Thank you for posting this. I carry a camper style service canopy on my truck. Total weight around 1000 lbs give or take depending on the day . I haven't had any issue with the air suspension locking me out... Yet lol as summer hits full swing here and work gets busier ( I'm a hvac/r contractor) I'm sure to have more gear in the back.

Like you I'm impressed at how well these trucks handle the pAy Load and still maintain fuel economy! I'm averaging 19 mpg in the city 24 mpg on the highway, I don't drive the truck hard. Gently bring it up to the speed limit and don't force it on hills.. I'm in no hurry to get from
Point A to point B, I charge by the hour ;-) .

I've thought of getting a small camper as well but was concerned by the payload glad to see it can be done!

Nice looking setup!

Cheers

 

Thanks for sharing...great read...layout inside pics would be nice. Houser and some others doing the same certain they will post up with their shared experiences...

 

The camper is currently at the dealer having the hot water fixed but here are some interior pics from the Lance website. It's pretty nice. Its the smallest and simplest of their campers but surprisingly well appointed. I'm never overwhelmed by the quality or fit/finish of campers and travel trailers but this seems to be average or slightly above.

 

I was looking at slide in units as well , with my ED and started running numbers which also helped my decision to upgrade to the 3500 and when not using it just put it in a corner of a barn . When traveling our own little bathroom and shower and bed would be nice . Thanks for your write up!!!!

 

Very nice. Thanks for posting.

 

Definitely a nice looking bungalow!

I would like to get a nice light tandem axle bumper pull for my ED someday.

 

Very nice........but you do know the Ram 1500 is not certificated for a slide-in camper right? The RV dealer should have advised you of this before selling you the camper. There are only a few Ram models that are certified for use with a slide-in camper. The issue is the height and center of gravity with a slide-in camper along with the fact the Ram 1500 does not have the payload rating for it even with the air suspension system. Note the exception is the 1500 Regular cab does allow for a slide-in camper.

click on the link scroll down to the "Technical Information" section then click on "Camper Guide" Ram Body Builder's Guide - 2015 Ram 1500 Tradesman

 

Nice looking unit man,

I have a travel lite 800sbx which is almost the same as what you have there. 1700lbs with water and propane.

Torklift makes frame mounting bars for our trucks, they are pretty slick especially if you use the fast guns to clamp it down. I'm happy with them.

I don't have air suspension but I put timbrens and airlift bags in. Putting them at 35psi I still have a shade a rake angle which is great.

I am also running the hellwig sway bar, absolutely a great product. Really keeps everything in check.

We have only gone about 500km with the camper on and were getting around 13.L/100 (~18mpg) Speeds of 80-90km (50-55mph)

For those of you wondering how the truck handles here is story for you. Traveling along a two lane highway outside of Ottawa over the long weekend we really put the truck to its test. We were cruising at about 90km/h and came upon an 18 wheeler doing about 85km/h. We couldn't pass so we just followed behind him and a normal distance awaiting an opportunity to pass. Our luck would have it, his rear inner wheel exploded, smoke and crap flying everywhere. The ole ass puckered up to say the least. I reacted like it was just another day, hammered the brake to reduce speed, as the objects got closer to us I released the brake and maneuvered around them. Didn't hit a darn thing, avoided every last bit of carnage. Even after hitting the soft shoulder the truck performed flawlessly. I thought for sure she would roll limiting my ability to avoid the gators flying at us but not one bit. Level and stable the entire time.

So I was very happy that the brakes worked awesome and she maneuvered like a champ.

 

I too have been impressed at how well the truck handles with the camper. Even without the camper the Hellwig swaybar has been the best thing I've done to the truck. Do you have any pics with the Travel lite 800sxb on your ecodiesel? That looks like a great little camper. It has some things I wish I had like storage, and a pass through window.

On the torklift website I see they only spec a rear frame mount, I might try that. I currently have the happijac bedside frame mounts on the front which work great but the rear tie downs attach to my rear bumper which has an alarming amount of movement when tightening my fastgun tie downs. I think the flexing of the bumper causes the camper to 'bounce' on bumpy/windy roads. Do you get any movement of the cabover portion of the camper while driving?

 

Mom's got one like yours that she puts on her Titan:

 

Great write up. My understanding is that either ED suspension is far more road compliant than any leaf spring truck. Which helps a lot on uneven road surfaces. But that with the high center of gravity from the slide in it would still have more roll over than a leaf spring truck. But with the fantastic Hellwig sway bar my bet is that it now has better roll control than a stock slide in rated Ram. At least initially and in feel. The 3/4 ton is a heavier truck which should translate to a lower over all center of gravity despite it riding slightly higher but might be more than offset by the Hellwig sway bar stopping rollover inertia before it starts. It would be interesting to see tests comparing the two using the same slide out. Tires would make a hugh difference also. I would assume you guys have also switched to an E rated tire. Any thoughts from you guys who actually do the slide in with your ED.

