How high can you stack a pile of chit?

Stupid? yes. Insane? maybe. Definitely an embarassment to my wife. In a month we're taking a two week roadtrip to Canada for our honeymoon.

Instead of doing the logical choice of taking my car and booking airbnbs that we usually do, I've decided to take a dilapidated truck camper I overpaid $2500 for and shoving it in the back of my equally shitty Toyota.

But I'm not a complete dummy. Both need work before we hit the road.

On the way home from digging it out of it's grave in some old fart's backyard.

 

Look at this beauty. A 2010 Travel Lite 890 SBRX for a 6.5ft bed. Queen mattress and a wet bath. Surprisingly everything still works as far as i can tell after sitting for 4 years, so it' ll probably stop working the day we leave.

 

Seriously. That thing weighs like 2500# loaded.

 

Inside isn't bad actually, but i'll be cutting holes to fix some of the rot.

Just needed a cleaning and i swapped in LED bulbs. Powerwashed the cushions and mattress.

 

She's a beaut Clark!
Nah, not the least bit sketchy. Perfectly fine.

Sure you got enough TP?

 

That's for the first time he gets hit with a stern cross-wind, or overtaken by an 18-wheeler.

 

Most campers with "LITE" in their name typically are anything but.

 

Sticker says 2000 loaded.

I have a set of airbags, a sway bar, and rear wheel bearings waiting to get installed when my add a leaf finally shows up.

Front end already got new wheel bearings and a set of brakes yesterday

 

Looks perfectly safe for a road trip!

 

That thing is listed at 1900#+ dry weight.

 

I removed the stupid TV antenna, replaced the poop vent cap, gutter spouts, and put 2 coats of sealer on the roof. I also glued a drain pipe for the a/c unit to the roof so it drains over the side instead of on the roof.

Inside i started cutting holes in the hose. It has a 1" bow in the sleeping area. Not looking good.

 

I give you big props for tackling what looks to be a big project.

I also question your sanity. But....you did that already in your initial post, so we're on the same page!

 

I'll get it weighed and get you the real number.

I have considered removing the winch off the front of the truck, but that involves removing the entire bumper. If I have the time it might happen.

 

Too late to book that Airbnb? A plan B backup? That looks like a big "project" to tackle. Good luck!

 

Yeah more projects is what i don't need, but it's what i can afford. I don't believe in taking loans out for toys.

I was actually looking for a small travel trailer, but found this. It's too big for what i need, but women like bathrooms and sleeping inside away from mosquitos. Bonus is I might be able to tow my skiff on shorter trips close to home.

 

The 6.5 ft bed has a known weak spot up front and now its overloaded. Bad idea.


Maybe this is a belated april fools post. That camper is likely too heavy for a 3/4 ton

 

This post made my day

I love the honesty and the commitment, now I'm committed

 

Ya plan B is to take the car and get an airbnb every other day. It's hybrid, gets 32mpg and we leave the electric a/c running all night and sleep inside. But that's getting old being cramped. Worked great on plenty of road trips already though.

The best choice would be a getting a newer Sienna hybrid and sleeping in that, but my CMax runs great and it's paid off.

 

Well, you have a month to work with.

 

I've heard people say that, you got any links? The weight is spread across the entire bed floor and not the bed rails.

 

Definitely living up to the user name.



It might take 20K miles, but this is what you are running toward.

 

The issue is at the front corners of the bed floor, on the 6.5 foot bed toyota didnt really brace it underneath

 

In my experience, about 6’2”.

 

Yes I am aware of that, I haven't really thought about it. I did find a thread on the subject. The issue seems to be mostly related to weight on the bed rails and off roading. I'll have to check the bed tomorrow for cracks since I have wheeled this truck quite a bit in the past.

I wasn't planing to hard mount the camper or do any off roading with it. It came with a set of spring loaded turnbuckles that are supposed to allow for some frame flex unlike a hard mounted bed cage.

I could weld up something perhaps to support the front of the bed when i weld on the tie downs.

 

A small trailer would be more spacious and be safer travel.

 

That's all? Pffft... my truck would still be under payload (no, I'm not being sarcastic...). Scaled at 5060 LBS with me in the truck, full tank of gas. GVW 7150.

I've heard about this. Not saying it doesn't exist, but haven't found it yet. From what I've seen, that usually comes from the off-road desert crowd that like to find suspension limits...? I have lots of miles on '13 with this setup; same as the '21. Under payload easy peasy, not even close to rear axle gross max.

Hahahah. Not quite... Pretty sure that camper alone weighs more than camper and truck above combined. Plus, he said he's headed to Canadia, not BajaLand. We all know that Dodge owner was sending it off road, not puttering down the paved highway

 

7150 - 5060 = 2090 supposed payload, for a dry camper of 1900 lbs. You, and everything in or on the truck and camper weigh less than 190 lbs? Doubtful, so you would be over payload.

He drove down unpaved roads. He wasn't baja-ing a dually 3500. It's also not the size of that camper compared to OP's camper, it's the proportional weight. The ram was something like 40-50% over payload. Edmunds shows the payload of a 2007 regular cab short bed with the 5.7 at a max of 1765 for a 2WD or 1700 lbs for a 4x4. We all know that the brochure numbers are optimistic, but let's pretend they are accurate.


1765 payload - 1900 dry camper = -135....

So the absolutely best case fantasy scenario starts this combo off 135 lbs. over payload before driver, passenger, mods, or any kind of camping stuff gets added on. Again, going with fantasy and optimism, lets say you can get on the road with a combined weight of 300 lbs. of people, 50 lbs for their combined luggage and items for a two week trip, 15 lbs of essentials in the camper, plus airbags and sway bar for say another 25 lbs. This is no water, nothing super heavy or extra, and ignoring the bumper and winch.


135 + 300 + 50 + 15 + 25 = 525 lbs over the 1765 best case payload. That's about 30% over payload on an unboxed frame that flexes a lot.

Can you do it and think you're fine for a long time just like the Ram did? Sure, but if you try to say that this isn't overloading the truck and causing excess wear and tear that could very believably lead to a similar catastrophic failure as the Ram, well then you're just delusional. And that's with the magical payload numbers and taking nothing but essentials with you.

 

I thought the real life scale trumped the internet armchair quarterback number?

As noted, I posted the scale number with me in it and a full tank of gas. PO’s state registration listed an even lighter number.

Not only was that dually WAAAY overweight, but most of it was behind the rear axle, much of it behind the frame even. Loooong lever and whooped roads (with a high probability of hitting the stops like the spat of gen1 raptors with bent frames from all hitting the same obstacle with gusto) made for the loading scenario. Conceivably being 200# overweight gets him nowhere near the type of forces required to snap the frame. Well, maybe if he’s BJ Baldwin or somesuch.. but I’d be highly skeptical of that. His username would prolly be @HaulinAss instead if @Half Assed

 

Again, you are too focused on the number of pounds rather than the proportion of overload.

It also sounds like you think I am implying that the OP is going to snap his frame on this trip. I am not. Just as that Ram didn't break his frame in one trip. It took that guy 20K miles. Some will hear that and think "See it's fine for a little while then" when they should be seeing it for what it is; hidden damage. That ram was taking fatigue and damage the entire time. OP's truck will be as well.