I feel like I’m doing all this rv stuff wrong, I’ve kept the same truck and 5 th wheel for over 4 years now. From watching these rv videos that’s at least two times longer than it should be.
Boy are those steps low to the ground. I messed mine up hanging them up pulling into the street from a parking lot with my F350 dually. So be careful with yours. I also didn’t drive much at night because of the rear squat even with airbags. Got tired of other drivers flashing their headlights at me because mine were in their eyes on low beam. It’s awesome that you all are trying to get that heavy camper to work on a F350. I gave up trying to make my 1172 work on my truck. I never liked the ride with the swaying and the squat. Thanks for sharing what you’re doing to try to make this work. I personally think these campers are too heavy and the rears sit too low on pickups.
I had a 99' Dodge V10 dually with a Lance dry bath/ no slide, towed a off-road 95' Jeep. Eventually went to a 03' Ford F350 diesel dually & 02' Lance dry bath/1 slide. Factory camper package still sank low in rear, added air bags and then it rode correct. Went from 6 mpg to 10 mpg with Lance & trailer with 99' TJ.
Having installed the stableloads and doing the same test you just did, the stableloads help a bit with side to side sway and engaged the lower springs sooner, however it didn't change the amount of squat the camper put on our truck. The stableloads work great when supplemented with airbags. Air is the only way to ensure the rear of the truck with the camper is still slightly higher than the front. They also place more of the weight back onto the front of the truck too.
Enjoyed the video. Thank you for sharing and posting. I have a 2021 F350 and I switch between an Arctic Fox truck camper and a fifth wheel. I installed a set of the Supersprings. (The extra leaf spring that is installed over the overload spring) and I am very pleased with them. They handle the weight very well. If you aren’t familiar with them, take a look at the product. I look forward to watching future videos featuring your truck and camper.
@@bob_frazier in my opinion, my truck rides/feels the same as it did before I installed the Supersprings. I still have airbags on my truck that I rarely use now. I am glad I installed the Supersprings.
Thanks for the video. It's interesting to see the truck seems to support that heavy camper well even without any helpers. Truck and camper look good together. I love the sound of that engine exhaust. Can't wait to see how the power and mpg compares to the Ram when hauling the camper.
I wonder why OEM helper springs are set so high? You would think they would design these to engage the suspension at lower weights and thus prevent squat and improve handling and ensure lights are level, etc. There has to be a reason for their current setting but I don't know why. Great video.
Great test, I have an 2021 F350 Dually with an Arctic Fox 1150 Dry Bath. I've found the Timbren SES works really well to eliminate squat and provide a decent ride.
Hey Todd very informative video. I have a 2021 f350 dually with the Godzilla. I have it paired with a 2022 10.2 Northern Lite. I haven’t made any modifications to the truck yet. I get about 4 inches squat. Im looking forward to watching your future modifications. I’m thinking also starting with the upper stableloads. I want to keep things to a minimum to keep the cost down. Hoping not to have to go to air bags.
@@jaystrainer1564 Gotcha look what kabzak says lower down, he did both but likes the superseding better, so there's a guy with both saying supersprings are the way to go. I just have airbags. Oregon, so no salt here except at the ocean.
This was a good video for me as I'm researching truck campers for when our 5er is just too big. Makes it pretty clear that investing in airbags will be needed. I would definitely lose the steps so low. It's not that we offroad, but we do like to camp in primitive sites, and I've dragged the exhaust outlet a time or two with the uneven grades.
Nice looking camper sitting on your truck. I put a pair of 5000lb airbags from etrailer on my 2008 GMC 3500 dually diesel to carry our new 2022 Lance 1172. The camper is 5030lbs as equipped. Not counting our stuff and water. Very little squat.
Keep it simple. With the F350 and F450, or any other dully for that matter, when purchasing a truck camper just stay under 3,800 pounds of camper weight. No mods will be required. These 4,500 to 5,000 lb campers need the heavier chassis cab truck period….. it’s almost impossible to stay under the 14,000 pound weight limit with these heavy bothemiths.
Nice camper…we have hellwig heavy duty sway bar, custom Deaver leaf spring pack, air bags and bump stop (which are removed when camper is not on truck).