 

I would agree that our suspension is more compliant but less capable of handling heavy loads than leaf sprung trucks. I thought that the HD Ram trucks have coils but I could be wrong. I haven’t driven a stock ¾ or 1T Ram with a slide in, but my ecodiesel seems to have less sway than other trucks I see on the road.

I have added sumosprings in the rear of my truck which considerably stiffen the rear suspension. Keep in mind a few things, the campers we are running are 1000-2000lb lighter than what most people are running on 3/4 ton trucks, so with a comparably sized camper the COG argument is true, but I don’t see many ¾ or 1 ton trucks running around with mini campers. Tires do make a huge difference. I think this load would be unwieldy with the factory tires.

 

Nice looking setup

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

El Jefe thanks for your reply. In the past I used 3 different sway bar diameters and both solid and hollow bars with rubber and poly bushings on GM G-body cars. A full frame RWD car. Even a cheap step of just swapping from squishy rubber bushings to poly would improve the feel as soon as you pushed the suspension. I noticed Hellwig's bar is a 7/8 which is what I thought the factory uses. Its still likely stiffer than the factory unit even if both used the same bushings. Roadmaster is another company that has one for our truck. It is a 1 1/8. With a slide in this is one I would consider.

 

VernDiesel, you are correct. The Hellwig bar is 7/8" which is the same as factory (I just threw a caliper on both). I will say the difference in weight between the Hellwig and factory bar was amazing, the Hellwig bar weighs probably 4 times what the factory bar does (I didn't actually weigh them). This is just an observation, I don't know that weight necessarily has an impact on performance. Is the factory bar hollow? Another difference is that the Hellwig bar has multiple mounting holes allowing the lever arm on the Hellwig bar to be much shorter than the factory bar. According to Hellwig, each hole closer to the bar increases the sway bar stiffness by 10%. The Hellwig bar is considerably stiffer than the factory bar, and I've always run it on the nearest (stiffest) mounting hole.

When I bought the Hellwig bar I wasn't aware of the Roadmaster. Had I known about both, I would have gone with the Roadmaster. Anyone want to buy a Hellwig swaybar?

Is there any concern of reducing unloaded ride quality with the heavier Roadmaster bar?

The one thing I cant seem to figure out is shocks. I get a lot of bounce with the factory shocks (for air suspension) and one of mine is leaky and I think its time to replace. From what I can tell there are no aftermarket shock options for our trucks with factory air suspension. Does anyone have any ideas here? It seems like there must be something commercially available that will work for our application. I'm not going to put new factory shocks on.

 

Interesting... I have a Lance 815 with a dry weight of 1500ish. I used it on my '98 1/2, 2500 CTD. I have the Timbrens but wondered if it was worth adding "E" rated tires and sway bar to try the camper on the ED. I plan to buy a travel trailer(24-28') later but would like to use the Lance for now. I only plan to take it 20-30 miles from home. It sounds like it is overloaded a bit but doable. Any advice? I also think I can get 17" wheels AND tires for only a little more than 20" tires alone...

 

As long as the 815 is OK with your bed length I wouldn't worry about going 20-30 miles. I now have well over 10k miles on my ecod with the Lance 650 and its been great. If you were to keep using the camper for longer trips I would go to LT or e rated tires when yours wear out. I think part of the reason the 650 rides so well on my truck is that the COG is 21" so the weight is pretty well distributed front to rear.

 

HI all, so we just returned from an East coast tour all through quebec, new Brunswick, PEI, Cape Breton and Nova Scotia.
6732km, fuel average was 14.3L/100km.
Let's of rough roads, head winds and Hill climbs.
The truck did really well. The rough roads we slowed down for and did maybe 5 under the limit, the highways at 110 was a little tough with the wind so we just did 100 or 95km/h to save on fuel. She will.do the 110 with out a problem but it starts drinking the fuel hard.

Transmission temp high was 98C
Coolant 100C
Oil 115C
And that was the worst I ever saw.

She's going into the dealer tomorrow for an oil change, rotation and full brake/suspension inspection, I'll let everyone know how it come outa there.

Just from climbing under myself it looks and feels fine, but we'll see what a dealer mechanic says.

Cheers

 

 

El Jefe, any additional rear suspension mods that you experimented with lately?

