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Cabover Camper Chat
Hey, of all the speciality issues on this board
there was no mention of campers. I am a happy Lance
owner and would like to trade info about
truck/camper issues.
I'm going to the dealer today to order a 2000
Silverado 2500 4x4 LB Reg cab, is anyone using a
new Chevy to carry a camper? How about an
aftermarket rear stabilizer bar since Chevy is too
lame to offer one?
Vince
there was no mention of campers. I am a happy Lance
owner and would like to trade info about
truck/camper issues.
I'm going to the dealer today to order a 2000
Silverado 2500 4x4 LB Reg cab, is anyone using a
new Chevy to carry a camper? How about an
aftermarket rear stabilizer bar since Chevy is too
lame to offer one?
Vince
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Comments
The 'Firm Ride' shocks were too soft, so I bought some Z71 shocks. Still not enough so I've ordered Bilsteins.
With my lightwieght and short camper, the wieght shift isn't too bad. But, I want better so I'm going by the shop after work to talk about a Hellwig bar and get the price.
It seems strange to have to modify the suspension so much while still within GM load limits.
Oh well, I'm happy with all other aspects of the truck.
Mike
Now try and find a camper that weighs 1200lbs or less when ready to go.
I can only think of a couple of soft sided campers that will weigh that little.
I have a Phoenix pop-up camper that is supposed to be 1298lbs ready to go. With my wife (130lbs) myself (180lbs) full of gas and water our truck weighed 6500lbs. Our GVWR is 6400lbs. And we started with a max payload of 2035lbs. Since your payload is less you may have trouble.
However the camper has worked quite well for us. It did take 4-5 days to work the bugs out of the camper and to make it mosquito proof. I've heard complaints about most campers from people I've talked to.
We now have about 15K miles and 42 nights camping on/in the camper. There is enough room for the two of us. The heater was a godsend on mid-20's nights. Hotwater is ok, but not needed so much. A refrig (vs. icebox) makes longer campouts a real treat.
If you buy a pop-up camper, make sure the top is easy to put up and down. Ours is too heavy for my wife to lift up. Either visit the factory and put the top up and down or find a customer in your area that will let you try his.
A camper will make your truck more top heavy and it will tend to sway side to side more with a camper on it. Hardsides more so than soft sides. Hardside campers have more weight up high (cabinets, etc) while softsides have only the soft side up high.
My reccomendation today would be 4 Wheel Campers in Woodland, CA: http://www.fourwheelcampers.com/
Good luck,
Mike
P.S. I talked with a very satisfied popup owner in a campground and he said he had a real problem with mold on the canvas portion. Said they had to clean it quite often and it keeps coming back.
I had a 1800 lb cabover on a 1970 1/2T Dodge. Wow was that a thrill. Leannnn in the corners and brake early and hard. I added springs and a sway bar which helped but it was just overloaded. I'm sure the modern trucks are better but choose something light.
The Air Lifts will keep the truck level with a load on it.
With 10 psi in them they don't seem to affect the empty ride.
F 350 with dual wheels.
Has anyone ever had any experience with loading
a cab over camper on a truck with dual wheels?
Does the dual wheels present a problem when
backing between the jacks.
The camper the camper will be a 10ft self contained model.Has any one had any problems with hualing a camper of this size with a one ton truck?
Gary-
One thing I very much recommend is a rear stabilizer bar. I added one to an old truck and it really helped the side to side rocking. Anyone who knows a good aftermarket source for a 2000 Silverado bar please speak up.
I also got the rear sway bar model from Hellwig: #7634. This is for a lb reg cab 4wd but I suspect it is the same for any 3/4T.
Vince, as far as the duals are concerned i want them mostly for looks, but they should also add to the stabilty of the truck when the camper is loaded.
Does any one else have any comments on duallys as far as loading campers and driving go ?
You can see a picture of camper/dually at
www.lancecampers.com.
