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School me on cab over campers

Echoing the talking points others have said. Stick with a shorter one and pay attention to COG with a short bed. I liked Airlift bags over Firestone as I could leave them empty when not hauling for a softer ride. Palomino is ok. I’ve had two and the fit and finish is meh but you get what you pay for. If I was ever to buy another I think I would go Arctic Fox.

Our first one was an 8801 and did ok with the shortbed. We bought a 2902 and it was massive in the SB. Ended up buying a LB dually with air suspension.

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xr-nut said:
Yes you did. :homer: Those are made not too far from us, wife hinted she might want something nicer than our 90's model, I will show those to her.

We spent saturday night in a quiet little camp site ten miles from randolph. Back the buggy up on the trailer and set up lawn chairs there. About 7 it started to rain and it rained hard for about over an hour. We stayed high and dry inside. Not a leak one.

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You have a longbed. Look at the 850SC. More room never hurts.
 
Wedges which is what I used. 20.00 dollars
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Torque lift stable loads 350.00 dollars

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The wedges did more for making the ride feel "normal" than the airbags did. the bags do keep it from bottoming out real hard on the highway at speed though.
 
xr-nut said:
Did you buy it, says its not available?
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Na I couldnt pull the cash on a Sunday and he had 2 other buyers show up while I was there :homer:

It might not have actually sold, he was talking about taking it off marketplace
 
Curbkrawler said:
Echoing the talking points others have said. Stick with a shorter one and pay attention to COG with a short bed. I liked Airlift bags over Firestone as I could leave them empty when not hauling for a softer ride. Palomino is ok. I’ve had two and the fit and finish is meh but you get what you pay for. If I was ever to buy another I think I would go Arctic Fox.

Our first one was an 8801 and did ok with the shortbed. We bought a 2902 and it was massive in the SB. Ended up buying a LB dually with air suspension.
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Damn those are getting really nice! The biggest benefit to cabovers are price and that you can still pull a trailer?

The wife has been talking about getting a camper lately ... one of these could be nice and then kick the kids outside in a tent :lmao:
 
slowlygettingthere said:
Wedges which is what I used. 20.00 dollars





Torque lift stable loads 350.00 dollars

The wedges did more for making the ride feel "normal" than the airbags did. the bags do keep it from bottoming out real hard on the highway at speed though.
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I recently did the wedge deal and 3-4 didn't make the trip up to SW Colorado.
I think I am going to try and drill the leave in the correct spot for the stable loads then use a allen head bolt as a stop.

I really liked how planted it felt vs nothing with the SXS on the deck.

$350 for the stable loads and still having to drill the holes is whack.
 
CarterKraft said:
I recently did the wedge deal and 3-4 didn't make the trip up to SW Colorado.
I think I am going to try and drill the leave in the correct spot for the stable loads then use a allen head bolt as a stop.

I really liked how planted it felt vs nothing with the SXS on the deck.

$350 for the stable loads and still having to drill the holes is whack.
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Well I zip tied and tie wired mine. They made the whole trip ( from bama up to MO, down to TX, then back up to Maine and back home) without issue. They are actually still on the truck but I dont drive it that much. So they been on there over a year.

I put bags on first and they helped but the wedges made the most difference in the feel of the truck.
 
Austin said:
Damn those are getting really nice! The biggest benefit to cabovers are price and that you can still pull a trailer?

The wife has been talking about getting a camper lately ... one of these could be nice and then kick the kids outside in a tent :lmao:
Click to expand...

Bought my first one after spending 7 days in CO taking a whore bath with a wet wipe and sleeping on an air mattress. Palomino is a great starter camper but like I said the fit and finish is pretty meh. Look at Eagle Cap or Chalet if you want to see retarded. I think Lance and Northwoods are better value but Lance is getting ridiculous.

My 8801 was a great size. My current one borders on too big to get in some places. I go up in the mountains and trout fish every fall and wrap the whole rig in heavy tarps to keep tree branches from scratching it. Look like a mobile meth lab rolling in.

Since we are on the subject I’ve still got a pair of torque lift tie downs up for free (Blue Ribbon donation) and cover my shipping in the classifieds. Fit a 2014 CCSB 3500 Ram.
 
AHA! this is the thread i was looking for, not the cheap crawler hauler one :laughing:

glad i looked thru again cuz i forgot about those shims you guys had suggested to go with the air bags

picked up a 2000 lance 820 (8'-10"), came with a hitch extension and those spring tie down hooks

planning on getting fire stone ride rite air bags thru the irate parts counter, leaf spring shims and maybe shop around for a distribution hitch

what are some other cab over tips and tricks now that i have one? :confused:

oh and :beer: thanks for the previous advice :smokin:

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#1 is a big rear sway bar. Factory bar on 11-16 is tiny, useless.

