3500 Dually with 6.4L? HEAVY truck camper question.

[PotvinSux]

Please enlighten me. My wife and I are narrowing down our retirement, RV travel search. We have become very interested in a truck camper due to the fact it's actually bigger than ' 4x4 AWD vans' and we would have Rams 4wd for winter use. Not to mention we can take the camper off and use the truck as a normal vehicle.

These big truck campers have a dry weight of 4,000 lbs and will be approaching low 5,000's with water/ equipment/us. My question is: If not towing, and buying this vehicle strictly for a truck camper, is the diesel worth the extra cost, weight, fuel costs, maintenance? I hope this isn't a stupid question since I know all 3500's DRW's are usually diesel. I am definitely not opposed to a diesel but would really like to know if this engine would make our lives easier when traveling.

All info will be appreciated.

 

[tchur1]

We had a gasser with an artic fox that weighed about 3600lbs dry and it was a slog to say the least. We regretted not buying a diesel the minute we loaded up for the first time.

 

[MEGA HO]

I've had a light weight camper, sold it, looking for a newer one but what I'm looking at will be heavier. I definitely felt that lightweight camper presence in the back.
I personally wouldn't haul it on a gaser truck. Weight wise it may be fine for a gas engine but hauling a larger camper will be equivalent of pushing a brick wall against 70-80 mph winds. Speed makes a big difference in MPG when you drive empty, it makes a HUGE difference when you haul or tow. I wouldn't do it.

 

[kevin588127]

No experience with any of it but I would think the gas dually would be hard to sell if and when that time comes. Any reason for not going with a regular class c?

 

[PotvinSux]

No experience with any of it but I would think the gas dually would be hard to sell if and when that time comes. Any reason for not going with a regular class c?

We would want to unload the camper when at a rv park and use the truck to get around. We thought about a Class C, but then would need to tow a vehicle. Don't want that hassle during winter and in the mountains,

 

[PotvinSux]

Thanks for the input. What I am seeing, with looking at VINs on the Ram site, a 3500 DRW, Limited, Diesel only has a payload of low 5,000's. I would definitely be close to going over weight since some of these larger campers are 3800-4000 dry. The hemi 3500 has a payload near 6000 although I understand the positives of having diesel. Next option would be a 5500 cab and adding a flatbed or rethinking the whole thing..lol. I believe the F350 diesel is has slightly higher payload and the 7.3 gasser is even higher.

 

[MEGA HO]

Class C ain't 4x4 either, I'd never buy a 2wd unless it was entirely for city driving, even then with our winters a 4x4 or AWD with winter tires is a big bonus when it's slippery

 

[MEGA HO]

Fords switched to aluminum frames, no? This explains higher payload, but, will you be OK with aluminum frame?
Which camper are you looking at? Actual dry weight is rarely what a manufacturer says, and wet weight can add quite a bit more than the 1000lbs.
Chances are, you would be over the limit even with a gaser so if you're not against a heavier truck (4500-5500) it's a way to go, plus you would have payload left to spare if you would ever want to tow a boat or a trailer behind while hauling your camper.
Suggest you find some truck camper groups on facebook and join there and ask questions about your particular camper of interest, you'd be surprised how heavy they get.

 

[jsalbre]

I’ll give a dissenting opinion to most here. I towed a 9000# travel trailer over 36k miles in one year with a gas 2500. Did it rev high? Yeah, it’s designed to. Did I ever have any issues? Not a one. It was no issue running easily at or over the speed limit if I chose to, even up mountain passes. Yeah, you’ll have worse aero with a truck camper vs a travel trailer, but you’ll also have way less weight. With a gasser you’ll also never have to worry about whether or not you can find fuel. You’ll never have to fill up with DEF, and you’ll never have to pay for the ridiculous diesel maintenance costs. You’ll also have an 800# lighter truck.

 

[PotvinSux]

Fords switched to aluminum frames, no? This explains higher payload, but, will you be OK with aluminum frame?
Which camper are you looking at? Actual dry weight is rarely what a manufacturer says, and wet weight can add quite a bit more than the 1000lbs.
Chances are, you would be over the limit even with a gaser so if you're not against a heavier truck (4500-5500) it's a way to go, plus you would have payload left to spare if you would ever want to tow a boat or a trailer behind while hauling your camper.
Suggest you find some truck camper groups on facebook and join there and ask questions about your particular camper of interest, you'd be surprised how heavy they get.

Right now looking at a Host Yukon. About 4,000 dry!

 

[gimmie11s]

These Ram DRW trucks are near 9000 lbs by themselves.

There is no way I'd buy a truck like this in a gas configuration. 3/4 ton? Absolutely. 1 ton DRW -- no way!