Just a fyi I have the same truck with a northern lite 10-2. I also have the stableloads upper and lower. While the uppers work the downside is there still engaged unloaded which causes a pretty rough ride. I even cutoff the recommended 5/8” off the bottom and there still slightly engaged on the rears.
I would guess The F350 Will Not Feel As Solid or Handle That Oversized Camper Nearly As Well As Your Ram 4500 With It’s Huge Underbody Components Such As Heavy Frame Axles Brakes And 19.5 Tires. Like Your Content Very Informative
Hi Code 4 For Life, You are right!. The Ram 4500 did feel very stable and handle the weight with no problem. I think when the F350 is set up with some suspension enhancements it will be way better than stock. I do feel like a stock F350 is set up better than a Ram 3500 to support a heavy camper. I'm looking forward to finding out. The main reason we got the ford was to be able to take the camper off the truck in the garage which we couldn't do with the Ram 4500 due to it's height. Thanks for watching!
The lower stable loads do more work than the uppers. I would not recommend going this route. Ya might want to go direct to air bags especially with that rear step so close to the ground.
I got a comments or if it don't work you probably wanted but my opinion and think about some little bit put some air ride on there it might help it I don't know but if that don't work I'll be thinking about putting air ride on it have a good day
I think I mentioned in your other video about this new truck that all we have on our truck is Stableloads upper and lower. Host Everest camper at 4500lbs dry. The truck drove fine Washington to Montana twice. But, we are also looking for a gas truck for added payload. The Ford looks very nice.
Good informative video. You no about the articles you don't know squat. Better with air bags. You might want to look into some morryde steps. If it was me I'd have them steps smashed by now lol.
Yea I ran into a guy that came back from out west in he went threw a dip and pulled both his happy jacks lose from the so that sucks so pay attention and don’t do that and I hope the gas truck is better than a diesel where if you have a turbo leak you have to pull cab off and that is crazy to have to do that would would suck and cost a ton of money and if Ford and Dodge would make the hood a foot longer would look so cool and not have to spend all that money to pull the cab and I would love to have a longer hood would look so cool !
I am planning on installing airbags in the future but I still want the Stableloads to help with the sway as they will help make contact with the upper overload springs sooner. Good question and thanks for watching!
That’s a big heavy camper. It’s not about how much is squats it’s about how it’s going to handle on the-road side to side sway you are going to need airbags, a big swaybar and adjustable shocks and may also need lower stable loads for the springs
Hi 👋,, just a quick question not related to this video... Does your truck have the drop down spare tire accessed by a crank handel through the bumper area. If so,,, with the camper on the truck , How do you go about getting to the spare in the event of a flat tire ?? Just wondering because I'm about to purchase a lance 975 that hangs over the rear bumper.
Hi True Texan, Yes my F350 does have a crank down spare tire. The camper would have to be removed to get it down. It probably would have to be removed anyhow to take some of the weight off of the truck for the jack. I do care a 8 ton bottle jack to help with the weight. There may be enough room to rig something up to get the tire down. I may look into that. Good point though! Thanks for watching!
@@kenj.8897 the F450 has heavier axle half shafts 10 lugs. Larger brakes, and commercial G rated tires. When it comes down to it when both trucks have the turbo diesel there’s only about a 400 pound difference in payload with a higher trim trucks. When you come down to it, it’s just basically a numbers game. Keeping the trucks in the class 3 category. The F450 is much more capable overall.
My 2018 Ram 3500 had a bed height of 37". My Ford F350 is just over 36". Ford actually lowered the bed height in 2020 by one inch. Not a big difference between the two. My Ram 4500 with a flatbed was 43". Thanks for watching!
How did you get the reverse lights to work? I just purchased a 1172 from D&H and they said they could not connect my reverse lights on my 2022 Chevy and that I would have to go to a Chevy dealership to get it done.
