
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RobertRyan
Australia
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StirCrazy wrote:This is actualy quite silly. The first pic is a dually with a large camper on it, and nothing looks that bad. as long as the center of gravity is in the proper place at or ahead of the rear axle this will be fine as long as you're not grosly overloaded.
The second picture is the same thing, but what's different? They put an enclosed car trailer behind it and added a **** ton of weight behind the real axel that is most likely at its limit to start with.
The first pic is all good, second pic, the owner deserved what he got.
Well in the first photo, the TC is fine for nice dirt roads. In the second he had it overloaded, on a dirt road with undulations pulling a trailer that was already stressing the chassis. A large jarring bump would be the straw that broke the Camels back.
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jimh406
Western MT
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RobertRyan wrote:Well in the first photo, the TC is fine for nice dirt roads. In the second he had it overloaded, on a dirt road with undulations pulling a trailer that was already stressing the chassis. A large jarring bump would be the straw that broke the Camels back.
You are making a guess which is fine. However, we don't know if the failure case is actually the trailer hitch weight, the TC, or a combination of both.
Back to my first post, I'd rather not have a long overhang since that weight is all behind the rear axle. Based on what others have posted here, long TCs can actually take weight off the front axle. I don't think putting all of the weight on the rear axle can ever be.a good thing.
'10 Ford F-450, 6.4, 4.30, 4x4, 14,500 GVWR, '06 Host Rainer 950 DS, Torklift Talon tiedowns, Glow Steps, and Fastguns. Bilstein 4600s, Firestone Bags, Toyo M655 Gs, Curt front hitch, Energy Suspension bump stops.
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StirCrazy
Kamloops, BC, Canada
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RobertRyan wrote:StirCrazy wrote:This is actualy quite silly. The first pic is a dually with a large camper on it, and nothing looks that bad. as long as the center of gravity is in the proper place at or ahead of the rear axle this will be fine as long as you're not grosly overloaded.
The second picture is the same thing, but what's different? They put an enclosed car trailer behind it and added a **** ton of weight behind the real axel that is most likely at its limit to start with.
The first pic is all good, second pic, the owner deserved what he got.
Well in the first photo, the TC is fine for nice dirt roads. In the second he had it overloaded, on a dirt road with undulations pulling a trailer that was already stressing the chassis. A large jarring bump would be the straw that broke the Camels back.
you could go on lot of forestry roads with that first one that have wash outs and such. hard core 4x4ing no not really a stock truck isn't the best for that anyways, but if you take your time with the first set up you could get through some rough stuff, and for the second pic thats kinda what I said isn't it..
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notsobigjoe
southeast
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jimh406 wrote:RobertRyan wrote:Well in the first photo, the TC is fine for nice dirt roads. In the second he had it overloaded, on a dirt road with undulations pulling a trailer that was already stressing the chassis. A large jarring bump would be the straw that broke the Camels back.
You are making a guess which is fine. However, we don't know if the failure case is actually the trailer hitch weight, the TC, or a combination of both.
Back to my first post, I'd rather not have a long overhang since that weight is all behind the rear axle. Based on what others have posted here, long TCs can actually take weight off the front axle. I don't think putting all of the weight on the rear axle can ever be.a good thing.
Jim you make a good point about the overhang. I removed everything I could from my 4 foot overhang and the the front end still bounces a bit. "In my opinion" The large TC industry is going straight to the 5500 series truck and the small TC industry is going straight for the 1500 series truck. That leaves the rest of us to deal without the most efficient design for a truck camper. Why can't they design a truck camper with the weight forward and standard on the mid range models? I included this article to make my point. All these campers fit extremely well on the 1500 series trucks and I think the industry could do the same for the 2500 and 3500 series trucks. Keep the length and size but move the weight to the front of the rear axle.
https://www.truckcamperadventure.com/10-best-truck-campers-for-the-ram-1500-half-ton-pickup-truck/
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valhalla360
No paticular place.
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notsobigjoe wrote:
Jim you make a good point about the overhang. I removed everything I could from my 4 foot overhang and the the front end still bounces a bit. "In my opinion" The large TC industry is going straight to the 5500 series truck and the small TC industry is going straight for the 1500 series truck. That leaves the rest of us to deal without the most efficient design for a truck camper. Why can't they design a truck camper with the weight forward and standard on the mid range models? I included this article to make my point. All these campers fit extremely well on the 1500 series trucks and I think the industry could do the same for the 2500 and 3500 series trucks. Keep the length and size but move the weight to the front of the rear axle.
https://www.truckcamperadventure.com/10-best-truck-campers-for-the-ram-1500-half-ton-pickup-truck/
Probably because once you up to a 1 ton, it's not much more to go to the 4 or 5 series and you get a noticably bigger living space with the giant campers. Anything from a 3/4 ton to 5 series is a lousy off road vehicle anyway.
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Bedlam
PNW
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If truck manufacturers were serious about the TC market, they would bring back the camper special design where the axle sits far back in the frame with less overhang. The shift of the axle rearward would address much of the CG issues people experience when they hang too much weight off the rear. My Mammoth is tail heavy unless I have water in the fresh or gray tanks that sit forward of the axle. With my trailer, I use a WDH to restore 100% of the front axle weight. Once you do this long enough, you find ways to compensate for a less than ideal design. I suppose you could start with a 84" CA chassis cab and lop off the rear overhang, but now you are looking where your primary fuel will be carried...
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Bedlam
PNW
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Off topic trailer posts were removed from this truck camper forum.
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