Any close calls...

Metal Twister

Highly Motivated
Just curious if any one has ever flopped their rig on its side with a Camper, or for that matter ever gotten close? Maybe its just me but mine seems way top heavy. Its the camper special so its made for it and only an 8' lance so im sure its between my ears but Id still like to know just where the tipping point is?
 

cnynrat

Expedition Leader
I have a Bigfoot C2500 10.6 on an F350. I've never come close to tipping, but I don't do anything very aggressive with that rig. It is definitely top heavy, so I drive accordingly.

Are you running a stock suspension? I found airbags in back and quality shocks improved the stability with mine.
 

Photomike

White Turtle Adventures & Photography
The only time I was concerned was in 120kmph cross winds. Dropped the speed and was fine. I also do not do a lot of crazy offroad stuff.
 

Capt Eddie

Adventurer
I have done the math on my rigs weight. The whole truck and camper weight 16500. The campers itself weighs about 3800. Of that total is the water which is stored in the basement. I have figures out that almot all of my weight sits at bed level or below. I do not thing that I could ever tip over the camper. The wheels are 8 foot wide. The weight is 4 foot high. Very little leverage is being apply be the camper. All this calculating is based on boat designing an weight distritutions.
 

cnynrat

Expedition Leader
I have done the math on my rigs weight. The whole truck and camper weight 16500.

16,500!! :Wow1:

I had my rig on a truck scale shortly after it we got it. IIRC the combined total was about 10,500 more or less loaded and packed for a typical trip. I thought that was heavy!
 

Metal Twister

Highly Motivated
Wow you guys run very heavy? I just had the truck weighed for registration and it came in at 5842 lbs. Just checked the lititure on the camper and the dry weight is 2190 lbs. Im in at 8032 lbs dry.
 

cnynrat

Expedition Leader
Wow you guys run very heavy? I just had the truck weighed for registration and it came in at 5842 lbs. Just checked the lititure on the camper and the dry weight is 2190 lbs. Im in at 8032 lbs dry.

A number of differences between the weight of your rig and mine:

1. My camper is 10.5' vs. your 8'
2. My truck has the 7.3l Powerstroke diesel which is heavy
3. The weight I quoted was wet and packed for a trip, not dry
4. I'm guessing there may be some other camper configuration differences as well. I have a 2.5kw generator, a 4D battery, dual propane tanks, etc.

I'm still somewhat amazed at the 16k weight though.
 

Capt Eddie

Adventurer
When we are loaded for long range trips we add another 500 for extra water and bikes for the whole family. This is not your grandpa's truck camper. Its not a 350 either.
 

locrwln

Expedition Leader
I'm pretty sure, like wheeling, your pucker factor will go off long before you are in danger. I have had my set up rocking a few times and while it was uncomfortable, I never felt like it was going to go over. I have found that "mogul" type stuff is the worst for making you feel tippy.

Jack
 

WILLD420

Observer
I've been giving this a lot more thought here lately, and I think our puckermeter is a lot more sensitive than it needs to be, largely because we don't get to use our rigs to the max limits often enough.

I'm trying to attach a pic of what I used to drive on a daily basis.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...53-post-pics-round-bale-spears-bale-wagon.jpg

For the uninitiated, it's a New Holland bale wagon loaded with hay bales. We used to stack them with 63 110 lb bales and drive them all over center pivot irrigation fields and up and down dirt roads that were often pretty poor with washouts and other hazards.

We ran them on the floor all day, only slowing to the absolute minimum for corners, quite often lifting a rear wheel enough that the engine would race for a split second as we accelerated through the apex of the turn.

Granted, they are a different animal, but I would be willing to bet that they had a higher center of gravity than a loaded F350 with a camper on the back.

Those rear tires are probably 44" or so in height and the fronts are at least 36" tall. The suspension is just your standard 5 ton truck stuff, with drum brakes all around. They don't have shocks to my limited memory, nor do they have sway bars. What they do have is a fairly wide track and a heavy drivetrain that sits about 24" center of gravity from the ground. That partially offsets the 7K lbs of payload that sits on top of at least and average of 50" height.

Granted, they are slow speed machines with a top speed on flat ground of 50-60 mph and loaded speed is usually topped out at 40-45 on rougher surfaces. But I think the lessons here can be readily adopted. With a wide stance, say add an extra inch to each side, and keeping the load as low as possible, I think your average camper will handle at least a 25-30 degree sides slope if you are careful, probably more.

I'm pretty sure one big drawback off road is the front and rear swaybars we like so much on the road. Rather than letting the suspension do it's thing and isolating the truck from roadway undulations, the sway bar tends to exacerbate the rocking when you get off the pavement.

While I'm not in any hurry to go out and see how far I can tip one before it falls over, I'm getting more relaxed about the idea of wheeling a rig with a cabover camper on it. I think we just have to be smart about it and re-think some of our suspension modifications to allowing wheel movement, rather than restricting it so much. Shocks, on the other hand, are going to be even more important to prevent uncontrolled oscillations.

Tie downs will also be paramount. The absolute worst thing that could happen if you were getting a little tippy, would be for the camper to shift or one of the factory tie downs fail and allow the camper to tip on the truck bed.
 

805gregg

Adventurer
My Lance 9.5' camper weighs about 3000 lbs. my 2003 Dodge weighs over 6000 lbs. never had a problem even in Baja, just slow down.
 

rick_johnson

New member
White knuckle moment

I once drove up a local 4x4 road to camp near some radio and cell towers. I'd been there before in a 4x4 Bronco and a 4Runner. I knew it was doable with the truck camper. Going in was OK but I did cross a washout with some slope and a wide 90 degree turn involved. Coming out was not so easy. Quite a slope after the washout and very white knuckles until the road leveled out again. I couldn't figure out why it seemed so easy going in. Probably because coming out, I was on the low side (as the driver) and ended up looking out my side window at a lot of ground.

Rick
 

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