Happy with your 1/2 ton and customized shell camper?

DGS

DGS

Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2011
Messages
16
Location
North of Houston, Texas
I am a new WTW member. I have been camping since 1964. My experience has been with back-packing, 4WD vehicles, tents, pup-up campers, and customized vans camping all over the US and Canada. Over the past 18 months we have taken two trips to Alaska and Western Canada logging more than 36,000 miles and 190 days with an Xterra Off Road and Kamperoo light weight camper. It has been a good combination averaging just over 17.5 MPG. However my wife and I (minimal input from the dog) have decided to upgrade to something that is warmer, more comfortable during those long periods of cold wet weather and not a trailer.

After considering our options and visiting with fellow 4WD travelers, I am about to enter the world of truck campers, which is new for me. I really appreciate all the information on WTW. It has been very helpful to me as I navigate all the options for four wheel truck camping. Thanks to everyone for sharing their experience.

We just returned from a 85 day trip to Western Canada where the average price for gas $US was 4.85/gal, max price was $7.29/gal US on the Alaska Hwy. We plan more long trips into Canada and I don't anticipate the price of gas going down much so fuel efficiency is one of our top priorities. In the process of evaluating a truck camper combination, I have seen many of you experienced truck camper folks have gone from the 1/2 ton to the 3/4 ton. Based on your situation and reasoning I can understand and would do the same. Since my main interest is fuel economy and truck reliability, I am starting with a 1/2 ton 4WD that is robustly built and has the most fuel efficient engine I can find. I am going to build from there so I am considering buying a shell (maybe FWC or ATC) and doing a minimal customization myself to meet our needs and the load rating of the 1/2 ton. I am interesting in connecting with others who have customized a shell of any kind for a 1/2 ton pick-up. I haven't had much luck finding the info using the search engine ( most likely a user issue) so I thought I would start another thread.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

David
 
David,

You say you want greatest fuel efficiency and reliability? I would add to that greatest safety in braking and emergency handling. These are the very reasons so many of us have gone to 3/4 ton diesels. If you do not already own the 1/2 ton you speak of, just go get a 3/4 and be done with it. Otherwise you'll be going through the expense of changing trucks all over again in a couple of years.

I use a Dodge Cummins manual trans. Without the camper it gets 20 to 23 mpg. With camper 17 to 19 mpg. I use an ATC Shell that I bought from www.jayaronowcampersales.com

Gene
 
David,

You say you want greatest fuel efficiency and reliability? I would add to that greatest safety in braking and emergency handling. These are the very reasons so many of us have gone to 3/4 ton diesels. If you do not already own the 1/2 ton you speak of, just go get a 3/4 and be done with it. Otherwise you'll be going through the expense of changing trucks all over again in a couple of years.

I use a Dodge Cummins manual trans. Without the camper it gets 20 to 23 mpg. With camper 17 to 19 mpg. I use an ATC Shell that I bought from www.jayaronowcampersales.com

Gene



Not sure I totally agree. I have been running a Nissan Titan 1/2 ton with both a 1500 lb camper for 3 years and now more recently my custom built camper at 1000 lbs fully loaded. That truck does great for handling, never had a single mechanical issue and get better fuel economy than most 3/4 ton gas rigs. Diesel is probably a different story, but isn't diesel even more expensive than gas right now?

I think if you go with a shell and minimal interior a 1/2 ton would be fine. :p

Home Skillet
 
If you are carful with the weight, you will be fine with a Tacoma or similar. There are many people who are running fully loaded FWC's on 1/2 tons.

Since you are talking about building a minimal shell unit I think you will be fine with weight. I did a lot of calculations while deciding to go with a FWC, and I figured out a minimal build of a FWC shell will be a couple hundred pounds heavier than a flippac or a Leer topper.

Now if you add a bunch of batteries, huge fridge, hot water heater or other types of lead bricks then I would think about something more than a 1/2 ton.

As far as braking goes, I am not really concerned. I have driven my truck (Gen2 Tacoma) heavily loaded and I never felt that the brakes were not up to the job. Now maybe if I drove a domestic p/u I would feel differently. :p

If you have not read through it yet, I have a lengthy build thread going for my FWC Eagle shell build, it is linked my sig line. Feel free to PM me with any questions.
 
Not sure I totally agree. I have been running a Nissan Titan 1/2 ton with both a 1500 lb camper for 3 years and now more recently my custom built camper at 1000 lbs fully loaded. That truck does great for handling, never had a single mechanical issue and get better fuel economy than most 3/4 ton gas rigs. Diesel is probably a different story, but isn't diesel even more expensive than gas right now?