Hi Headmarble1, That is very strange, if the Lance wire harness is connected properly the reverse lights should work just fine. I use an adapter to connected to the back of the 7 way plug. It is a Curt 56584 with the 5-pin trailer wire. Make sure you get the 5-pin trailer plug because it has the reverse wire on it. I believe it's the blue wire if I remember correctly. I cut off the 5 pin connector and connect the Lance harness directly to the new adapter. Note the the colors don't match up. The Lance colored wires done match the standard Left/Right /Stop/Reverse trailer wire colors. So refer to your Lance manual for the wiring diagram for the colors. The Lance plug does run a separate power wire to the battery with a 40amp breaker and a separate ground wire to the frame somewhere. I've used the same 7 way adapter on my Ram and Ford with no problem. Hope that helps and thanks for watching! Here is a link to the part I used on Amazon. www.amazon.com/CURT-56584-Custom-Wiring-Harness/dp/B007EA6WQU/ref=sr_1_1?crid=29A5UGEQDRM8Y&keywords=Curt+56584&qid=1676118723&sprefix=curt+56584%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-1
@@RunawayRoses Thank you! I got my reverse lights to work. When you said the reverse lights come from the 5 pin I had an idea what the problem was, and I was right. D&H installed a splitter to my trailer wire plugs on my bumper. That plug does not have a five way on it, it has camera plugs for trailering cameras. But there is a second trailer light plug in the bed that has the 7 and 5 pin. I moved the splitter up to that one and reverse light work on the back of my lance 1172. Thanks again. Keep making great truck camper videos
I have a 22 F-350 SRW with a Cirrus 820 that I scaled at 3000 lbs. I believe you are going to be greatly disappointed with the amount of squat you will have AFTER doing to the mods that you have planned. I made very similar mods and I had to add Timbrens to eliminate the squat. Even with the Timbrens, I have about an inch of squat. Trust me when I say that drilling the rear leaf springs is no fun. Save yourself some frustration and try the Timbrens first.
Hi Tom, Thanks for the heads up and the tip. I have used Timbrens before and they work well. I’ll most likely add some airbags after I install some upper Stableloads. Thanks for watching!
Nice rig and video buddy. Can I make a suggestion? If you plan on keeping the truck for a while, I recommend getting the frame Fluid Filmed. Definitely keeps things looking nice under there. Small touch ups every year in the rain spray areas. If you have any more questions I’d be happy to help if your not familiar with that product. I love in the salt states and if you keep up with it after 10 years it looks wonderful still.
You keep on downing the Dodge and if you keep it up you might convince your self that the Ford is better. The best Ford I’ve seen was a Ford with a cummins in it with a Allison automatic that’s the truck of all trucks !!!
Todd, have you heard anything about Ford lowering the tow ratings on some of these f350 gas rigs? Here's a RUclipsr that mentions it: ruclips.net/video/BFw3aWEbTBE/видео.html
That step is extremely low to the ground, i'm surprised Lance doesn't have a step that's built in. That setup looks so nice, what a beautiful rig!
I feel like I’m doing all this rv stuff wrong, I’ve kept the same truck and 5 th wheel for over 4 years now. From watching these rv videos that’s at least two times longer than it should be.
Boy are those steps low to the ground. I messed mine up hanging them up pulling into the street from a parking lot with my F350 dually. So be careful with yours. I also didn’t drive much at night because of the rear squat even with airbags. Got tired of other drivers flashing their headlights at me because mine were in their eyes on low beam.
It’s awesome that you all are trying to get that heavy camper to work on a F350. I gave up trying to make my 1172 work on my truck. I never liked the ride with the swaying and the squat. Thanks for sharing what you’re doing to try to make this work. I personally think these campers are too heavy and the rears sit too low on pickups.
I had a 99' Dodge V10 dually with a Lance dry bath/ no slide, towed a off-road 95' Jeep. Eventually went to a 03' Ford F350 diesel dually & 02' Lance dry bath/1 slide. Factory camper package still sank low in rear, added air bags and then it rode correct. Went from 6 mpg to 10 mpg with Lance & trailer with 99' TJ.
Having installed the stableloads and doing the same test you just did, the stableloads help a bit with side to side sway and engaged the lower springs sooner, however it didn't change the amount of squat the camper put on our truck. The stableloads work great when supplemented with airbags. Air is the only way to ensure the rear of the truck with the camper is still slightly higher than the front. They also place more of the weight back onto the front of the truck too.