Lets say AC and V-8 reduce the payload by 200#. Now you have 1800lbs. Subtract a driver and a passenger = 1500lbs. Subtract some gear, food, clothes, water = 1300lbs. Put gas in the truck and your available payload = 1150#. I'll bet your camper weighs a bunch more than that.
Go and weigh your truck with passengers and gas. You won't have 2000# available. Probably less than 1500#. Now find a camper to fit your available payload.
Good luck!
I have a 2000# payload and a 1200# camper. With gear, gas, water, myself (170) and my wife (120) we are 100# over GVWR.
Mike
I live in CA and spend a fair amount of time in the mountains. I'm running a 99 Silverado 1/2 4x4 with a pop-up camper. We've weighed it on cert. scales and it is 6500lbs loaded. Max GVWR is 6400lbs. I've never even thought about the brakes until you asked.
I guess the brakes are good enough that they didn't enough need a 2nd thought.
I do have a manual trans, and I downshift when in the mountains, and probably downshift again when on steep hills. But I have never had a moments concern about the brakes. 4 wheel disks and ABS are reassuring.
Mike
I had the brakes completly fail after extreme use due to old brake fluid (bought the truck used). Brake fluid absorbs water very redily and under extreme use the fluid in the caliper will get so hot the water "boils" and fills the piston area with gas rather than liquid. Result = NO BRAKES! I didn't realize this was such a real threat until it happened to me. The moral of the story: CHANGE YOUR BRAKE FLUID EVERY FEW YEARS! I now use a synthetic which has a higher boiling point.
The new engines have about the same engine braking as the old ones, except:
They are generally smaller (6L vs 7.4L, etc.)
They are turn slower (1800rpm cruise vs 3000rpm)
If you downshift enough to bring the revs up to 3-4000 then you have good engine braking.
Your 3/4 ton truck will have bigger beefier brakes than my 1/2 ton. Assuming you have an 8600lb version, you will not be above max GVWR. Staying below GVWR means you have more margin on your brakes, tires, suspension, etc.
Good Luck,
Mike
I've traveled thousands of miles with the camper and love it. It gives you so much freedom when traveling, you always have a place to stay and can still fit almost anywhere a car can. I've dropped the camper in the campground but usually I don't. It's a bit of a hassle to secure everything for day trips but when you are out all day you have your food, clothes, etc. with you which is very handy. I might drop it more often if I had electric jacks. If you want to go off-road then definitely leave the camper behind.
Sorry for the long post, just felt like blabing.
I've learned to really enjoy off-season camping and the camper lets me do that with no worries. So it rains a little, who cares! Just go inside and get warm. I usually get plenty of nice weather in the day and have a good time without the crowds. I live in northern CA and we have a great network of campgrounds in wildly varing terrain but we also have zillions of people so things get crowded in the summer.
To answer your questions, my camper weighs 2200 lbs with water & propane but no gear. And yes I do notice a mpg drop but I don't track it much. I probably get about 9-10mpg with it on and 13 with it off. I have a 5L Ford and it's really working with the camper on, also I can't run in overdrive so the rpm is quite high. I expect to get about 10mpg with the Chevy but have plenty of power (which I don't now). The killer with campers is the frontal area, that's one area trailers have us beat.
I'll be happy to blab on about what I've learned with two campers on two different trucks. As far as your new rig goes I'll mention what I think is most important. I'm doing all these things.
First get good tie downs. I use HappyJack (I think that's right) turnbuckles, they are the most popular. They have a spring inside to absorb some shocks and are quite strong and stable. And don't even think about using the brackets that mount in the stake pockets of the truck.
Second, add a rear stabilizer bar. GM is stupid on this one, I can't imagine why they don't offer one. Anyway I'm ordering the Hellwig bar soon.
Third, I'm adding Air Lift Super Duty air bags to the rear. They're kind of expensive at $250 and $170 for an on-board compressor but I think worth it. I really don't know how the Chevy will do without some sort of overload assistance but remember, we are loading the truck to the rated maximum so why shouldn't it sag a little. A drooping rear end is ugly, unstable, and a problem with the headlights. A less flexible but cheaper alternative is Hellwig overload leaf springs, I think about $150.
