Campers and IHC's

[Weidenheimer Allan P <weidenhe@domain.elided>]

First, my background on the matter:  My folks had a camper in the
72 1210 Pickup I have now from day 1.  They started with an 8'
caveman from the 60's, and upped it to a 10-1/2 footer in '76, which
they traded for a motorhome in 79.  Now, I've had an 11 footer
since '95.  

The 11' I have weighs 2875 lb dry, with no water, camper gear,
propane, etc. in it.  There is NO WAY I would even think
of putting that kind of weight, plus the truck weight, on a 
semi-floater rear axle.  Actually, my Dad had a GMC 1/2 ton
that lost a rear axle bearing hauling the 8 footer, causing him
to buy a 67 IHC 3/4 ton (A good decision IMHO).  I weighed
my truck recently when it was all loaded with the camper, 
water, propane, gear, etc.  I then lost the paper I wrote the
weight on, but it was over 8500 lb, and as I recall I was concerned
because my D44 front axle rating at 3000 lb was being exceeded.
And the rear D60, rated at 5000 lb was too.  Neither by much,
but some cause for considering a D60/70 combo. The D44 was
a downgrade capacity-wise compared to my 3800 lb rated FA-12
I had before converting to four wheel drive.  (sidenote: the 4" lift
and loss of the sway bar caused by going to 4x4 make it handle
very poorly on corners with the camper now!)

I'd say that a 1/2 ton IHC could probably take a newer 8' camper,
as the newer ones have become a bit lighter with improved 
construction techniques.  But even this would overhang a
7-1/2 bed.  I think the original poster (sorry forgot the name)
had an 8' bed and was thinking of cutting it down?  What about 
extending the frame, driveline, brakeline and wiring 6" so the
8' bed could drop on?  Extending a C channel truck frame
is not unheard of.  

Allan Weidenheimer
72 1210 Pickup