 

I just removed my sumosprings yesterday and I have a set of Timbren DR1500DQ's on order arriving Wednesday. I'll install them before taking the camper and trailer on a trip this weekend and report back. I really wanted to try the Timber Grove air bags but I am concerned about how they might interfere with the factory air suspension. From an ease of installation (and removal) I figured I would give the Timbrens a try first. I am hoping that the Timbrens will help support the suspension without making the unloaded ride overly harsh. If not, I'll sell them on this forum and try the Timber Grove air bags.

 

Truck was in today for service and inspection. The mechanic says everything looks and feels great, no sign of premature wear for a 40K kilometer truck.

 

Hey Sibbles, what bed length is your truck? Torklift only lists the front tie downs for a 6'4" bed. Will they fit on a 5'7" too?

I have a little 90's 7.5' slide-in made for an import truck that weighs just over 1000lbs dry. I used eye bolts under the wings and fastened them to the bed loops using turn buckles on my '14 hemi, but I recognize that this wasn't the ideal way to do things so I'm looking into the setups that you end El Jefe are using.

El Jefe how do you like your front tie downs?

 

I like my tiedowns form an aesthetic standpoint but I think the torklift makes for a more secure anchor point. I think my front mounts are very secure but the rear tie downs use the rear bumper which has some give to it which I think allows the cab over portion of the camper to bounce on rough roads. I think this is amplified by the weight distribution of my camper (CG really far forward). We have a shop in WA that builds custom torklift type mounts that seem really nice and people like them. They are priced comparably to the torklifts. I'm not sure if this is common practice.

 

El Jefe, any updates on rear suspension modifications and ride quality with slide in camper?

 

I removed the sumosprings and tried the timbrens. With my truck the Timbren DR1500DQ's were resting on the axle all the time and the ride was somewhat bouncy with the camper and trailer, too bouncy with just the camper and intolerable with an empty truck. Fortunately they are MUCH easier to install and remove than the sumosprings (5 minutes tops). For now, I have been putting them in when I need them and removing them as soon as the camper comes off. The last couple trips were with the camper and no trailer and the factory air suspension handles the load perfectly. This whole thing started because I took a few trips at the beginning of the summer with 4 adults and all their gear in the truck, slide in camper and 3500lb trailer with 15% tongue weight. I've been less worried lately about trying to set up the truck for this situation and more focused on keeping weight out of the truck with the camper on.

My plan is to sell my timbrens and try the timber grove bags but with no towing/camper trips planned for the remainder of the year I may just leave the truck as is and let the factory air suspension do its thing.

 

OK if you have to throw thousands of dollars at a truck to make it some what safe to drive with a slide in camper why wouldn't you just buy the right tool for the job in the first place? By using a 1500 Ram that is not rated for a slide-in camper you have now opened yourself up to a big time liability suit that your insurance company will not cover! There are way to many lawsuit happy people out there to open yourself and your family to a lawsuit IMO! I do know for a fact that the CHP knows that almost all half ton trucks are not rated for a slide-in camper and have given people citations and towed their vehicles!

As for the 2500 Rams they too run a coil rear spring and some are also not rated for a slide-in camper. It is the buyers responsibility to make sure the truck you are buying is rated for the job you intend to use it for!

I don't get it so maybe someone can enlighten me?

 

Who cares about enlightening you. Why don't you just do us a favor and sit this thread out.

 

He has already stated that he would have been better to start with a 2500. He likes the truck and the 1/2 ton specific camper. Its not a live in travel the country deal. The truck is a normal driver that gets the slide in for short weekend camps.

While the air suspension plus the air bags may sound hodge podge I suspect when you get the air bag pressure right for your load that it will work better than the other things you have tried. It may sound like it could be floaty and pogo ish but I bet its not. I look forward to your results. Also i really wish you would try the roadmaster bar and just sell the Hellwig. I suspect this will also make a dramatic difference is how she handles curves. And compliment or compensate however you look at it with what you are going to do. What tires are you running?

 

I wish I could try the roadmaster bar as well but the Hellwig works so well that there is really no reason to. With the camper the truck really handles remarkably well. I've never felt unsafe on curves or high cross wind since the installation of the Hellwig bar.

As for tires, I'm running Cooper A/TW 275/60R20 and they're fantastic. Their max load rating is 2679 for a total of 10,716. When they're warn out I will replace them with the same tire in LT275/65R20.

