Truck Camper on J20, how heavy?

[jeephabit3]

I have a 1974 J20 401, 8' bed with the 7600 rear springs. I believe this was the "middle" configuration at the time with the top configuration being 8400. I am looking for some input on what weight truck camper I should be looking for if I also want to be able to tow my 83 Cherokee Chief on a trailer.

This info was from a review of a smiliar year J20 I found on the internet.

"The 8400 GVW J-20 is rated by the factory as capable of accepting an 11 foot cabover camper or towing a trailer of up to 10,000 pounds if its tongue weight does not exceed 1200 pounds. The tongue load limit for a bed mounted fifth-wheel trailer is 2850 pounds."

I am thinking the Cherokee Chief and trailer should be no more than 6500 lbs so I am thinking that a 1500 lbs or less truck camper might be ok?

Any input from anyone that has a truck camper and is towing a vehicle with a similar year J20 would be awesome.

[Cappicaper]

You can always add air bags to the rear if you get too heavy. The limiting factor may be the load your tires can handle.

[crispyboy]

If your also going to tow another vehicle - whew that's a lot of weight. I would look for the lightest possible - probably one of those type where the top comes up with canvas sides.
If not towing then consider:

7600 GVW
-4900 dry weight
2700 combined weight of the payload, passengers, fuel, tools etc.....

Out of this remember to figure out how much weight your going to have in the camper - propane, water, food etc......

If your going any kind of long distance then I would think about actually weighing the truck. You need to key into how much weight will be on the front and rear axle - this is so you don't fry the wheel bearings.

Also remember to look at the Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) - this will be the total weight the truck can haul in the bed and pulling a trailer.

Sorry I don't have the actual numbers handy - have an owners manual or a tag on the B piller?

[Tornado230]

Do either the camper or the towing.
The combination will be less than desirable as to performance and overload condition.
I hae traveled with the J-20 6,800GVW a total of 40,000 miles and even used the J-10 with the same camper on a coast to coast.
The camper is a Six-Pak 8 foot (no rear overhang, no bath) that weighs about 1,300 pounds empty, closer to 2,000 pounds ready for the road.
More than adequate performance, even crossing the Salt Flats into a horrible head wind.
Towing with this combination would in my opinion be out of the question.
With a cab-over camper, make certain you have a functional front stabilizer bar. It wouldn't hurt to add one on the rear.

[crispyboy]

Back in the 1980 my dad put a 11' Honey truck camper on the truck - J20 - 8400 gvw. If I recall the camper weighed about 2400 empty. Had a bathroom and queen size cab over bed - it was really nice. The truck handled it - sort of - lots of wind resistance and sway from what I remember. This large of a camper really needed to have dual rear wheels for more stability. Mirrors were another issue. The camper was so much wide than the truck that we had to extend the mirrors. I think you can buy mirrors that can hang down from camper itself.

[red mistress]

Rear sway bars

Addco makes rear sway bars for J Trucks.

Air bags and load range tires.


Really need a diesel crewcab (long wheelbase) dually for towing at speed....unless you are real patient driver.

[bigun]

While I am not surprised nobody mentioned brakes you could more than likly tow the load especially if you add a load levler system to the trailer. But you have to get it all stopped plus from experience I brought back an 8 foot cab over and 26 foot travel trailer from Florida to NM, 1968 F250 Camper special 390 2 barrel auto, with electric brakes on the trailer getting stopped took some distance, also using unleaded fuel in a motor that wasn't designed for it under a load such as this will burn the valves up I replaced and had to have hardened seats put in when I got home because I burned up 6 exhaust valves on a motor that had around 20 thousand miles on it!