Fourth, add a second battery under the hood. Your camper has a battery but I recommend another one under the hood connected in parallel with the camper battery via a relay. Use only deep cycle batteries for each. By using the relay all three batteries charge when the engine is on but the truck battery is isolated when the engine is off. This way you can stay in one place longer and not have to worry about using lights and the heater. GM offers an auxillary battery option but if you try to add that to your order now it may delay it. I found out the hard way that it's available in CA even though they originally said not. Anyway it's not a big deal to add if you're into working on cars, otherwise you could buy the parts and have someone do it. I ordered all the parts from the dealer and it cost about $160 without the battery. So I have the parts but no truck!
Enough for now.
Did you order an extended cab? I thought is was reg. cab as mine is. I ordered the camper mirrors so I hope those are adequate and I don't have to add any mirror. Did you order those? If not then you will definitely need to add some extension mirrors.
I've camped in the snow only a little, usually not on purpose. With my one wheel drive truck it makes be nervous. Most campgrounds at altitude are closed in the winter so I end up at the coast or local places if I don't have much time. The Santa Cruz coastal range is near here and has some beautiful spots in the redwoods open year round. Have you been to Death Valley? The winter is the only time to go unless you like 120 deg heat.
For great redwood forests you are better off going to the Eureka area. The distance isn't so much different and you don't have to battle the crowds.
The mirrors are a mixed bag. From the photos it looks like they did a nice job with the extendible mirrors however they are manual adjust and someone here said the passenger side mirror is flat. So if you mostly use the truck without the camper you may be better off with the regular ones. I really wish the camper mirrors were power, it's so handy on such a wide vehicle.
Well good luck, let me know what the Lance dealer in Paradise does to your rig. If my truck was actually built last week the dealer should be getting an invoice in a few days. Now I have to figure out how to pay for the thing!
I expect to receive my sway bar this week, and I will install it this weekend. I'll let you know how the installation went and the effect it has on the truck. I'm not a pro, but I've managed to accumulate enough tools and experience to tackle almost any job (outside of the truck's computer). I think the sway bar will be easier than the Air Lifts that I put on; maybe about the same a changing shocks. I'll let you know.
We get enough time off work because my wife and I have both held our jobs for over 25 yrs and get 6 weeks vacation each year. This year we used it all at once to go to Alaska.
Fantastic! We were quite prepared for it to be exspensive, it was not. In the south (Anchorage/Denali/Kenia) it was a little high, in the north (Fairbanks/Dalton Hwy)it was cheap. Camping averaged $10. Scenery and wildlife far exceeded expectations. The sheer size of the place boggles the mind. The clarity of the air hides distances. In CA its a rare day to be able to 50 miles. In Alaska you can look acros a valley and no know if the mountains you see are 35 miles or 135 miles away. Nothing manmade to give scale and perspective to the view. Nothing like driving 400+ miles up a dirt/gravel road, through mostly empty country, to have to turn around and come back down the same road. Driving for hours without seeing anybody else. In case you can't tell, we enjoyed the trip, especially the northern part. We will go back.
But there are a lot of other places we need to visit also. After all, my wife's only been in 44 of the lower 48 states (only 6 before she met me). We graduated from a motorcycle and tent camping to this 1/2 ton 4x4 with a pop-up camper. The thing seems huge to us and we can't imagine one of those big Lance campers. Our truck has a std cab and the front overhang is 5" high and not as long as the roof of the cab. The bed slides into the living space, and with the bed put away we have the full 8' available. Slide out the bed and we have a queen size bed. Close the top and we have less frontal area. We averaged 15mpg to and from Alaska. My parents used to have a big cabover camper, moved to a 5th wheel, and now to a tag trailer. I understand why some people like the big rigs, but we are really happy with our choice.
Later,
Mike
Mike - I'm interested in your Air Lift installation. Are there any tips or problems you can pass on??