broken dodge

[WhittleBurner]

Good reason for not listening to the truck or RV salesman about what's safe and what isn't.
https://www.carscoops.com/2022/12/an-eagle-cap-camper-snapped-a-ram-3500-dually-in-half-to-the-tune-of-17000/

[Redapple63]

I saw that one. Pretty scary. They are denying his claim because they say it was overloaded. I can’t say I have ever seen a truck break at the frame like that.

Bill

[A.Texas.Yankee]

I saw that one. Pretty scary. They are denying his claim because they say it was overloaded. I can’t say I have ever seen a truck break at the frame like that.

Bill

For sure overloaded. Dry weight is almost 5k lbs on that camper by itself.

[geotex1]

Take a look at the forward tie-downs... If you know RAMs, that's not where they belong. Simple problem of creating a fulcrum which the teeter of a heavy Cummins and the totter of way too much cantilever behind the rear axle (note it's an ebike), fatigued the frame. This is 100% user error in every direction and he's trying to solicit public opinion to pressure Stellantis to pay for his negligence.

If you've never seen a pickup frame break like this, you've not been in farm country where overloading payload is as common as the sun shining!

[Ynot4me2]

Oopsy, just a little more weight on the back and we will be on our way dear. But both dealers said I could. Seriously though poor guy. I've seen older pickup with bent frames but nothing like this. Wow.
I still believe that RV and truck dealers should have some responsibility in that. People turn to them for advise as they make themselves sound like the experts which they should be as its their product.

[Always Learning]

Oopsy, just a little more weight on the back and we will be on our way dear. But both dealers said I could. Seriously though poor guy. I've seen older pickup with bent frames but nothing like this. Wow.
I still believe that RV and truck dealers should have some responsibility in that. People turn to them for advise as they make themselves sound like the experts which they should be as its their product.

Even without the ebikes it looks like these truck campers are real heavy. https://www.eaglecapcampers.com/eagle-cap-1165
Check out the spec and options. About 5,000 pound dry weight and 66 gallon water capacity and a bunch of options that can be added. Without stuff the dry camper and water would be a max load for my F350 dually. These campers need a much heavier truck.

[stroguy]

What a fright it would have been if this happened in the middle of the night while camping. Sure is a lot of material hanging rear of the tailgate and rear axle. Poor truck just couldn’t handle the strain.

[JKellerJr]

I saw that on another forum. He was way overloaded and traveling through Baja on the really bad roads. I'm definitely not the weight police but that was ridiculous. The strain those truck campers can put on trucks is brutal. The fact that it broke up shows how much weight was behind the rear axle. I read somewhere that new high strength frames are more susceptible to breaking where the older ones were softer steel and tend to bend more. Not sure if that's accurate, but it looks that way by that pic. I've seen some older trucks with obvious bent frames going down the road looking like a V

[Scott'n'Wendy]

Without stuff the dry camper and water would be a max load for my F350 dually. These campers need a much heavier truck.

There's not a lot of choice going heavier than a 1 ton dually for a pickup truck camper

[Redapple63]

There's not a lot of choice going heavier than a 1 ton dually for a pickup truck camper

Agree with that. The web advert shows it on an F450. All of the truck above that (5500 or 550)have no bed, so a person would need to figure out the bed part.

Bill