I think if you go with a shell and minimal interior a 1/2 ton would be fine. :p

Home Skillet


A carefully built FWC shell will weigh about half of your original 1500 pound camper.

My guess is that diesel is going to get much more expensive come 2014, that is when new shipping vessel regulations will come into effect and the boats will be burning much more diesel and less heavy oil.
 
Gene is right that a 3/4 ton will handle a camper and brake better than a half ton, as it would with any load. But we ran our 2003 Hawk on a 2000 Tundra for seven years with no issues, including a couple of panic stops. And when we upgraded our truck, it was to another half ton - a 2011 Tundra. As he said, many have upgraded to heavier duty trucks and those trucks don't even notice the load. But I have to say that a majority of the pop-up campers I see are on half tons or mini pick-ups. There are a number of users on this website using half tons and I don't recall any sob stories of regrets. I believe you will be fine with whatever truck you choose.
 
David,

You say you want greatest fuel efficiency and reliability? I would add to that greatest safety in braking and emergency handling. These are the very reasons so many of us have gone to 3/4 ton diesels. If you do not already own the 1/2 ton you speak of, just go get a 3/4 and be done with it. Otherwise you'll be going through the expense of changing trucks all over again in a couple of years.

I use a Dodge Cummins manual trans. Without the camper it gets 20 to 23 mpg. With camper 17 to 19 mpg. I use an ATC Shell that I bought from www.jayaronowcampersales.com

Gene


I agree. We installed our 09 Hawk (+800 lbs.) on a 2001 GMC 1500 4X4, 5.3 liter and it was an okay match, after we installed the Ride-Rite air bags. However, I felt that I was at the limit of the suspension, transmission and brakes. Listening to the auto tranny wind up and shift, wind up and shift became too distracting and I didn't want to pay for costly repairs. I decided it was cheaper to buy the right truck. This spring I upgraded to a 2007 Silverado HD2500 Duramax 4X4 with the Allison transmission (32,000 miles) and I love it. Especially if you think you might ever pull a boat or trailer with the camper on your truck, seriously consider a 3/4 ton.
Either way, Enjoy.
Jay
 
I have a modified shell on a Nissan Frontier crew cab. For truck modifications I've added e rated tires, nothing else, however I need to figure out what I need to do for suspension since although it seems to work fine, I am concerned I might be doing some damage. I also have a Waeco fridge in the cab and a spare battery in the camper. Fully loaded I am probably 100 to 200 pounds over GVWR. Overall, I have no handling complaints.

The shell has bench seats on either side, running the length of the camper, storage underneath. Windows on both the passenger and driver's side, three drawer plastic dresser under the window into the truck cab. Plenty of room and storage. Works great when the weather is nice. However, when it's rainy, I sometimes wonder if I should have the galley. Although, when we are stuck inside my wife and I can each stretch out on the bench seats which we have chaise lounge cushions for.
 
David,

You say you want greatest fuel efficiency and reliability? I would add to that greatest safety in braking and emergency handling. These are the very reasons so many of us have gone to 3/4 ton diesels. If you do not already own the 1/2 ton you speak of, just go get a 3/4 and be done with it. Otherwise you'll be going through the expense of changing trucks all over again in a couple of years.

I use a Dodge Cummins manual trans. Without the camper it gets 20 to 23 mpg. With camper 17 to 19 mpg. I use an ATC Shell that I bought from www.jayaronowcampersales.com

Gene


Gene,

Thanks for bring up the safety issue. I'll give it some thought. I can't go diesel or I will be traveling by myself...not an option.

Thanks for the link, I didn't know ATC had dealers outside CA.

Dave
 
Not sure I totally agree. I have been running a Nissan Titan 1/2 ton with both a 1500 lb camper for 3 years and now more recently my custom built camper at 1000 lbs fully loaded. That truck does great for handling, never had a single mechanical issue and get better fuel economy than most 3/4 ton gas rigs. Diesel is probably a different story, but isn't diesel even more expensive than gas right now?

I think if you go with a shell and minimal interior a 1/2 ton would be fine. :p

Home Skillet


Home Skillet

I was considering a Titan, thanks for sharing your experience.

Dave
 
If you are carful with the weight, you will be fine with a Tacoma or similar. There are many people who are running fully loaded FWC's on 1/2 tons.

Since you are talking about building a minimal shell unit I think you will be fine with weight. I did a lot of calculations while deciding to go with a FWC, and I figured out a minimal build of a FWC shell will be a couple hundred pounds heavier than a flippac or a Leer topper.

Now if you add a bunch of batteries, huge fridge, hot water heater or other types of lead bricks then I would think about something more than a 1/2 ton.

