2020 Ram 2500 and FWC Hawk Slide-In - good combo or potential issues?

LokiBear303

New member
Hey everyone,

I am a new member and have been checking the website for a while but finally decided to join in the hopes of learning from the community and seeking specific advice on the title above.

We live in Colorado and love to travel around in our rig and explore different parts of the western US. I built the ram up in 2021 with the help of High Country Performance to serve as a backcountry exploration rig capable of towing light loads and mostly used for weekend and hunting expeditions. It has served my wife and I, our two huskies, and all of gear wonderfully to this point - but a recent addition to our family has forced us to rethink our needs. We also want to take longer extended trips and avoid having to find hotels for creature comforts. My wife's wish list includes hot water, heat, refrigerator, comfortable bedding, etc - mine includes ease of setting up and breaking down. This led us away from our current RTT setup to a FWC Hawk slide-in camper form Juniper Overland in Denver.

Fast forward several day's worth of youtubing and scrolling through pop-up camper forums and I find myself, like many 2500 owners, wondering about GVWR with a camper. My truck is a 2020 ram 2500 cummins laramie 4x4 off road edition with an AEV bumper, Warn m15s winch, 35x12.5 tires, Thuren/King suspension, firestone airbags, daystar cradles, drop brkts, sway bars, steering stabilizers, rig'd spare carrier, and some recovery tools. I left the rear coils stock to maintain payload, the front coils are Thuren, and the Kings are tuned to Stage 2.The truck's door payload states 2118lbs from the factory, "dry" weight of 7516, and gvwr of 10,000lbs. Not sure where the payload and dry weight difference stems from (maybe fuel and DEF? empty vs full?) but either way the total weight is adding up quickly.

According to my spreadsheet I will be running anywhere from 200 - 1,500lbs over gvwr depending on the load, people, dogs, water, gear, etc. It looks like the axles are rated for around 11,500lbs, my tires are E rated, and I already have airbags. I spoke with a company out of the western slope who can create some customer coils for me once everything is loaded and I emailed Don Thuren about tuning the shocks.

After speaking with some FWC experts and other folks it sounds like many people ride heavy with slide-in campers and never look back. I haven't found a ton of info on people running "5th Gen" ram HD trucks with slide-in campers aside from a few Power Wagons enthusiasts online. No one talks about their total gvwr understandably but I am seeking real-life advice on anyone who has had a similar setup or currently running one. My number one concern is obviously safety for my family. I drive conservatively but we do like to explore and I would hate to find myself in a pinch on a remote logging road at 12k feet with my family giving me the stink eye!

My options appear to be...

A) Order some custom coils and take 'er easy. Accept the weight and drive carefully.

B) Trade in my truck for a 3500 or similar HD with leaf springs and a higher payload. Take a huge financial hit and give up on a perfectly good truck with lots of love and only 16k miles on it.

C) Cut some weight and/or move weight to a light trailer. This would almost defeat the point of having a point-and-aim truck that can get us anywhere without having to stop at a storage unit.

D) Stick with current RTT setup. Did I mention the wife and kiddo part? Not an option any longer.

Any advice from the community is greatly appreciated! Look forward to contributing information as we develop our plan and reading more about other's rigs and adventures.

Thank you,
 

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ramblinChet

Well-known member
My recommendation is for you to take it on the chin and select the best option (B). Identify your payload requirements and select a truck with approximately double your payload requirements. This is exactly what I did for my truck and camper.

C & D are not really options according to your comments.

This leaves option A which is the worst option. Unless you have a team of dedicated suspension engineers and technicians to build and test your "system," you are increasing the likelihood and severity of an accident. To me the question is rather simple, what is my families safety worth for the next several years? Ten or twenty thousand - fifty? As a husband and father I made many tough choices, this is an easy one...
 

tacollie

Glamper
Lots of people running your truck with a FWC. I about bought one to carry our FWC. Honestly I think you will be fine. I say get the camper and get out there. You will be better off than all the mid size and half ton trucks rocking a FWC. I had my FWC on a Tundra before we upgraded to the F250. The Tundra never felt unsafe but I wanted a stouter truck.

When we replaced the Tundra it was between a RAM 2500 and F250. We preferred the interior of the Ford. That's the only reason we didn't get a Ram.

The biggest issue will be the coil sprung rear end. You may want a beefier rear sway bar.

One of the following things will happen.
1. You'll love the camper and the truck.
2. You may not like the FWC and then you'll still have a truck your love.
3. The truck will disappoint you and you will love the camper. The truck is going to do it's job until you are ready to buy something better.
 

tacollie

Glamper
Also, talk to Juniper. When we bought our FWC from them they didn't recommend putting it on a Tundra. They told us what they recommended to make it work and it wasn't just adding airbags. They are good guys that want to set up their customers for success
 

carleton

Active member
after watching a few of these threads....and owning at F350 personally my lesson is:
It's just hard to have it all.

A FWC might be fine in a stock 2500.

But, lifting, larger tires, bumpers, etc: all go against your GVWR and make it so that a FWC may no longer appropriate match for that particular 2500.

Basically: compromises have to be made somewhere.....or the compromise is that you step up to the next larger vehicle. But, it's pretty hard to "have it all"

A lot of folks who are overweight are trying not to make compromises (ie, FWC & flatbeds on extended cab Tundras that are heavily modified). There is a limit.
 

