To take things one step further, I would contend using a 3/4 ton truck as your hauler, it borders on the impossible to stay within your weight ratings with anything other than a pop-up and even most one ton SRWs will struggle to stay with their numbers for anything other than the lightest hard sides (depending on how they are optioned).
The problem in matching truck to camper is two-fold. Truck manufacturers do everything they can to make the payload look as big as possible and TC manufacturers do everything they can to make their campers look as light as possible on paper. But both say not to exceed the weight ratings for your specific truck.
Here’s an example. Right now I am looking to replace my Hallmark Ute XL with a hardside. I know from my CAT slip sitting in the truck with my wife and a full tank of fuel our F350 SRW XLT weighs 7,640. That weight includes the Fab Four bumpers front and rear along with bed rails for our fifth wheel. Basically the truck is about as empty as it is going to be before we start adding the camper and accessories.
Subtract our scale weight from the GVWR on our sticker, 11,000 pounds, and we have a remaining payload of 3,360 pounds. Next consider a Northstar Laredo with a base weight of 2,090 pounds. Options and the stuff to fasten it on our truck brings the dry weight to 2,438 pounds. Add the conventional wisdom 800-1,000 pounds for the wet weight ready to roll and we are knocking on the door of our max GVWR. A Wolf Creek 850 optioned the same way would be about the same, but it is easy to see that only the smallest of hard sides would squeak in under the numbers and if we had a 3/4 ton we may not be able to make the cut, depending on how it was optioned. If you read the Wolf Creek brochure, you will find it says dual rear wheel trucks are recommended although reviewers seem to overlook that sentence in the not so fine print.
So what I have found is truck buyers and TC camper buyers focus on base weights for TCs and maximum payloads for their trucks and a whole lot of smoke and fog covering reality. If you haven’t weighed your truck, you can be way off the mark.
Just my thoughts
Steve and Andra
2012 F350 6.2 gasser SRW LB
Fab Fours front and rear in case we run into a rhino
2019 Northstar Laredo SC