 

Gentlemen ..... first thing to note is that almost every manufacturer fudges the advertised weight of their campers .... especially Travel Lite. I recommend that anyone with a slide in camper go to a CAT Scale and learn the facts. We started our truck camper research based on our 2WD quad cab. This configuration has the largest payload capacity other than the Regular cab at 1900 lbs. I submit the following video for consideration .... (watch to the end)

This ultimately led us to do the obvious ... get a more suitable truck for the task so we bought a 2016 2500HD Ram. Its payload capacity is 3600 lbs (nearly twice that of the 1500).
The 1500 tires were rated at 39 psi, the 2500 tires at 80 psi.
We also found a manufacturer that actually weighs each unit as it leaves the factory and publishes the weight inside the camper. Ours is 1780 lbs

I found that the Brophy bed mounts are not angled down sufficiently to keep the rear of the camper from moving upwards over large bumps and as others have noticed, there was a noticeable rocking fore and aft over rough roads and bridge expansion joints. Since the Class 5 hitch wasn't being used, I had a local fab shop weld a 2 inch square tube to a short draw bar that I had and I added an additional rear tie down point that limits the upwards travel of the camper greatly reducing the rocking motion.

Since I always follow my own advice, I've weighed the rig and as I suspected, everything is perfectly within the required limits (unlike before)
Note: I've added in the axle ratings for reference. The GVWR is 10,000 lbs.

Also just ordered the Hellwig sway bar this afternoon (#7738 for Ram 2500)
Oh yeah, almost forgot the most important benefit of upgrading the truck .... the Sirius Sat antenna on the 1500 sits rearward on the roof and the cab over drops signal about 70% of the time. The 2500 sat antenna sits very far forward, almost to the windshield, and we get perfect reception at all times

 

Gentlemen ..... first thing to note is that almost every manufacturer fudges the advertised weight of their campers .... especially Travel Lite. I recommend that anyone with a slide in camper go to a CAT Scale and learn the facts. We started our truck camper research based on our 2WD quad cab. This configuration has the largest payload capacity other than the Regular cab at 1900 lbs. I submit the following video for consideration .... (watch to the end)

This ultimately led us to do the obvious ... get a more suitable truck for the task so we bought a 2016 2500HD Ram. Its payload capacity is 3600 lbs (nearly twice that of the 1500).
The 1500 tires were rated at 39 psi, the 2500 tires at 80 psi.
We also found a manufacturer that actually weighs each unit as it leaves the factory and publishes the weight inside the camper. Ours is 1780 lbs

View attachment 22137

I found that the Brophy bed mounts are not angled down sufficiently to keep the rear of the camper from moving upwards over large bumps and as others have noticed, there was a noticeable rocking fore and aft over rough roads and bridge expansion joints. Since the Class 5 hitch wasn't being used, I had a local fab shop weld a 2 inch square tube to a short draw bar that I had and I added an additional rear tie down point that limits the upwards travel of the camper greatly reducing the rocking motion.

View attachment 22145

Since I always follow my own advice, I've weighed the rig and as I suspected, everything is perfectly within the required limits (unlike before)
Note: I've added in the axle ratings for reference. The GVWR is 10,000 lbs.

View attachment 22153

Also just ordered the Hellwig sway bar this afternoon (#7738 for Ram 2500)
Oh yeah, almost forgot the most important benefit of upgrading the truck .... the Sirius Sat antenna on the 1500 sits rearward on the roof and the cab over drops signal about 70% of the time. The 2500 sat antenna sits very far forward, almost to the windshield, and we get perfect reception at all times

What happened to the new Pentastar and that little special TT you modded?

 

Glad you are still around...there is sub section devoted to 2500/3500 so you have a place to share as before...Enjoy! And share some of those scenic travel pics and drone pics going forward...Best!

 

I'll be putting my Four Wheel Camper on my 2015 ED when I get it. If you don't know FWC's, check them out (also All Terrain Campers; almost the same camper). They are very light and made with Alum. I think mine weighs about 800lbs. I have it on my Dakota right now (with airbags) and it does great as long as you have 10ply tires. Ok, great isn't right. Not much power even with the 4.7L engine (at least not to pass other cars in any time frame) but does good just cruizing around at 70mph.

 

@kmcintyre - what camper did you go with? I've been looking at the All Terrain Campers as well for compactness and their light weight. I've got a 2016 ED 4x4 Laramie. Curious as to your setup. I like the look of your avatar photo. Also, do you ever take it off or leave it on all the time?

 

I have the Eagle but I had it on my Dakota before the ED. Actually, I like it better on my ED as it gives me some extra space along the sides for chairs, etc. and it fits behind the cab better. No issues with it on the ED and we've done a few month long trips in it (on one now) including Baja.

I don't take it off as the Dakota is now my daily driver. I replaced all the mounting bolts, etc. with grade 8, 1/2" and put 4"x4" plates on top and bottom of the mounting holes (truck bed and camper). My turnbuckles are also 1/2" grade 8 with a U-shaped end and bolt across the U (not sure of the term for those) so they won't come off.