I see where Charles <cstoyer@interpex.com> contributed:

Congratulations for having the good sense to consider weight, but
forgive me for saying so, if you are getting weight information out of
a book, you don't have a clue what it weighs.  Try a scale. With all
yer stuff aboard.

The typical rv dealer will tell you whatever it takes to make a sale.
The honest few would not have made the deal.

You are gonna have to get someone else to recommend extending the
hitch, as I would NEVER recommend that.  Instead, extend the tongue on
the trailer - it will handle far better.

Will Sill
The Curmudgeon of Sill Hill

Slide-in Camper weight question  

Group: alt.rv Date: Sun, Nov 27, 2005, 3:38pm (EST-2) From:
cstoyer@interpex.com (Charles)

...snip....

I'd start by taking it to a public scale and spending about $10....Try a
truck stop with a Cat scale, or a few moving companies, or look in the
yellow Pages under 'Weighers'.  

You'll want it loaded as for travel, including passengers, fuel, etc.
Get at least axle weights and corner weights are even more useful, tho'
some scales don't allow it.

Do that before you worry too much.

Jim, "On a clear night, I can hear the fish laughing."

Been there : (     First thing is that you are in worse shape than you have
stated:
a. The actual weight of the camper will be way, way more than what the plate
says (that's its shell weight)--have you been on the scales with and
without?
b. Your truck's "payload" includes gas in the tank, you , your dog, the
camper, etc .  The "cargo weight" is what you can put in the box.  Quite a
bit less than "payload", but you are way over payload , never mind cargo
weight.
c. You can play with stronger tires, air bags, and springs all you want for
the back end, but your brakes are designed for stopping your GVWR in a
certain distance, and with all that extra weight, you can't stop in time.
For extra thrills go down a steep hill where all the real trucks are
required to stop before that and check their brakes.
d.  Let's not mention that over-weight is top-weight on a truck that already
sits high.
e.  The trailer's hitch weight is back of the axle and even more so with an
extension, so you have to do the leverage calculation of the (higher)
effective weight on the rear axle (and so your tires) same as shown in the
driver's manual for a snow plow on the front of the truck and add that to
your overweightedness.
f. Does the trailer have its own brakes?  If not add that to your (non)
stopping distance.

There is no escaping the whole thing is just plain unsafe.  We got sucked in
the same way.  Got the nice camper, got the matching truck.  We got the
"fleet manager" expert at the truck dealer to talk to the RV manager and
make sure we would get the right truck.  Turned out they both were out to
lunch.  We got screwed.   The camper looked good on the truck and drove
nicely.  Never had an inkling we were in trouble till I took it on the
scales for fun after reading an article about weights in an RV mag.  (being
green, I never got right into the mysteries of weight until after--just had
a notion or two--not enough)  Wow. Vastly overweight!  Then you agonize,
rationalize, do the denial/anger/routine.

Then you think about your wife in this thing and say, bugger this, and trade
the camper for a  fifth wheel and keep the truck.  Looks like to pull the
other trailer you need to get the one ton truck and keep the camper.  Unless
you travel where you are allowed to tow a trailer behind your fifth wheel.
You likely don't take nearly as big a bath on the camper if you trade at the
same RV dealer as you would with trading the truck..

Life is great if you don't weaken

Regards,
Barry

To answer your most favorite question, two people, tank of diesel,
nothing else besides empty camper is 10,280.

I live on a hill where there are a lot of signs telling the truckers
they are not down yet, 1.5 more miles of steep hills and sharp curves to
go and I don't feel uncomfortable about the brakes. This is I-70 west of
Denver.

Truck has the 6-speed manual and I fully intend to use gears for going
slowly down hills.

Truck has rear disc brakes.

Charles

You are about 2000 lbs over gross.  Air bags won't increase your
weight handling.  Only jack the rear end back up.

Did I say you are way overweight?  Well, let me say it then, you are
way over weight.  Adding a trailer to the back will only make you
dangerously overweight.  

A 3500 Dually would be hard pressed to carry that weight.  You need to
do a lot better research.

<snip>

They really worked you over on this one didn't they. Nothing like
being wrong and knowing it, but then to come here and expect
redemption, never happen. Actually they were nice about it.
Look at it this way, Barry touched on the bottom line. Liability, is
the biggest factor here. You do any thing wrong and an accident
occurs, you become the fall guy for it. Overloaded can affect your
ability to swerve around something, increase your stopping distance.
Not to mention your breakdown probability.
Don't waste your time on that trip to the scales, you know the
numbers already. Some, including me try to stay under weight to a
point of 80% of the GVWR or GCWR numbers. Cant always do that but
she stops at those points, never did like putting someone else's
life in my hands.
Maybe you could keep the camper and trade the truck in for an M-35
http://www.joeyoung.com/main.html  ;-)