Fire stone ride rite air bags suck, only 5" of travel. your truck has 12" now. Suggest daystar cradles or a long travel bag.
Oh, and get a long bed :flipoff2:

What do you mean by leaf spring shims? Hopefully not the bull shit band-aid stable loads. Fuck those things. Just think about what they do when spring is compressed....

I use airlift D2600 bags (7" diameter, 10.5" travel), Hellwig 1.25 sway bar, and adjustable Fox 2.0 (DCS?) shocks. My 250 has the upper overloads (camper package) and work well with the bags. I only need 15-30 psi in the bags even with a heavy trailer. I drive fast and most miles are steep, curvy mountain highways. 37s with minimal lift. I mounted generator on front bumper, works well.

I used same camper on a 2000 F250 short bed, it towed decent with hitch extension.

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rattle_snake said:
#1 is a big rear sway bar. Factory bar on 11-16 is tiny, useless.

Fire stone ride rite air bags suck, only 5" of travel. your truck has 12" now. Suggest daystar cradles or a long travel bag.
Oh, and get a long bed :flipoff2:

What do you mean by leaf spring shims? Hopefully not the bull shit band-aid stable loads. Fuck those things. Just think about what they do when spring is compressed....

I use airlift D2600 bags (7" diameter, 10.5" travel), Hellwig 1.25 sway bar, and adjustable Fox 2.0 (DCS?) shocks. My 250 has the upper overloads (camper package) and work well with the bags. I only need 15-30 psi in the bags even with a heavy trailer. I drive fast and most miles are steep, curvy mountain highways. 37s with minimal lift. I mounted generator on front bumper, works well.

I used same camper on a 2000 F250 short bed, it towed decent with hitch extension.
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interesting, maybe i'll try a sway bar first

:beer:

and short bed fo lyfe! :flipoff2:
 
Had a 97 Fleetwood elk horn 8.5' had everything, shutter, shower, a/c, ect. Got it for $3300 and it had no issues, so they're aren't *all* shit for under $10k. The one thing that sucked about it was the shower drained into the black tank, so it filled quickly. I thought about buying a ~30 gal black tank that I could either put on the front of a trailer or a hitch mounted rack.

Worked great in my 97 F350 long bed. Didn't do anything to the suspension since it was a 1 ton and had the upper bumper overloads. It could have used a little less body roll, but I honestly didn't know what was normal for a ~4k lb loaded cab over.

The one thing that I always hated about the cab over was storage. Not so much food and clothes, but tools or parts. You basically have the little doors to access some space in front of your wheel wells and that's it. I usually either threw a truck tool box on the front of the trailer, or used a hitch mounted rack. For pure functionality, I really like the low pro utility beds that people modify for campers, or a flat bed with boxes.

ELECTRIC MOTHER FUCKING JACK'S! Manual jacks suck, even more so when you're by yourself. Then even more when you want to drop it all the way to the ground.

My buddy bought a ~9' with a small pop out, fuck, that is a game changer. It only extends like 18" maybe, but it feels twice the size of mine. It's like a 2001 and he payed around $4k iirc.
 
I had also thought about getting the biggest sway bar I could find and adding to my truck with a jeeper style disconnect.
 
Sell your car and get a truck. Trucks are much better for carrying things.

Pop ups are shit. They're cold and rot faster than regular campers. Plus you have to have a dry place to store them so you can dry it out after a rain.

The fiberglass clamshells are great, but once they leak, they hold the water in.

They all leak. Reseal the windows and doors.

The wood the jacks are bolted to is rotten. A fein Saw is God's gift to camper repair.
 
Arickvan said:
AHA! this is the thread i was looking for, not the cheap crawler hauler one :laughing:

glad i looked thru again cuz i forgot about those shims you guys had suggested to go with the air bags

picked up a 2000 lance 820 (8'-10"), came with a hitch extension and those spring tie down hooks

planning on getting fire stone ride rite air bags thru the irate parts counter, leaf spring shims and maybe shop around for a distribution hitch

what are some other cab over tips and tricks now that i have one? :confused:

oh and :beer: thanks for the previous advice :smokin:

Click to expand...

My favorite "mod" to the cabover was the back porch when I pulled a trailer. It's just simple plywood ramp that bolted down from the step of the cabover to the trailer deck. walking out out to the trailer is a lot nicer than dealing with cabover stairs.
 
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