truck camper suspension question

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Hoekj

New member
Joined
Jul 16, 2007
Posts
2
I have recently purchased a Maverick Palamino truck camper which I would like to place on my 1/2 ton chev
truck.  I need to beef up the rear springs and am wondering if air springs would be best or additional leaf springs, and any
suggestions on what to purchase or have done to it.
 
First you need to weigh the camper to make sure you will not exceed the GVWR or GAWR of the truck. Basically there are no modifications you can do to increase the GVWR or GAWR without the manufacturer issuing a document that will approve a higher rating which I think would be next to impossible to get them to do.  So first get the weight of the camper when loaded as you would have it when traveling.  Then weigh the truck with you and any passengers on board add these two figures to determine if you will be within the weight limits.
 
I recently put Firestone airbags on my 2006 F350 DWD.  The cost was $234.00 from amazon, free shipping and no sales tax.  They were pretty easy to put on.  After getting the courage to drill through my wifes new truck it took about 2 hours.  The hardest part was getting the plastic hub cap off the rear wheels. ( I was worried I would break something).  I routed the lines to the rear license plate for a very clean set up. I do have to crawl under the truck to fill them up but I did not want to drill through the body.  As a side note, when reinstalling the rear wheels on a DWD make sure you line up the vavle stems.  I still need to fix the right side but summer laziness has taken over.  The airbags worked great with our Host Yukon and we pulled a 22 ft tandem axle boat along with it.
 
Another thing to look at is the Super Spring.  These worked great on my F350.  I had air bags on my F250, but, install requires drilling, and use requires pumping.  Super Springs, no drill, are out of use during regular driving, only come into play when loaded. 

This does not increase load capacity, but it makes it handle better when loaded.  I also added bigger bump-stops, the SS and overload spring do not contact the oem stops when loaded.  What happens is this, in a turn and the lean starts it runs unimpeded till springs come in contact.  Then it gets stiffer.  With the SS & bump stops, the load is already in contact, this really tames the ride.

All in all, not many 1/2 ton trucks have a rating to make a slide in a good option.  The Palomino pop-up is pretty light weight, so you might be close.  Good luck!

 
I have a Chev 1500 ext Cab, 4 wheel drive.  I also have the 1200 Palimino.  The only mod I have made is the Air Bags and upgraded to 6 ply tires.  I also pull a large bass boat..  Absolutley no problems.
 
Hey PancakeBill: I have a 97 F350 DRW. How exactly does the Super Spring fit given that the stock single inverted spring sits overtop the other springs?
I also viewed the Firestone airbag link from edjunior but the Firestone diagram does not show the extra inverted spring. How does that actually work.
I'm still wrestling with the best way to go to support my 3700 # truck camper. I have been told to just add another leaf to the bottom group of springs as the airbag mounting point is a weak point in the chassis. Any expert opinions???
 
 
Not familiar with that set up, but SS should have a diagram on their site.  Have you looked there yet?  I liked the SS better than the airbags.  Had bags on my 95 F250 SRW. 
 
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