Truck bed clearance

[Bass Chaser]

I have a 2018 Ram 2500 diesel with a 6.5 ft bed. I looking to purchase a Lance 825 truck camper. My truck has Ram boxes. My question is how much width clearance is needed to load the camper without grease and a shoe horn?

[Krbjmpr]

About 2 inches more than what you already have...


Seriously, it depends on the belly width of camper, and distance between narrowest point in truck bed. And your skills at backing up. Low mounted bed cameras can be a huge advantage.


If memory serves, option for bed side boxes and camper package are mutually exclusive if try to order from dealer.

[Bass Chaser]

Thanks. Does anyone have a Lance 825 and measure the widest point of the belly?

[laj]

All depends how good or meticulous you are or can/want to be. Some need 6” on each side and the p/u and camper look like they were in a destruction derby. If i have an inch on each side i’m happy. No, i don’t have any racing stripes on the side of either.

[Electrojake]

Originally Posted by Bass Chaser

I have a 2018 Ram 2500 diesel with a 6.5 ft bed. I looking to purchase a Lance 825 truck camper. My truck has Ram boxes. My question is how much width clearance is needed to load the camper without grease and a shoe horn?

Greetings Bass Chaser, If you're an experienced camper please disregard this post, however if your a rookie some of the following might help.
This doesn't directly answer your question but I have a 2016 shortbed Ram with the same dimensions as your 2018, so here goes...

Before I bought my current camper & truck I did spend a good amount of time at both the local Ford dealer and the RAM dealer with a tape measure, pad, and pencil taking measurements.
I wanted to make sure the camper I bought fit the truck I was about to buy to haul it. You can force-fit any camper on any truck but why not get a proper fit the first time? This is especially true with shortbed units. Surprisingly dimensions vary greatly. Campers fit certain trucks better than others.

Unfortunately my nearest truck camper dealer was 5 hours away and running back and forth multiple times to try and match camper measurements to truck measurements got tiring but it was worth it since I wanted the camper to fit the truck tight & proper. No risers, no mat stacking, no hocus-pocus forced-fit nonsense. Just a proper fit.

Since you already have the truck this should be simple (provided you can find an RV dealer with any stock during these trying times).


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Some issues I addressed. . .
1.) Camper unders run close to the tops of the bed rails.
2.) Camper can be slid up tight against the truck-bed bulkhead without smashing the tail lights.
3.) Truck roof to cabover clearance is perfect without using a bed riser.
4.) Fast-guns (tie-downs) dont block the fuel filler door.
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Air-tight pass-thru window fit. . .

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Perfect low "no-contact" roof clearance. . .

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Notice bed rails run perfectly spaced & true to camper body with no contact yet no obnoxious gap.

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Width wise I have 3/4 of an inch of space between the wheel wells and the base of the camper. Its tight but quite reasonable when loading and unloading the camper.


Only issue I really have is my Ram 3500's anemic payload rating.
I am well over my GVWR even with a little Arrow-U camper.
But let's keep that a secret!
. . .
Sorry for the long post.
Hope you can find an 825 to measure closer than 5 hours away!
Happy measuring & keep us posted!
Regards,
-Jake-

[laj]

Great advice Electrojake. . I did the same thing, but mine was a little easier, i already had my p/u so i took it to do the measuring. A good/proper fit will handle better, less wind noise, and easier to load.

[Electrojake]

Originally Posted by laj

Great advice Electrojake. . I did the same thing, but mine was a little easier, i already had my p/u so i took it to do the measuring. A good/proper fit will handle better, less wind noise, and easier to load.

I was surprised to see how much campers and truck manufacturers vary in their dimensions. More so with shortbed models than standard 8 foot models.
For instance. . .
A NortherLite fits a Ford like a glove and a Northstar fits a RAM beautifully, but if you were to switch campers & trucks you'd have a mess.

As I said; obviously you can force any camper to fit on any truck, but IMHO why do that when a proper match can be had?

LIke when RVer's purposely buy too small of a truck for their needs. I've never understood it but it continues to be one of the most popular things to do in the truck camping world.
Not that I have any right to talk about being over GVWR...
-Jake-

[Bass Chaser]

Thank you Electrojake. This has been very informative. I too live 5 hours from the nearest dealer. I naively thought that all campers had similar loading dimensions.
One more silly question. If Fast Guns are so easy to remove, what’s the problem if it blocks the fuel door?

[laj]

not hard, just a nuisance . Enough of those in life without creating more needlessly.

[Electrojake]

Originally Posted by Bass Chaser

I looking to purchase a Lance 825 truck camper. My truck has Ram boxes.

Another thing to be aware of when fitting a camper to a RamBox truckbed is that most camper manufacturers build protrusions into the lower rear of the camper. They take advantage of the open space behind the wheel wells of a standard bed pickup.

Usually these protrusions are to make room for the bathroom plumbing or the base of the wetbath, thus you would not be able to slide one of these camper fully into a narrow RamBox type truckbed.

Pictured below is a Northstar bath protrusion and also a NorthernLite protrusion.
...

...

...
Note the protrusion on this Lance 825. . .

...
So as you can see, it "might" fit a RamBox truck but you would have to take some careful measurements before you purchase.

Happy shopping!
-Jake-

[Bass Chaser]

I appreciate all the info and advice. I think my best path would be trading trucks for an open bed.

[Electrojake]

Originally Posted by Bass Chaser

I appreciate all the info and advice. I think my best path would be trading trucks for an open bed.

And to that extent you'd really REALLY do yourself a favor by switching to a 3500 or F350 class truck.
Keep us posted!
-Jake-