It'll be a tough sell if you want to ever get rid of it., mpg will be atrocious with the camper, and the truck will sound like it wants to throw a rod out the side of the block every time you encounter an incline more aggressive than a small rolling hill. Oh... and stay out of the mountains or any type of elevation. The N/A gas motor will feel like it lost 100 horsepower further exacerbating everything I already mentioned.

Buy the most capable motor if you are buying the most capable truck. Seems simple.

 

[tchur1]

I’ll give a dissenting opinion to most here. I towed a 9000# travel trailer over 36k miles in one year with a gas 2500. Did it rev high? Yeah, it’s designed to. Did I ever have any issues? Not a one. It was no issue running easily at or over the speed limit if I chose to, even up mountain passes. Yeah, you’ll have worse aero with a truck camper vs a travel trailer, but you’ll also have way less weight. With a gasser you’ll also never have to worry about whether or not you can find fuel. You’ll never have to fill up with DEF, and you’ll never have to pay for the ridiculous diesel maintenance costs. You’ll also have an 800# lighter truck.

This argument could be way off but i'm going to go for it. I think 9000lbs behind the truck puts a different strain on the truck then 4500-5000k lbs in the bed in pure payload. The gasser can probably get the job done in this scenario but with that kind of weight in the truck its going to be a slog.

Speaking from personal experience I would absolutely not get a gasser for a 4-5k pound truck camper. If im reading between the lines correctly here budget isnt really an issue since OP is looking at a limited or even 5500. Get the proper truck for the job, and in this spot I think thats a diesel every time.

 

[BaseBD]

In the middle of a cross country trip with a ram 3500 DRW gasser and truck camper now. My truck weighs 7500 empty. I have a 3.5k lb truck camper and towing a 7500lb car trailer. All the gear loaded in the truck weighed in at 13,200 with a total scale weight of just over 20k lbs. So far over 2100 miles from Wisconsin thru the black hills, bighorns, yellowstone and into Washington state and now on our way back, we are averaging 7.4 mpg hand calculated. That's doing 65-70 on the highways. Up and down hills has been no issue at all. Only part that had me thinking on if i should have gone a different way Is the ability to set the cruise at 70 and not worry about it. With the gas engine using cruise you get 2 late downshift on every hill and will kill your economy. I haven't used cruise for most of the trip. Fuel costs is a consideration. Outside of in the Washington area. Diesel has been ~25-30% more than gas. Eventually I want to get a 5500 with a flatbed and desiel so I can move to a large camper and still tow. Just wasn't in the cards right now.

 

[Brutal_HO]

Consider that if you are looking at Longhorn or Limited, the Hemi is no longer available in any 2500 or 3500 at that trim level for 2023.

 

[jetrinka]

Making the truck 5k heavier I'd absolutely go with the diesel purely to have the exhaust brake. You're gonna be working that gassers brakes horrendously going down any kind of grade. At least most 5k travel trailers have brakes.

The gasser would handle pulling/carrying that load no problem at all. Stopping however its a different story.

 

[Brutal_HO]

I’ll give a dissenting opinion to most here. I towed a 9000# travel trailer over 36k miles in one year with a gas 2500. Did it rev high? Yeah, it’s designed to. Did I ever have any issues? Not a one. It was no issue running easily at or over the speed limit if I chose to, even up mountain passes. Yeah, you’ll have worse aero with a truck camper vs a travel trailer, but you’ll also have way less weight. With a gasser you’ll also never have to worry about whether or not you can find fuel. You’ll never have to fill up with DEF, and you’ll never have to pay for the ridiculous diesel maintenance costs. You’ll also have an 800# lighter truck.

LOL, hardly.

 

[jsalbre]

Making the truck 5k heavier I'd absolutely go with the diesel purely to have the exhaust brake. You're gonna be working that gassers brakes horrendously going down any kind of grade. At least most 5k travel trailers have brakes.

The gasser would handle pulling/carrying that load no problem at all. Stopping however its a different story.

You know, you make a very good point there. I hadn’t considered the braking angle.

I rescind my previous recommendation in light of this. Diesel with the exhaust brake is the way to go with a heavy truck camper.

 

[BaseBD]

Exhaust brake with the diesel is awesome no doubt about it. It was one thing I was concerned about before taking the gasser to the mountains. I just did a ton of mountain passes at 20klbs and the engine did a great job keeping it under control. Most grades except the very long and steep, I was able to control speed by just manually downshifting.

 

[MEGA HO]

EB in TH mode works so good that I stopped using it when I towed my TT. It was waaay too agressive, somilar to me slamming on breaks whenever EB kicked in. Probably good for really heavy loads. My TT was only about 5K wet so no TH, just EB.

 

[jetrinka]

EB in TH mode works so good that I stopped using it when I towed my TT. It was waaay too agressive, somilar to me slamming on breaks whenever EB kicked in. Probably good for really heavy loads. My TT was only about 5K wet so no TH, just EB.

lol only 5k?! Your HO didn't even know that thing was back there did it?