Best fit for an "09" FWC Grandby

[Thekidntheturk]

Hey all! Im sure this has been covered before. I'm looking to put my "09"grandby onto a more fuel efficient truck and am looking towards Toyota. I'm currently on an f350 7.5L and at best getting 10mpg. I'm thinking Tacoma with an 8' bed and a 4cyl but am concerned about the payload being too low. The grandby is roughly 950#s dry. Does anybody have this setup or something similar? We've gone down to Panama and back and are planning for South America so Toyota would be the best choice I believe in terms of parts and service availability. Thanks for all input, links, and photos!

 

[Bwht4x4]

Is the Granby a shell model? If it's not a shell I'd imagine it's closer to 1,300-1,400 lbs without camping gear or water. Probably closer to 1,800 lbs with gear and water. I wouldn't be putting a Granby on anything other than a 3/4 ton and definitely not a vehicle with a 4 cyl and for me not even a V6. Most Granbys I've seen have been on 3/4 ton trucks with large V8 or diesel engines. I'd be curious to hear what existing Grandby owners think.

 

[DesertDave]

The Grandby is made for a full-size truck with an 8' bed. You may have luck with a Toyota Tundra, but I'm pretty darn sure it won't fit too well into a Tacoma, regardless of vintage or bed size.

From the FWC Site:

The 2007 – 2013 Toyota Tundra trucks and the 2004 – 2013 Ford F-150 trucks have a deeper truck bed. So if you find a used camper for one of these trucks, you will most likely have to add a 2″ platform under the camper for the proper fit.

Toyota T-100 & Tundra Trucks will only fit the newer style full-size Four Wheel Campers. We narrowed the base on the Hawk & Grandby in the middle of 2001 especially for the T-100 and Tundra owners. If you have a T-100 or Tundra and are looking at used campers, take some careful measurements of the camper and your truck bed before you buy. The Older Hawk & Grandby Models unfortunately will not fit. The tailgate opening on the Toyota is usually the biggest factor. The older campers are 60″ or 64″ wide where the camper will be sitting in the tail gate opening. The newer campers are 58″ wide in the tail gate opening area (specifically to fit the T-100 & Tundra Trucks).

 

[Thekidntheturk]

Bwht4x4,

Thanks for the input. Our Grandby is not a shell after all and the base weight is 950 not including things like the fridge and arctic pack. I'm just looking for something more fuel efficient so it looks like an f250 diesel of a tundra V6.

 

[Ted]

Our 2000 Tundra with the 4.7 liter, 285 hp V8 and a Hawk seemed a little underpowered and only averaged around 12 mpg. Our 2012 tundra with the 5.7 liter, 385 hp engine averages around 13 mpg because the engine isn't working as hard. As a person that has owned only Toyota trucks, I'm not sure a Toyota is a good base for a Grandby, and definitely not a V6. If your concern is mileage, diesel is the way to go. Or downsizing your camper and then putting it on a more efficient vehicle. Some people with smaller trucks and campers are getting closer to 17 mpg.

 

[Bwht4x4]

My 2005 Dodge Ram 2500 with a diesel will get 17-18 mpg w/out the camper and 15-16 mpg with the camper. I've always gone with the idea that a smaller motor gets better mpg if it doesn't have to work hard getting around. Put the small motor to work and the mileage drops. Most of my friends have Toyota trucks and are always annoyed that their mileage is the same or worse then my big/heavy truck. I can have my camper on and tow my quad trailer and still get better mileage than some of their stock Toyota trucks.

If you go with a larger truck with a diesel do your due diligence on all of them. I was at a local shop recently and they had a Ford diesel in there with the heads fully removed. i asked what they were doing and I can't remember exactly what they said, but I remember being shocked at how much work had to be done for a simple repair. I think it was the coolant or oil cooler return lines. I can't remember.

 

[ACEBLACKDOG]

for what it is worth ... ... you can buy a lot of fuel for the cost of "any" new truck, taxes, registration, etc...

 

[Bwht4x4]

I agree with you ACE. I priced a new diesel a couple of years ago and about fell over when the lower models were around $48k!! I opted for a used diesel then.

 

[Espresso]

I have a 2007 RAM 1500 crew cab short bed with a Grandby. It handles it okay when empty or lightly loaded, but if I'm loaded for a week of camping with toys, etc., it is too much camper for the truck. The air bags help, but it isn't much of an off road rig. My next camper will be a Hawk because it is less weight and the center of gravity is further forward. It may even be a shell model because the weight is a safety concern and I do want to wander off road.

I do average around 16 MPG, which is pretty good considering the western US is not flat.