LokiBear303

New member
My recommendation is for you to take it on the chin and select the best option (B). Identify your payload requirements and select a truck with approximately double your payload requirements. This is exactly what I did for my truck and camper.

C & D are not really options according to your comments.

This leaves option A which is the worst option. Unless you have a team of dedicated suspension engineers and technicians to build and test your "system," you are increasing the likelihood and severity of an accident. To me the question is rather simple, what is my families safety worth for the next several years? Ten or twenty thousand - fifty? As a husband and father I made many tough choices, this is an easy one...

Thank you for the reply ramblinChet, greatly appreciate the candid feedback. The whole safety concern is what brought me here in the first place. I have been researching Ram 3500 and Ford f350 crew cabs all morning lol! Based on what I've put together I don't think doubling my payload will be achievable, but at least we would have some wiggle room. I am posting a snip of my payload spreadsheet for a 3500 laramie crew cab build, any feedback there is also welcomed. Love your rig btw! ram 3500 snip.png
 

LokiBear303

New member
Lots of people running your truck with a FWC. I about bought one to carry our FWC. Honestly I think you will be fine. I say get the camper and get out there. You will be better off than all the mid size and half ton trucks rocking a FWC. I had my FWC on a Tundra before we upgraded to the F250. The Tundra never felt unsafe but I wanted a stouter truck.

When we replaced the Tundra it was between a RAM 2500 and F250. We preferred the interior of the Ford. That's the only reason we didn't get a Ram.

The biggest issue will be the coil sprung rear end. You may want a beefier rear sway bar.

One of the following things will happen.
1. You'll love the camper and the truck.
2. You may not like the FWC and then you'll still have a truck your love.
3. The truck will disappoint you and you will love the camper. The truck is going to do it's job until you are ready to buy something better.
Thanks for the feedback tacollie! I also think my truck would be okay, at least for a while, but as you pointed out the rear coils are the weak spot. If I kept the current configuration I still foresee the need to potentially upgrade the coils, the rear sway bar, etc. I will also have to pay the $800 camper installing/wiring fee twice if I upgrade the truck later. I have historically been a Ram guy, but the F350 is definitely appealing and has tons of capacity. I posted a snip of my payload below and would love to hear what kind of gear you are hauling on trips. Curious to hear how your payload and hauling numbers look with the 250? Thanks!
 

LokiBear303

New member
after watching a few of these threads....and owning at F350 personally my lesson is:
It's just hard to have it all.

A FWC might be fine in a stock 2500.

But, lifting, larger tires, bumpers, etc: all go against your GVWR and make it so that a FWC may no longer appropriate match for that particular 2500.

Basically: compromises have to be made somewhere.....or the compromise is that you step up to the next larger vehicle. But, it's pretty hard to "have it all"

A lot of folks who are overweight are trying not to make compromises (ie, FWC & flatbeds on extended cab Tundras that are heavily modified). There is a limit.
Appreciate the input carleton, I am definitely trying to have my cake and eat it too! I think I have accepted the larger vehicle as the most logical and safest steps. Ram 3500s and f350s have been top of mind today. I posted a snip of my payload spreadsheet, any feedback there is welcomed. Did you f350 have a camper in it? Any mods? Thanks!
 

renglekirk

Member
Following, I'm in the process of deciding between a 2500 and 3500 for my new rig and have the same issue. I'm getting a lot of mixed opinions on what the 2500 is truly capable of.
 

carleton

Active member
Appreciate the input carleton, I am definitely trying to have my cake and eat it too! I think I have accepted the larger vehicle as the most logical and safest steps. Ram 3500s and f350s have been top of mind today. I posted a snip of my payload spreadsheet, any feedback there is welcomed. Did you f350 have a camper in it? Any mods? Thanks!

Well, so the added nuance is that my F350 is a Tiger, so my circumstances will be different than yours.

That being said, Its a Tiger that the prev. owner basically checked every single box yes.....and it comes in at 13k lbs as a result. Im at a point now where I'm not looking to make any more modifications, unless it is to make it lighter! Looking forward to putting in Lithium this summer so that I can drop my battery weight by a couple hundred pounds.
 

tacollie

Glamper
Curious to hear how your payload and hauling numbers look with the 250? Thanks!
The Ford's have a slightly longer bed and a taller cab. FWC tuck into the bed nicely. We weighed our truck without the camper and it was just over 6,500lbs with a 10,000 GVWR. That is due to the gas motor, supercab, and a modest trim level. We decided the gas motor was better fit for us and it opens up a lot of payload. I'm running 35s, Carli level springs, and Fox DSC shocks. Loaded down for trips the truck handles great. Even with the bikes and dog we are under GVWR(usually under 9500lbs). My biggest concern with our Tundra was we were maxing out the rear axle rating. This isn't a problem with the F250.

One bad thing about the F250/F350s is the lack of up travel from the front axle. The Carli level springs really transformed how the truck rides and drives.
 

Overdrive

Adventurer
x2 what ramblinChet said. Over at Wander the West forum, the often heard comment is to buy a 350/3500 if you are going to put a slide in camper on it, even a "light" one like a FWC. Many folks over there upgraded from a 3/4 ton to a 1 ton and comment on how much better the 1 ton handles the load.
 

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