No , air bags do not transfer weight forward . It's been proven over and over again.
Enjoyed the video. Thank you for sharing and posting. I have a 2021 F350 and I switch between an Arctic Fox truck camper and a fifth wheel. I installed a set of the Supersprings. (The extra leaf spring that is installed over the overload spring) and I am very pleased with them. They handle the weight very well. If you aren’t familiar with them, take a look at the product. I look forward to watching future videos featuring your truck and camper.
How does it ride unloaded? Do those disengage? I had some plain old overloads one time and just hated the ride when empty.
@@bob_frazier in my opinion, my truck rides/feels the same as it did before I installed the Supersprings. I still have airbags on my truck that I rarely use now. I am glad I installed the Supersprings.
And they do “disengage” in a sense. The springs have roller shackles that allow for self adjustment based on the load.
@@kabzak Well that is very good info. Thank you.
Thanks for the video. It's interesting to see the truck seems to support that heavy camper well even without any helpers. Truck and camper look good together. I love the sound of that engine exhaust. Can't wait to see how the power and mpg compares to the Ram when hauling the camper.
I wonder why OEM helper springs are set so high? You would think they would design these to engage the suspension at lower weights and thus prevent squat and improve handling and ensure lights are level, etc. There has to be a reason for their current setting but I don't know why. Great video.
Dude, you helped me see the difference like no one else, much appreciated!!!
Thanks for the video. I would recommend installing the lower stable-loads as well.
My Chevy has a narrow end and I have about 1/2” play when loading and unloading. Just a bit stressful! 😅 great video, thanks!
Great test, I have an 2021 F350 Dually with an Arctic Fox 1150 Dry Bath. I've found the Timbren SES works really well to eliminate squat and provide a decent ride.
I'd ruin those steps sooner or later out here in the west. And I love my adjustable airbags. Thanks for making us an interesting video Todd!
Hey Todd very informative video. I have a 2021 f350 dually with the Godzilla. I have it paired with a 2022 10.2 Northern Lite. I haven’t made any modifications to the truck yet. I get about 4 inches squat. Im looking forward to watching your future modifications. I’m thinking also starting with the upper stableloads. I want to keep things to a minimum to keep the cost down. Hoping not to have to go to air bags.
Hey Jay, why are you avoiding airbags, cost or? Thanks.
@@bob_frazier I believe mostly money. I live in the upper Midwest and I’m also worried over longevity with all the salt we get.
@@jaystrainer1564 Gotcha look what kabzak says lower down, he did both but likes the superseding better, so there's a guy with both saying supersprings are the way to go. I just have airbags. Oregon, so no salt here except at the ocean.
This was a good video for me as I'm researching truck campers for when our 5er is just too big. Makes it pretty clear that investing in airbags will be needed. I would definitely lose the steps so low. It's not that we offroad, but we do like to camp in primitive sites, and I've dragged the exhaust outlet a time or two with the uneven grades.
Nice looking camper sitting on your truck. I put a pair of 5000lb airbags from etrailer on my 2008 GMC 3500 dually diesel to carry our new 2022 Lance 1172. The camper is 5030lbs as equipped. Not counting our stuff and water. Very little squat.
Keep it simple. With the F350 and F450, or any other dully for that matter, when purchasing a truck camper just stay under 3,800 pounds of camper weight. No mods will be required. These 4,500 to 5,000 lb campers need the heavier chassis cab truck period….. it’s almost impossible to stay under the 14,000 pound weight limit with these heavy bothemiths.
Nice camper…we have hellwig heavy duty sway bar, custom Deaver leaf spring pack, air bags and bump stop (which are removed when camper is not on truck).
Just a fyi I have the same truck with a northern lite 10-2. I also have the stableloads upper and lower. While the uppers work the downside is there still engaged unloaded which causes a pretty rough ride. I even cutoff the recommended 5/8” off the bottom and there still slightly engaged on the rears.
