Maximum Camper Size?

[boxyjeep]

I'm looking at some of the Lance truck campers that fit in the bed of a pickup.  Anyone here have experience with those?  I'm assuming that I'd have to go with the "Short Bed" version for my 6' SWB Comanche.  They range in weight from about 1,700 to ~2,000 lbs.  My truck has a D44 rear and will be SOA rear with 6" front coils.  Currently, the rear sits super high and has what I believe to be offroad package/metric ton springs.  Will be running 4.88 gears with 33" tires.  Front axle will be upgraded with WJ knuckles/brakes.

 

Any advice?  This could end up being a sweet offroad camper rig.

[Eagle]

The Metric Ton MJ is rated to carry 2,200 pounds -- but there was never a Metric Ton shortbed, only a heavy duty axle option. Your truck is not rated to carry 2,200 pounds. I believe the load rating for the standard MJs (which means all shortbeds) is somewhere around 1,400 to 1,500 pounds.

 

I think you would be making a serious mistake putting a heavy camper like that in an MJ with a 6-inch lift (or any lift). The center of gravity on those campers is pretty high anyway, and putting it into a lifted truck is going to result in potentially severe instability.

 

[boxyjeep]

The Metric Ton MJ is rated to carry 2,200 pounds -- but there was never a Metric Ton shortbed, only a heavy duty axle option. Your truck is not rated to carry 2,200 pounds. I believe the load rating for the standard MJs (which means all shortbeds) is somewhere around 1,400 to 1,500 pounds.
 
I think you would be making a serious mistake putting a heavy camper like that in an MJ with a 6-inch lift (or any lift). The center of gravity on those campers is pretty high anyway, and putting it into a lifted truck is going to result in potentially severe instability.
 

Thanks. This is helpful. As someone who’s rolled a vehicle at speed before, I wouldn’t want that to happen again.

What do you feel is the safest weight for a lifted MJ?


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[fiatslug87]

From the '90 owner's manual.

[boxyjeep]

From the '90 owner's manual.

Haha thanks. Can’t be more explicit than that. I’ll think about a lame camper van instead


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[Jeep Driver]

[Pete M]

I've seen people do it, but they use the smallest, lightest slide-in campers out there (as well as add rear sway bars, stiffer springs, etc). Lance products are for full size trucks.

 

as to the legality, I've got no idea. 

[Pete M]

[Pete M]

this guy actual made an old lance fit.  

 

 

 

[Pete M]

and then there's this... if you can find one. 

 

[Eagle]

1 hour ago, Chargum85 said:

Thanks. This is helpful. As someone who’s rolled a vehicle at speed before, I wouldn’t want that to happen again.

What do you feel is the safest weight for a lifted MJ?
 

 

 

Fiatslug has pretty well covered the camper question. As to weight ... a lot would depend on where it's located, both as to where in the box, and how high the center of gravity is. And then you get to what the aftermarket springs are rated for. If a factory height shortbed is rated for a maximum load of 1,400 or 1,500 (somehow, 1,475 sticks in my head), that's the absolute maximum you should carry at stock height. With a 6" lift, I would de-rate that by quite a bit if you're on the road and traveling at highway speeds. Around the farm, crawling in low gear, is a different story.

[PCO6]

I saved this pic a while ago.   It looks like it might be home built.   If not it would be a pretty easy design to duplicate.   Not big but not bad.   

 

[PCO6]

9 hours ago, Pete M said:

 

 

 

I like this design and it would be a fairly simple build.   I have a Coachmen Clipper tear drop trailer and being ably to stand up in it is a big deal.   I've built 3  trailers, one off road, and I've considered duplicating the Clipper in a more heavy duty off road version.   The only tricky bit would be the "tent".   I need to learn how to sew!  

 

Trailer build … http://www.jeepcentral.ca/forums/showthread.php?3937-PCO6-s-Trailer-Build

 

[WahooSteeler]

On 2/11/2020 at 11:25 PM, Pete M said:

this guy actual made an old lance fit.  

 

 

 

 

Actually Pete that is the Lance Squire 1000, or LS1000 and was made specifically for mid-size trucks in the 80s. It was well equipped and had a 7'6" floor (most then and now were 6'9") which is absolutely perfect for a long bed MJ. I believe it weighed @1200lbs. I am curious why an MJ, when properly equipped, would not be capable of carrying a lightweight camper. What made it possible for these to work on a Dakota, Ranger, S10 or Tacoma in the 80s but not an MJ? If you wanted to put a camper on any of those trucks you had a list of upgrades you had to perform to do so. I am going to assume all of those upgrades could be done to an MJ, so what was the limitation? Only thing I can think of is the unibody portion of the cab was not as strong as a full ladder frame of the other mid-size trucks, but if that was the case the metric ton package would not have been viable I would think. Curious to thoughts....... 

[Pete M]

honestly I wonder if they even tried.    I know they were super short on money and it certainly would have been cheaper to put that giant X in the brochure.   

[fiatslug87]

1 hour ago, WahooSteeler said:

I am curious why an MJ, when properly equipped, would not be capable of carrying a lightweight camper. What made it possible for these to work on a Dakota, Ranger, S10 or Tacoma in the 80s but not an MJ? If you wanted to put a camper on any of those trucks you had a list of upgrades you had to perform to do so. I am going to assume all of those upgrades could be done to an MJ, so what was the limitation? Only thing I can think of is the unibody portion of the cab was not as strong as a full ladder frame of the other mid-size trucks, but if that was the case the metric ton package would not have been viable I would think. Curious to thoughts....... 

Probably for liability reasons. It says"should not" not "can not".

[WahooSteeler]

Agree 100%

[boxyjeep]

So you're saying I should get one?  ;-)

[Pete M]

not without some stiffer springs, tough rear axle and a rear anit-sway bar.  

[WahooSteeler]

1 hour ago, Chargum85 said:

So you're saying I should get one?  ;-)

 

I would love to have a camper for mine one day, although I've debated a small fiberglass 5th wheel would be cool to have also, i.e. a Scamp, Bigfoot or the super nice and $$$ Escape 5.0. Anyhoo, you being on the west coast you should have access to more options than most people on units that will fit an MJ. Granted, many of these will be brands or more likely models that don't exist anymore because the midsize truck camper market must not have been very successful. As has already been pointed out, small truck pop-up style campers are still readily available and the Travel Lite 690 seems to have staked it's ground as a survivor of the "hard sided" midsize truck camper. Capri is a brand that's apparently been around awhile and they are now offering hard sided midsize truck campers too. But you can also look for discontinued models such as the Northern Lite 610, which was fiberglass, CampLite 5.7 which was all-aluminum, Pastime campers, SixPac campers, the above Lance LS1000 and some other older brands had some 6'9" or "690" models that would fit between the wheel wells of a midsize truck. 

 

All that said, I've never owned a truck camper and I'm certainly no engineer. All of the info I spewed above is just from a lot of my own research while seriously considering the viability of a camper one day for my MJ. I will say though that, IMO, with the amount of lift you are talking about doing I personally would only consider a soft sided, i.e. "pop-up" style if you want a slide-in camper as opposed to the currently popular overland style raised tent. COG I bet would get sketchy real fast with hard sided camper on that much lift with that narrow of track width. Outside of pulling the bed and custom building something to the frame from scratch, I'd bet there's a compromise in there somewhere with an existing slide-in unit that probably could hit on most of what you want. I'd certainly be interested to see what you do if you pursue this.