I pulled the Trigger yesterday on my first 3/4 ton truck. It is a very nice 99 Club cab long bed with the V10 and 4x4. It had been in the same family since new, and supposedly has every option. Leather, infiniti stereo, lumbar, steering wheel stereo controls, and tons of other gizmos. 135,000 miles. Serviced religiously and tons of new parts. I'm really tickled to get something this nice for $4500. A Cummins would have been nice, but I'm not paying double for another 8 MPG with 70 cent more a gallon fuel.

Next is shopping for a slide-in camper. I'm trying to find a Capri brand but I'm curious if anyone else has any slide in recommendations. I'll be using this truck to pull a car trailer around and use the bed camper to sleep/eat in, saving me from wasting money on hotels and restaurants. Ideally I'd want something that doesn't hang outside bed, but still have as much of the modern comforts as possible.

 

Welcome to the full size 2nd gen club. Nice score! Those V10's are supposed to have infinity horsepower or something like that.

I really like the Alpenlite seen in my sig a lot. Western RV went out of business though a couple years back. I hear that many of the WRV people went to work at Eagle Cap which are supposed to be some extremely nice slide ins.

If I had it to do over though I think I'd be looking at a Bigfoot camper. They are completely sealed clamshell designs and so require nearly zero maintenance and are supposed to never leak unless they get damaged. Another thing I like about the bigfoots is they are supposed to be one of the best four season campers, ie excellent insulation. Up here in the pacific northwest it's a definite factor.

Mine weighs about 3K unloaded and so sags the stock springs quite a bit. I added some airbags for that problem. The other thing I'd recommend is a rear sway bar (front too if it has been defeated by previous owner). The sway bar made all the difference between white knuckling it and pleasant driving. Of course it goes without saying you want some beefy load rated tires, well maintained brakes etc.

Edit: Oh yeah. Forgot to mention...we need pics!

 

Congrats on the V10 purchase. You will love that thing for towing cars if it has 4.10 gears.

 

Congrats on the V10.Nice to see someone else from Wichita here.

 

Yikes that slide in is huge, and heavy. I wouldn't want to go over 1,000 pounds in the bed. My favorite of the Capri line is the Lariat, but new it would cost more than what I paid for the truck. Finding nice used ones is pretty hard.

Here are a few standouts:

http://springfield.craigslist.org/grd/2778597611.html

http://memphis.craigslist.org/spo/2777395374.html

http://tulsa.craigslist.org/rvs/2753491646.html

 

Why so light? Not like the 10 is gonna notice..... even with 3000 pounds in the bed.

 

Welcome to the family!


Great idea is to get a drop in K&N filter, swap out the muffler, headers, 4.10 gearing, Hemifever tuner, and enjoy.

 

I'm more worried about braking or turning with such a top heavy camper. I wish I could find a trailer just like yours, but can't find that good of a bargain.

 

If you are looking for light weight you might look into one of the pop up styles like Palomino or Alaskan. Those Capris look pretty nice but do they have a toilet? That is one thing I would not do without.

Mine is a bit heavy, probably right on the edge of what a 3/4 tone is capable of but after the minor suspension upgrades rides very nice. You can see I have a lift and large tires too. These Dodges are damn rugged, I'm finding, and even with only the V8 rolls mine wherever we've wanted to go so far.

 

The brakes on the 3/4 ton are more than adequate to the task. Even with 5K pounds of dirt in the bed, my brakes hardly noticed. (and the truck rode SO much better...... even though it was indeed overloaded.....)

Cornering concerns are understandable. Good sway bar in back should deal with most of that though.

The pop-up idea is an excellent one too..... lighter weight, lower center of gravity.