I would guess The F350 Will Not Feel As Solid or Handle That Oversized Camper Nearly As Well As Your Ram 4500 With It’s Huge Underbody Components Such As Heavy Frame Axles Brakes And 19.5 Tires. Like Your Content Very Informative
Hi Code 4 For Life, You are right!. The Ram 4500 did feel very stable and handle the weight with no problem. I think when the F350 is set up with some suspension enhancements it will be way better than stock. I do feel like a stock F350 is set up better than a Ram 3500 to support a heavy camper. I'm looking forward to finding out. The main reason we got the ford was to be able to take the camper off the truck in the garage which we couldn't do with the Ram 4500 due to it's height. Thanks for watching!
The lower stable loads do more work than the uppers. I would not recommend going this route. Ya might want to go direct to air bags especially with that rear step so close to the ground.
Those 7.3L Godzilla stickers are sharp!
I got a comments or if it don't work you probably wanted but my opinion and think about some little bit put some air ride on there it might help it I don't know but if that don't work I'll be thinking about putting air ride on it have a good day
Beautiful new truck!
How about hauling the camper and towing the 5th wheel at the same time next video.
I think I mentioned in your other video about this new truck that all we have on our truck is Stableloads upper and lower. Host Everest camper at 4500lbs dry. The truck drove fine Washington to Montana twice. But, we are also looking for a gas truck for added payload. The Ford looks very nice.
Just get a 4500 and don’t worry about the weight .
Good informative video. You no about the articles you don't know squat. Better with air bags. You might want to look into some morryde steps. If it was me I'd have them steps smashed by now lol.
Beautiful truck 👍🏻👍🏻
Yea I ran into a guy that came back from out west in he went threw a dip and pulled both his happy jacks lose from the so that sucks so pay attention and don’t do that and I hope the gas truck is better than a diesel where if you have a turbo leak you have to pull cab off and that is crazy to have to do that would would suck and cost a ton of money and if Ford and Dodge would make the hood a foot longer would look so cool and not have to spend all that money to pull the cab and I would love to have a longer hood would look so cool !
Great videos! Where did you get the 7.3 Godzilla emblems for the doors?
Why not install airbags in the rear? You would almost eliminate sag.
I am planning on installing airbags in the future but I still want the Stableloads to help with the sway as they will help make contact with the upper overload springs sooner. Good question and thanks for watching!
They sell the adapter so the Allison will bolt right up !
That’s a big heavy camper. It’s not about how much is squats it’s about how it’s going to handle on the-road side to side sway you are going to need airbags, a big swaybar and adjustable shocks and may also need lower stable loads for the springs
The frame will fail before 60 k.
Hi 👋,, just a quick question not related to this video...
Does your truck have the drop down spare tire accessed by a crank handel through the bumper area.
If so,,, with the camper on the truck ,
How do you go about getting to the spare in the event of a flat tire ??
Just wondering because I'm about to purchase a lance 975 that hangs over the rear bumper.
Hi True Texan, Yes my F350 does have a crank down spare tire. The camper would have to be removed to get it down. It probably would have to be removed anyhow to take some of the weight off of the truck for the jack. I do care a 8 ton bottle jack to help with the weight. There may be enough room to rig something up to get the tire down. I may look into that. Good point though! Thanks for watching!
Where did you get the "7.3L Godzilla" door badges?
Got them on eBay, thanks for watching!
I wonder if it 450 Would handle it with just the stock leaf springs?
350 has more payload most of the time , 450 turn sharper
@@kenj.8897 the F450 has heavier axle half shafts 10 lugs. Larger brakes, and commercial G rated tires. When it comes down to it when both trucks have the turbo diesel there’s only about a 400 pound difference in payload with a higher trim trucks. When you come down to it, it’s just basically a numbers game. Keeping the trucks in the class 3 category. The F450 is much more capable overall.
And it’s so hard to go from diesel to gas it’s like nite and day and that tach is screaming and you will think something is wrong !!
Two and a half tons on a one ton truck no wonder the rear end squatted down a little
air bags
Was the Dodge bed height higher than the Ford ? with out the camper
My 2018 Ram 3500 had a bed height of 37". My Ford F350 is just over 36". Ford actually lowered the bed height in 2020 by one inch. Not a big difference between the two. My Ram 4500 with a flatbed was 43". Thanks for watching!