As far as braking goes, I am not really concerned. I have driven my truck (Gen2 Tacoma) heavily loaded and I never felt that the brakes were not up to the job. Now maybe if I drove a domestic p/u I would feel differently. :p

If you have not read through it yet, I have a lengthy build thread going for my FWC Eagle shell build, it is linked my sig line. Feel free to PM me with any questions.


Overland,

Thanks for the link. You broadened my thinking around components. I'll be interested in watching how your build goes.

Dave
 
Gene is right that a 3/4 ton will handle a camper and brake better than a half ton, as it would with any load. But we ran our 2003 Hawk on a 2000 Tundra for seven years with no issues, including a couple of panic stops. And when we upgraded our truck, it was to another half ton - a 2011 Tundra. As he said, many have upgraded to heavier duty trucks and those trucks don't even notice the load. But I have to say that a majority of the pop-up campers I see are on half tons or mini pick-ups. There are a number of users on this website using half tons and I don't recall any sob stories of regrets. I believe you will be fine with whatever truck you choose.


Ted,

Hard to argue your reasoning.

Dave
 
I agree. We installed our 09 Hawk (+800 lbs.) on a 2001 GMC 1500 4X4, 5.3 liter and it was an okay match, after we installed the Ride-Rite air bags. However, I felt that I was at the limit of the suspension, transmission and brakes. Listening to the auto tranny wind up and shift, wind up and shift became too distracting and I didn't want to pay for costly repairs. I decided it was cheaper to buy the right truck. This spring I upgraded to a 2007 Silverado HD2500 Duramax 4X4 with the Allison transmission (32,000 miles) and I love it. Especially if you think you might ever pull a boat or trailer with the camper on your truck, seriously consider a 3/4 ton.
Either way, Enjoy.
Jay


2llamas,

Thanks for the air bag tip. I'll be looking into that.

Dave
 
Gene is right that a 3/4 ton will handle a camper and brake better than a half ton, as it would with any load. But we ran our 2003 Hawk on a 2000 Tundra for seven years with no issues, including a couple of panic stops. And when we upgraded our truck, it was to another half ton - a 2011 Tundra. As he said, many have upgraded to heavier duty trucks and those trucks don't even notice the load. But I have to say that a majority of the pop-up campers I see are on half tons or mini pick-ups. There are a number of users on this website using half tons and I don't recall any sob stories of regrets. I believe you will be fine with whatever truck you choose.
 
Ted,

Hard to argue your reasoning.

Dave


In response to the 2000 tundra with the 03 hawk.
How many miles did you get out of the truck? Ever have any major issues? My wife and I just bought the same truck with 50k miles on it and just purchased an 05 hawk for it. Just curious what we can expect to get out of it. The truck has been very well maintained.
 
EGS,

I have a 2012 FWC Eagle shell because I use it mostly in the desert on wash board roads. FWC did some mods for me and I added a few of my own: Two storage cabinets, counter, sink, portable one burner propane stove, couch, and I just added an engle MT35 12 volt refrigerator/freezer . I posted pictures of my amateur buildout in June 2012. If you click on my avatar it should lead you to my posts.

The camper without the Engle (48 pounds) weighs 850 pounds dry. At the moment the camper is bolted to the bed of my 4 cylinder 4WD '99 Tacoma. Camping weight with one person for a week in the desert is probably around 5200 pounds (100 pounds over the GVRW). The truck carries the weight level on a custom 5 leaf spring pack - Feels very safe on mountain roads.

If you purchase a camper with the kitchen, water tanks, and refrigerator your going to be around 1500 pounds dry (over 2000 pounds full) so you will be happier with a 3/4 ton truck.
 
I loved my 2004 Titan but when we decided to go the truck camper route decided to go to a Chevy 3500. Operating at or near capacity all the time is never good for the long term. When I was 16 i was in a 1/2 ton with an old Six Pack camper in the back. Tire blew and it started to sway until it flipped. Luckily no one was killed. The 3500 is for my family's safety.

If you look through this site long enough you'll find enough 1/2 ton stories to convince you to go bigger, if for nothing else all the correct upgrades you need to do to make it almost safe.
 
I'm not sure why guys with 3/4 ton pickups are saying it's not safe to put a fully loaded FWC on a 1/2 ton. Lets remember there are many different configurations that these truck manufacturers are offering in thier 1/2 ton trucks. Most offer at least some of their trucks with a payload that are easily able to handle a fully FWC, including passengers and extra gear. I did the math before buying a new truck as well as ordering a new camper.
Have these alarmists actually read the specs that the manufactuers post before they make blanket statements that all 1/2 ton trucks with FWC's are unsafe before they post?
Apparently the vast majority of FWC owners are all unsafe and the truck manufactuers are wrong about their own trucks.
 
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