Community Forums

Driveby · 02-06-2023, 04:21 PM

As we progress down the path of the next RV, a truck camper is under consideration. We've done the Class A, campground thing and really prefer no neighbours

So, down the path of a flatbed 5500 + triple slide TC. Think Host Mammoth. But if I flex the bed alot, either by washboard, forestry road flood ditches etc, will I kill the slide alignment or even crack the fiberglass walls? I'm not talking rock crawling or anything but I'm in BC and am thinking the best camp road would be the forestry access roads, Prov Park gravel and get worse from there.

For those of you with TC slides, how off road will you go?

jboerger3 · 02-09-2023, 10:03 PM

Our rig (2014 AF 992) has only 1 slide. But wet and loaded for an extended trip, weighs 6k lbs. Our prev truck (11 F350 XLT 6.2 SCLB DRW 3.73) carried it up the Dalton Hwy to the arctic circle, over the Top of the World Hwy and down many US Forrest roads. We took it down to the Yosemite Creek campground and on other 2 track roads where only tent campers go. Sometimes you have to go slow, but you can go where towables cannot go. Shocks and Super sway stops were the only suspension mods. We did break a shear pin, in the slide mechanism near Roswell, a few years ago (easily fixed - but I needed to spend $10 @ HF for a set of punches). There are some things that you to do as periodic maintenance (tighten rollers/lubricate mechanism).

The new truck (22 F350 Lariat 7.3 SCLB DRW 3.73) payload sticker says 6,390#s and we weighed in at 13830 lbs on the last trip. The new truck handles similar to the old, but, the powertrain and technology are on a higher level. And the powertrain in the "11" was excellent. Good luck!

Driveby · 02-12-2023, 10:28 AM

Appears no one does this or at least willing to admit to it

for reference this is about as extreme (or slightly more extreme) as I'd ever expect to do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6HvisFGFYE

Bedlam · 02-12-2023, 08:52 PM

I take forest roads made for lumber trucks but stay off worse tracks and use something smaller to explore. You have a lot of weight (about 9 tons) and height (about 13') even if you have good chassis clearance and 4wd.

Dave Pelletier · 02-13-2023, 08:45 AM

Honestly, I think those huge TC's with multiple slides are unlikely to hold up to the rigors of offroad travel. I've done similar trips with both my Bigfoot 25C9.6 and Bigfoot 30C10.11 (no slides on either) and the 25C was a better choice when the roads got ugly. You can always just try it but I would expect problems.

2 cents,
Dave

lincolnmath · 02-15-2023, 04:43 PM

We took our Lance 1181 (014) on some very rough roads which has the full side slide drivers side. We did develop a small crack in the lower rear corner of the outter side opening. It cracked pretty quickly at 1st but never got any bigger. I was more afraid of the crappy Swintek? Mechanism breaking, etc
We were always very careful to be level when running out the slide.i personally don't think the aluminum framing or welding on a Lance is very good. I base this after our 014 1050S burned up in a shop fire & I inspected it afterwords. You can't believe how crappy light there reinforced where the overhead meets the main frame!
I traded our 1181 on an 019 Arctic Fox 865 camper with no slide! We got very tired of the stress of a slide that had to fully extend out to access the bathroom on the road, etc.
I can't imagine traveling with a triple slide camper on a wash board road, (with 3 large openings cut into the walls) I personally think you will have nothing but problems & will regret it. Just my 2 cents!