Just for shits and giggles what did your truck run you? Sticker before your trade-in?
The MSRP for the truck was $69,070. Thanks for watching!
@@RunawayRoses not too bad considering that same truck here in New Mexico is going for 100k diesel or gas. It is a nice truck you got! Congrats!
@@RunawayRosesthat's a good price 👍
Kelderman?
You didn't want the ram 6.4. Why the Ford
How did you get the reverse lights to work? I just purchased a 1172 from D&H and they said they could not connect my reverse lights on my 2022 Chevy and that I would have to go to a Chevy dealership to get it done.
Hi Headmarble1, That is very strange, if the Lance wire harness is connected properly the reverse lights should work just fine. I use an adapter to connected to the back of the 7 way plug. It is a Curt 56584 with the 5-pin trailer wire. Make sure you get the 5-pin trailer plug because it has the reverse wire on it. I believe it's the blue wire if I remember correctly. I cut off the 5 pin connector and connect the Lance harness directly to the new adapter. Note the the colors don't match up. The Lance colored wires done match the standard Left/Right /Stop/Reverse trailer wire colors. So refer to your Lance manual for the wiring diagram for the colors. The Lance plug does run a separate power wire to the battery with a 40amp breaker and a separate ground wire to the frame somewhere. I've used the same 7 way adapter on my Ram and Ford with no problem. Hope that helps and thanks for watching! Here is a link to the part I used on Amazon. www.amazon.com/CURT-56584-Custom-Wiring-Harness/dp/B007EA6WQU/ref=sr_1_1?crid=29A5UGEQDRM8Y&keywords=Curt+56584&qid=1676118723&sprefix=curt+56584%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-1
@@RunawayRoses Thank you! I got my reverse lights to work. When you said the reverse lights come from the 5 pin I had an idea what the problem was, and I was right. D&H installed a splitter to my trailer wire plugs on my bumper. That plug does not have a five way on it, it has camera plugs for trailering cameras. But there is a second trailer light plug in the bed that has the 7 and 5 pin. I moved the splitter up to that one and reverse light work on the back of my lance 1172. Thanks again. Keep making great truck camper videos
Glad you got them working! Thanks again for watching our videos!
I have a 22 F-350 SRW with a Cirrus 820 that I scaled at 3000 lbs. I believe you are going to be greatly disappointed with the amount of squat you will have AFTER doing to the mods that you have planned. I made very similar mods and I had to add Timbrens to eliminate the squat. Even with the Timbrens, I have about an inch of squat. Trust me when I say that drilling the rear leaf springs is no fun. Save yourself some frustration and try the Timbrens first.
Hi Tom, Thanks for the heads up and the tip. I have used Timbrens before and they work well. I’ll most likely add some airbags after I install some upper Stableloads. Thanks for watching!
@@RunawayRoses Sooo.....maybe repeat the test with Timbrens and then Airbags???? That would be good content!!
Nice rig and video buddy.
Can I make a suggestion? If you plan on keeping the truck for a while, I recommend getting the frame Fluid Filmed. Definitely keeps things looking nice under there. Small touch ups every year in the rain spray areas. If you have any more questions I’d be happy to help if your not familiar with that product. I love in the salt states and if you keep up with it after 10 years it looks wonderful still.
Yup , Ford's frames rust even in the non-salt states
You keep on downing the Dodge and if you keep it up you might convince your self that the Ford is better. The best Ford I’ve seen was a Ford with a cummins in it with a Allison automatic that’s the truck of all trucks !!!
That’s a heavy camper.
The diesel fuel is high but gas to Godzilla will eat you out of house and home !!
Once you get the smell of diesel in brain you will never go back. Gas is for a Chevy short bed 2 or 4 wheel drive with a big LS motor in it.
Oh no a leaky Lance don’t keep it over 5 years or you might get flooded out of you bed !!
Todd, have you heard anything about Ford lowering the tow ratings on some of these f350 gas rigs? Here's a RUclipsr that mentions it: ruclips.net/video/BFw3aWEbTBE/видео.html
Hey Bob, Yeah I heard about that. I believe it’s for both gas or diesel. Ram has recently done the same thing as well. Strange!