Advice for planning stage

[shaw4777]

Hello everyone! My wife and I are motorcycle enthusiasts and are wanting to travel the mountain west with a truck bed camper and a 16’ cargo trailer for our bikes…we are too old for hardcore long range motorcycle touring and prefer day trips from base camp.

I have a 2024 diesel GMC3500 HD. My trailer has an extended tongue, two 5200 pound axles and will weigh around 9K when loaded. I’m concerned about how far the truck campers hang out the back and having to use a hitch extension. The beefiest extension I’ve seen is made by Reese and caps me at 7500 pounds tow weight and says I must use a Reese receiver although my truck has a factory tow pkg. Is anyone willing to make recommendations for a 4 Seasons wet bath camper suitable for two with minimal rear extension and towing equipment that can handle our load? Thanks in advance!

 

[pvstoy]

Slide in camper for 4 season and wet bath, start with Articfox or similar. Just a quick response idea.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I would look at Northern Lite campers, and I highly recommend using Tork Lift camper mounts, and their FastGun lockable tie downs, They also make the beefiest hitch and extension I’ve seen. I’ve used their mounts and tie downs on all of my full sized trucks, and the SuperHitch on two of them. I recommend you look at airbags to level the truck when the camper is on, and you should consider a rear sway bar if the truck doesn’t have one. It appears your truck is a dually, so that will help with sway.

We have the Northern Lite 10-2, which dry is around 3300 pounds, on a F350. The airbags on this truck are AirLift, with a mounted compressor. I did not put the SuperHitch on this truck because we’re not towing anything heavy when the Camper is on the truck. The SuperHitch extensions are made in several lengths, and several weight categories, some very beefy.

With most hard side campers, you’re going to be close to your posted weight limit.

Edit: I am a fan of fiberglass campers, and not a fan of any TC with a slide. The two most popular glass campers are Northern Lite and Bigfoot.

 

[Wyo4Life]

Completely agree with Wandering Sagebrush and his comments and recommendations.. Until I bought a Four Wheel Camper last fall, we had a Northern Lite 811 SE. Absolutely loved that fiberglass clamshell design. Quality was top shelf and the fact that it did NOT have a slide was a bonus. My dry weight on that camper was 2750 lbs and my wet weight ran between 3600-3800 lbs.
My needs changed or I would still have it. I did have a Reese hitch extension on mine to pull my utility trailer and my side by side. It was 36 inches in length and with the ball hitch insert, it came just to the back of the rear bumper on the camper.

 

[shaw4777]

Thank you for this excellent advice Wandering Sagebrush and Wyo4life. I have been looking at the Northern Lite campers and will check out this other equipment. Happy and safe travels to both of you!