But the dealer said he had enough truck

[NH_Bulldog]

Just saw this story online. Truck frame snapped in half. Ram refuses to warranty the $17,000 in repairs. From what I read, it is a Ram 3500 Dually with the Cummins diesel. Right about 4,000 pounds cargo capacity. The slide in camper is 5,000 pounds empty, so figure another 1,000 pounds as used.....way over the capacity of the truck. No wonder it snapped in half!

[dutchmensport]

All I can say is, "Ouch!" Maybe he should have had a Chevy!

[jasin1]

looks like it’s made for a 8 ft bed but “could maybe work” for a 6 foot bed like the one in the picture..probably had full tanks and also that ebike or mini bike on the cantilevered hitch…a lot of stress on there…and do we really have to bring truck brands into every conversation? …unless your a major stockholder i can’t see the benefit of being so diehard for one brand over another….i guarantee if i gave anyone on the forum a brand new $100,000 truck from Ford ,GM or Ram ,you be grateful and hard pressed to pick it apart…the brand war conversations are boring and getting old

just my two cents

[wiredgeorge]

Rob, I would think a Ram dually would have more than 4K lbs payload. My clunker SRW has 4K payload. Looked up that slide in camper and it is close to 5K lbs dry. I was interested in a slide in camper and looked up the "dry weight" and went to the owner's forum where I am a member till this day (Lance) and everyone was pretty much in agreement that the "dry weight" is a fictional number and a prospective owner should add some to the dry weight... perhaps a 1000-1500 lbs. I liked that particular slide in Lance because it had a shower with a shower curtain rather than a wet bath (missus veto definitely). Fortunately, I am impoverished so it makes buying decisions more obvious.

[notanlines]

I also agree with the truck probably had 5k payload,. And I don’t see 17k fixing this dilemma.

[chuckster57]

Copy cat? More pics.

https://www.keystoneforums.com/forum...ad.php?t=53661

[sourdough]

This failure has nothing to do with truck brand and much more to do with the owner overloading the truck.

Another factor that we haven't mentioned that was in the conversation Jim linked was the outriggers the owner installed. Notice the break in the frame is "exactly" where those outriggers go back to tie to the frame. Big cabover slide in, heavy in the rear, large front overhang catching wind all the time, driving over terrible Mexican roads at 55-60mph throwing the camper "all over" and the ONLY thing holding the front of that tail heavy, overweight camper down was the front outriggers to the frame....exactly where it broke?? Even from here I think I see why warranty says..."no way".

[rhagfo]

Wow, so much bad information.
Ram 3500 Crew Cab DRW only comes with long bed. Payload likely 5,000 to 5,500#. My 2016 Ram Laramie DRW has 5,411# payload.

[vampress_me]

Originally Posted by NH_Bulldog

Just saw this story online. Truck frame snapped in half. Ram refuses to warranty the $17,000 in repairs. From what I read, it is a Ram 3500 Dually with the Cummins diesel. Right about 4,000 pounds cargo capacity.

I would have a hard time believing if the payload on that truck is only 4,000 lbs. Our F-350 DRW crew cab long bed has a payload of 5,456 lbs. Dodge can’t be that far behind…

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by rhagfo

Wow, so much bad information.
Ram 3500 Crew Cab DRW only comes with long bed. Payload likely 5,000 to 5,500#. My 2016 Ram Laramie DRW has 5,411# payload.

my mistake that looked like the mega cab drw which does have a shortbed

[notanlines]

That is what I thought also. I just didn’t look close enough. Reddit readers (that aren’t completely doofus) pointed out what Danny said that the braces had been probably welded to or bolted through the frame. A big no-no.

[jasin1]

traveling through Mexico boondocking? wonder if he had 500 gallons of fresh water in gallon jugs in the camper…wouldn’t need in the rockies or pacific northwest but i wouldn’t be drinking water from a tap on the side of the road south of the border…may have added to the already overweight camper

[JRTJH]

He's "lucky" (if you can call it luck) that it happened in Mexico... NOBODY in the US would accept the risk and legal ramifications of welding the frame back together so he could drive it home... I'd also wager that the mechanic in Mexico that offered to let him leave the camper next to his shop until he gets the truck fixed, is betting on the hope that he never has any vehicle big enough to "go fetch is camper"... And, in Mexico, if it sits there for more than a couple weeks, well, what "obscure law" will donate it to the owner of the property where it was abandoned.....

[gearhead]

Torklift is the most popular TC hold downs. They normally are clamped over the top of the frame. I don’t know where I would even attempt to weld mine. Torklift also makes the popular spring loaded tie downs that go up to the camper. They will “spring” about 3/8” and then I would expect them to pull the tie down eyes out of the camper frame.
I think he was simply overloaded. Deliberate ignorance or either a outlaw SAE Engineer that thinks he is smarter than those factory guys.
And, yeah my payload is 54xx.

[fjr vfr]

I think he could have handled the weight. I see many trucks I'd consider overweight with big campers or pulling giant toy haulers. I think it was mostly how unbalanced the weight was. It definitely looks like way to much weight to the rear. I would guess the frame originally started with a couple cracks thousands of miles earlier and progressed to the point we see now.

[JRTJH]

My Torklift camper tie down brackets bolted to the frame through existing holes that were oem to the frame. There was no "drilling new holes" or "welding on brackets", and then the "actual tie downs" slipped into the brackets when the camper was in use and were removed (shin killers) when the camper was not on the truck. Those Torklift brackets (in and of themselves) would not have altered the RAM frame rails, although overloading them and having way too much weight behind the axle would very likely have bent the "slide in tie down fixtures" and put tremendous amounts of stress on the OEM holes in the frame.

Here's what fits the truck (I think) is in the photos: https://www.torklift.com/findyourfit..._ez&rboards=no

Note in the description for those Torklift camper tie downs, there is no welding and "0 holes to drill".....

There's also a comment from Torklift that failure to use "their recommended spring type camper tie downs" can result in excess "jolt stress" that can damage both the vehicle frame and the camper. I didn't see "spring type tie downs" in the photos, but what is there "might be" an older version and I missed the "spring feature"......

[notanlines]

Quote from ‘The Drive’
“ "I did a lot of research before buying the truck and the camper, and both the Ram dealer and the camper company where we bought it said it was the perfect truck," Pavel explained. "They said it should handle the load no problem. I knew the payload capacity on the truck was about 7,800 pounds and the camper dry weight was close to 5,000 pounds, but fully loaded, probably about 6,500 pounds."

[jasin1]

Originally Posted by notanlines

Quote from ‘The Drive’
“ "I did a lot of research before buying the truck and the camper, and both the Ram dealer and the camper company where we bought it said it was the perfect truck," Pavel explained. "They said it should handle the load no problem. I knew the payload capacity on the truck was about 7,800 pounds and the camper dry weight was close to 5,000 pounds, but fully loaded, probably about 6,500 pounds."

funny they also said “but that is for longbed,two wheel drive 6.4 hemi base truck”…crazy how people think that all of the truck trim levels have the same capacity

[jasin1]

he seems like a stubborn guy that thought everyone else is wrong and he had it all figured out..
he probably had multiple warnings with poor handling,light steering and close calls but he just pushed on…i’m sure he has heard “wow that looks too big for the truck” on multiple occasions and just ignored the warnings.
something like this doesn’t just happen…i’m sure he had many different issues but chose to keep plowing ahead..thank god he didn’t kill anyone

[wiredgeorge]

Perhaps an even worse idea is how this frugal truck camper owner solved the tie down problem on the cheap.... on a Toyota no less...

https://aowanders.com/discounted-tor...per-tie-downs/