 

[Mr. Vertical]

Have my Grandby on an O1 Ford f150 w/ 5.4 Triton also have the ride rite air bags . Low mileage truck with under 60k on it. Truck is used for the Grandby & snowmobiling, pulling 3 place trailer. I get better MPGs with the camper on the truck then we do pulling the snowmobiles around. Never have tried both at once, might be a tuff pull. 12-mpgs with camper, 13/14mpgs without.

 

[Thekidntheturk]

Wow, lots of great info! I hadn't thought about the bigger engine being a fuel saver. And I spoke to FWC and it turns out a Tacoma isn't wide enough for a Grandby anyway. I'd never buy a new truck as I couldn't afford one (if I could I wouldn't have trouble paying for fuel). So I'm looking into full sized diesels, that seems to be the way to go. From my experience, as far as repairs go, the mechanics in Central America are as reliable as ours, some better than others but all much cheaper, just harder to find parts. I'd love to keep my 350 but the 460 is just too big.
Thanks everybody for your replies.

 

[iowahiker]

We have a 2012 Granby on a 2013 Ford F-150 regular cab long bed 4x4 5.0 V-8 with the payload package and we are very happy. Our truck payloads 2800 pounds (tailgate off) without any modifications and carries our Granby with no rear sag. We get 15-16 mpg with the camper by the tank fills and 19-20 mpg empty. The brakes are great and the 5.0 V-8 has plenty of power. The turbo V-6 is an option if you want fewer downshifts since this engine spools up the turbo to reduce downshifts. The advantage of the regular cab is camper weight is better distributed to the front so the load is carried well but this is a one or two person rig. The F-150 4x4 extended cab long bed payloads 2300-2400 pounds with the payload package but we wanted a shorter rig. The regular cab has up to 17 cubic feed of storage behind the front seats which is plenty for our extended trips. The new F-150 will have an aluminum body but a frame with the same stiffness as ours so the internet chatter is 3000 pounds payload on a regular cab and 2700 pounds for an extended cap long bed with the redesigned aluminum body and the payload package. The payload package was only $1500 for our truck and we got LT tires, larger springs front and rear, larger limited slip rear axle, larger engine cooling system, heavy duty shocks, and a stiffer frame. The payload package was the best $1500 I ever spent. The payload package has a jittery harsh ride when empty (stiffer springs and a light rear end) but the truck rides better than my Astro and Xterra with the camper on. The Ford F-150, like the newer Tundra, has higher bed rails so a platform lift could be needed but our camper came from the factory with the lift. The Ford F-250/350 has a taller cab since 1998/9 and so also needs the lift even though the bed rails are lower. We got the 36 gallon fuel tank which was standard on the long bed models and the truck runs forever on a tank of gas empty and routinely over 400 miles with the camper on. We did remove the "third seat" in the center of the cab and created a "console" box with dividers since the "third seat" was useless. This also improved access to the storage space behind the seats. The price for a regular cab F-250 4x4 was the same as our F-150 4x4 with payload package when we bought our truck but we wanted the smaller engine and are very happy with our choice. Get the F-250 if you will tow with camper on the at the same time. We saw F-250 extended cab short beds with popup truck campers and they had a lot of rear sag because more of the weight goes on the rear axle than a regular cab long bed. The F-250 extended cab short beds were not overloaded just unevenly loaded front to back and so air bags are used to level the truck.

 

[Cayuse]

Running a 2002 Grandby on a 2008 Tundra with the 5.7 V8. Averaging 14-15 MPG. Truck handles great, no issues with handling or stopping.

 

[buzzman]

I agree with Bwht4x4. A 3/4 ton truck will work best with a Grandby. I have a 2007 Grandby. It weighs 1320 lbs dry, and 1800-1900 lbs loaded for a long trip. For the first three years, I used it on a 1/2 ton Chevy with a 350 V8 with suspension upgrades. With the loaded Grandby it was over GVWR by about 600-700 lbs and fuel mileage was around 9-11 mpg. It wasn't the best combination. In 2011 I was lucky enough to find a low mileage 98.5 Dodge with a diesel. With the loaded Grandby, the Dodge is well under its GVWR, fuel mileage is 16-17 mpg loaded, 20-21 mpg empty, and it has plenty of power. I can still pull a trailer and not be overloaded. And it has bigger brakes than the 1/2 ton. Now, I'm not sure that I would recommend a truck this old to everyone, unless you know some of its previous ownership history, and are able to do some of the maintenance work on it yourself. The late model heavy duty 1/2 ton trucks may do all right with a Grandby, but I still recommend a 3/4 ton, gas or diesel.

Buzz

 

[jha6av8r]

I know it depends if you're a regular, extended, or crew cab, but I don't believe anything is meant to operate at max capaicity for extended periods of time. My Grandby loaded takes about 1/2 of my payload. There's very little stress on my truck which was done on purpose. I'm all about reliability.