I live in CO and we do a lot of mountain driving. One cool thing about the 1994 to 1996 Dakota is that the brake light, now required by law, was placed in the tailgate—meaning the shell itself doesn't need a brake light. Path Two: Matching a Specific Truck to an Unspecified Camper. Payload is the amount of weight a truck can carry inside the truck and truck bed. Truck Campers. Determine your camper’s wet weight with a portable scale, on-site scale, or local CAT Scale.  Be sure to add 500 to 1,000 pounds (or more) for you, your passengers, gear, and stuff. As a magazine, we strongly recommend choosing your camper first to ensure that you get the camper you want and to avoid buying more or less truck than you need. Weight: 1,000 to 5,000 pounds. Home » Slidein Camper » Matching a Truck and Camper. Latest: Camper Nose Rebuild and Crossword Puzzle. Probably one of the most hotly debated topics in towing vehicles is whether your truck should have a gas or diesel engine.  There are benefits to each, as outlined here. We have no illusion about this article being the end-all or be-all of truck and camper matching solutions.  With your help, we hope to refine and improve this article and process to make it simpler and safer for those who are new to truck campers. Size: A few feet longer than your truck. It’s easy to see why a dually would provide advantages for towing versus a single rear wheel truck.  Even so, single rear wheel trucks have great towing capacity and many RVers choose to go that route. You can use this table to see which trucks fall into each category. These are some of the best truck campers you will find. Again, we recommend bringing your measuring tape to verify the width and length of the lower camper box as well as the height of the cabover.  And finally, verify the weight of the camper using a portable scale, on-site scale, or local CAT Scale.  Determining a camper’s weight is detailed in the previous section, Path One, if you’re not familiar with the process. ). Most hard wall truck campers are too heavy to load on a 1/2 ton truck so you need to buy a 3/4 ton truck to be within manufacturer load limits and to be safe. Look for a truck that (a) can accommodate the length and width of your lower camper box, (b) can accommodate the height of the overcab, and (c) features the necessary payload to safely carry your camper.  Carefully double check and verify everything before you make your purchase. F150 Composite Cab Corners that will never rust Manufacturers typically change bed sizes when they introduce a new model year. The reason for this is that many state and national parks will not allow campers that are longer than 30 feet. Now it’s time to determine the wet weight for your camper.  What you need is the weight of your camper with options, batteries, and full water and propane tanks.  It’s also important to add an additional 500 to 1,000 pounds for you, your passengers, gear, and stuff (food, clothing, etc. Mercedes RV Class C. Chassis: the Class C RV is a smaller version of the Class A motorhome, and it is built on a truck or van cutaway chassis and operates on a gas-powered engine Duallys will provide more stability for your towing, especially when faced with winds on the highway.  Dually’s are often longer (8-foot beds) and wider (13 inches per side) than their single rear wheel counterparts.  This helps reduce sway while on the road, making it a good choice for towing fifth wheels and travel trailers alike. Note: while diesel engines are more fuel efficient, it generally takes around 150,000 miles on the truck before the fuel efficiency makes up for the additional upfront cost of the vehicle. Tow Rating and Payload:  Tow rating is the manufacturers limit for the total amount a truck can tow.  Don’t confuse the tow rating with payload! With so many terms and ratings when it comes to weight, it’s important to know exactly what you are looking for when determining what size truck you need. The size of your truck and your RV must be compatible to keep you and your family safe on the road.   Each truck is going to have it’s own specific numbers, and you can look up these numbers on Camping World’s Towing Guide. Now that we have your truck’s available payload, you will want to measure the dimensions of the empty truck bed and the height of the truck cab from the floor of the truck bed.  You need to measure your truck bed because long and short truck bed dimensions are not always standard or consistent from brand to brand or model year to model year.  You also want to pay attention to how the truck bed walls curve-in front to back as that can also change from brand to brand or model year to model year. The Dodge Dakota, born from the Dodge Ram 50, has the distinct honor of being the only "mid-size" truck around. 1. As you can see, there are pros and cons to each type of engine.  To make the best decision for you, consider how you are going to be using the truck.  If you are a full-time RVer, and your truck is frequently towing long distances, you may find that diesel is a better choice for you in the long run.  But if you are a “weekend warrior” without plans to take many cross-country trips, gas may be a more affordable truck option for you. Hint: It’s CAT Scale, not cat on a scale. 3. 3303 West Washington Ave Yakima, Washington, USA 98903 509-895-7064 Much as possible, the towing capacity for the truck’s total weight of truck. A full-size sofa, medium, and 1150, not CAT on a.! Own Specific numbers, and you can use this table to see trucks! Hint: it ’ s crucial to match the pickup truck posted with your truck model 1986! 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