Camper

Just bought a camper. Been looking for a while. They are hard to come by to fit a Tacoma. Found a 1980 six pack with just the basics. Need some repairs but campable as is. They say it weighs 1070 lb. Should I do anything with the suspension. Last owner upgrade with Timberland bumpers. I think that's what he called them. Sits pretty well as is but doing some dirt road trips this spring and summer.

 

1100 lbs dry, yeah, you should do some things or it will have excessive roll and bottom out consistently. I'd suggest new leafs and shocks as well airbags.

 

That’s awesome

 

They seem to be hard to find in California in good condition so I went with a fixer at a good price. I had a pop top years ago on a Ford ranger.

 

Time for a suspension upgrade. Nice rig.

 

Options to upgrade the suspension to handle the laden weight are available, but I still find it uncomfortably top heavy and with significant sway.

 

If you plan on taking the camper on and off the truck, airbags at a minimum. Airbags + rear swaybar would be my setup for that.

 

I ran a set of fire stone air bags when I had mine. Handled just fine, I would recommend getting a compressor so you can fill/adjust on the fly.

 

What do air bags cost. Would Xtra leaf work for the extra load.

 

All good suggestions, I would look at these below esp. If it stays on long term or not would make me plan diff.

 

You’re well over the legal limit and the designed limit of the truck. Significant suspension mods need to be made to keep it somewhat safe.

 

Amazon has a torque brand for $270 doesn’t include the compressor though. I pieced mine together, I have a cheapo Firestone compressor in the bed cubby, 3 gallon air tank mounted to the frame and a fill valve mounted in the cab so I can adjust on the fly. If it’s something you’re going to put on and leave on you might be best with bags and use a 12v plug in type compressor to fill as needed. My truck does have an add-a-leaf (forgot I put it in to level after the front lift). The bags are simple to install.. I forget what it weighed but I’m kinda hard on my truck and it always handled the weight just fine

 

With that load I would also recommend E rated tires. I run a Kimbo Camper along with several others on this forum which has about the same weight depending on build out. Kimbo campers say a minimum E rated tires due to maxing out the load the tacoma can carry based off of SL tires. The stiffer sidewalls also help. When airing up your tires, you'll be coming close to maxing out your PSI, especially when they start to heat in the summer. An extra leaf really won't do the job but would help the airbags. With airbags you are able to adjust based on how much you have loaded to ride level.

 

I wouldn't put one on my Tacoma. My payload is 1200 lbs. My wife and I combined are 360. I'd be overloaded by 230 lbs before adding any gear, water, or fuel to the camper.

You can modify the suspension to help improve things when you are APPROACING your limits. But that doesn't increase how much you can carry. You won't literally cause the front wheels to come off the ground, but when you overload the bed (even with a modified suspension) you have less weight on the front axle. And that has a negative effect on steering and braking.

This guy misread his trucks specs. He THOUGHT he was within his trucks payload. And if it had been an 8' bed with a regular cab he would have just barely been within payload. But with a crew cab was way overloaded and broke his frame. The heavy diesel engine in the front is the only reason his front wheels stayed on the ground.

 

Well over seems a bit of a stretch. 1200# being the factory load limit. Over by a bit certainly... Don't confuse design load with limit load. Safety components will have a minimum of 100% margin. Plenty of people do what you what you are up to with zero issues. Beefing up the suspension is part of adding to the capability. Yep, brakes could be on interest as well as other things like the tranny - for which you really should add a higher capacity cooler (Tru-Cool 4454 is a good option). My set up, which weighs less than half of yours, uses heavier springs and bags. I run the bags pressurized at least a little all the time to eliminate body roll. Having a compressor (stashed in a bed cubby) with a 3 gal tank mounted ahead of the rear bumper is super convenient for a number of things. Put some thought into to it and enjoy the heck out of it.

 

Re the broken Ram pic,I would be pissed looking at what amounts to $170,000Can turning into a pile of junk. To the OP , you're going to overloaded and top heavy, drive like a gramma.

 

Payload on that truck is closer to 1000lbs than 1200lbs. Add in at least one person and camping gear, water, food, tools, etc and the truck is exceeding payload by at least 500lbs. End of the world, no, but definitely exceeding the designed limits of the truck by a significant margin.

 

It’s not like you’re going to hit 1001lbs or 1201lbs what ever the pay load is and it’s going to catastrophic. OP add some bags and enjoy. Don’t let everyone discourage you. Hell I ran my camper on my 01 when I had it, no biggy.

 

Time to buy a

 

Thanks for the advice. I will look into the suspension changes. Probably can't do the all right now. I will get some estimates. Leaving in May for Idaho. So I have some time to sort things out.Doing some repairs to the camper in the mean time. The old owner said he went up and down the coast with just timberline bumper stops on his 2005 Tacoma. I really like the concept of having a camper and my daily driver as a pose to a motor home and all their issues and expense.