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Jay, Congrats on the new truck. As I mentioned above, all you need to do is add the upper and lower Tork-Lift Intl spring helpers. My truck is the same as yours and it carries it fine. In fact, I can’t believe how well the truck corners on mountain roads with the camper on.
My wife is complaining about the camper being too small and wants a trailer. I don’t really want to make that change, but you know the old saying; Happy wife happy life.
Would you be interested in a used 2018 820 complete with tie downs and truck brackets?
What part of the country are you in? I’m in SW New Mexico.By myself I can last up to 5 days, only needing water and dump the tanks. One could go longer by not showering every day and conserving more water. The other thing I forgot to mention is the heating system of the Cirrus. It uses the Alde system to circulate hot water to four radiators; two on each side, in the cabover and midsection, to heat the camper. It works very well to keep the entire camper at the same temperature. And it’s very quiet. There is no fan running and you can’t hear the water pump. It draws very little battery power and uses very little propane. With the two tanks that came with the unit, I bet you could last weeks in the dead of winter. I leave the bathroom door open to keep it warmer. I think it has a small radiator but I don’t know if that is just for the hot water or to keep the room warm.
The beach picture is Puerto Penasco, Mexico. The other is at the old Navajo Bridge crossing the Colorado River south of Page, AZ. The picture below is near the AZ/NM border in the boot heel (far southwest) of New Mexico.I have the same truck as you, mine is a 2017. I have the Cirrus 820 that I like very much. The wet weight of mine is just under 3000lbs with two propane tanks, two batteries, solar panel, roof rack, rear and side awnings, and well, all the options. The only thing I did to my suspension is added the upper and lower Tork-Lift Intl spring helpers. The upper is just a rubber block that engages the upper factory overload sooner (as soon as you put the camper on.) The lower is a lever system that you can engage and disengage as needed.
I take my truck and camper boondocking all the time. Other than a little rocking going through ditches at an angle there is no issue. I can drive much faster down any dirt road than either of my sons pulling their trailers.
The Cirrus is very well made. The building materials are modern and first rate. I added some LED lights to the bottom of the microwave for the stove and in the upper cabinet and the wardrobe, both with door switches. They are both tied into the wall switch that operates the light over the sink.
One of the neatest features is the big window over the queen bed. You can lay there and look at the stars. If the weather is right you can open the window and it is fabulous. Sliding bug screen if needed and then accordion shades so you can sleep in the morning. Both are on all windows.
One thing I don’t like is the seating for the table. The dinnete is not raised so you can only sit two adults because the indent for the truck bed is right there. But by having the floor lower it makes for slightly lower overall height. The bathroom is tight, but shower and toilet work. And I’m a big guy.
With the electric remote jacks, it is easy to unload it if you are staying a few days.I know nothing about the Lance.
I run with my Cirrus 820 on Auto. When not plugged into power, the next default is propane, then DC. When driving down the freeway at 75mph it usually blows out. The system will then switch to DC. DC doesn’t work very well and drains the batteries even with the 160 W solar panel.
On back roads, the propane stays on fine and works very well. I will be going to Puerto Penasco in 2 weeks so I will see how it works in the heat.
If you don’t have auto then I wouldn’t run on propane. If it blows out there are 2 problems;
First, the fridge isn’t staying cold.
then there is the risk of the gas running. Most modern system wouldn’t have that issue.
My take anyway.Yup, I know exactly what the problem is. Ford. Don’t get me wrong; I absolutely LOVE my 2017 F350. But if you didn’t order the camper package or some other obscure thing, then the circuitry to charge the camper/trailer batteries is not there and you cannot add it the way it should be done. I ordered my truck. I got the fancy tow package, the gooseneck/5er prep package, the trailer camera/TPMS and everything else I could think of. But my truck doesn’t have the relay and fuse needed to power the battery through the trailer plug. And the sockets aren’t even wired or pinned to add it.
So you will have to come up with your own fuse and circuit and wire it into the plug on the bumper and/or in the bed. Really ticked me off.
I’m running a #4 cable from one of the front batteries to my camper and another one for a ground to the frame. I put a fuse on the battery and then a 75amp solenoid so I can cut it off while stopped. In fact, I’m controlling the solenoid with one of my up-fitter switches which goes off when I shut the power off to the truck. That way I don’t forget and let the camper (Cirrus 820) run my starting batteries dead.I agree! I ended up buying a Cirrus 820. It had very few options that added up to less than 200lbs. I was in the camper at the dealership so I could read the weight sheet. But even on that, I had to add up the options listed to get the total wet weight. It came out to be 2997 lbs.
Other campers I looked at had a dry weight and then “mandatory options” so the dry weight wouldn’t be so high. Downright deceitful!
As for the truck, the tires are really what determine the GVWR. If you notice the sticker on the door frame has tire info along with the weights. When I wear out the original tires I’m going to go to a higher capacity tire. Problem is, in the US that doesn’t change the legal weight capacity of the truck. In Canada it does, or so I’m told. but I’m good on my F350.My guess is simply because they are not as common. Crew cab trucks are more useful for hauling lots of stuff and lots of people.
I did see one guy on the 2017 Ford Super Duty Forum that bought the extended cab for a camper because it is lighter and would work better. I agree. If that’s what you have it will work great.
DK
