Post Your Camper
- Thread starter Dusty Driftwood
- Start date
My camper & 4Runner
This is my '14 TEP Runner & our Lance 1685 camper that we pull. It is a 16 foot camper with slide and the dry weight on it is about 3500. We normally carry about 800 lbs. or so of stuff. We took it from southern Wyoming to Carlsbad & Big Bend in March and averaged about 13.7 MPG for the 3500 mile trip. Most disconcerting was trying to drive on the interstates in Texas, with the 85 MPH speed limits, when I was only going about 60! Ran the Black Gap Trail in Big Bend, but that was about the only off-roading we did on the trip. The Runner pulls the camper, but you're not going to go 70 MPH with the rig. Am planning a 3 month long trip to Alaska for the summer of 2016. It does what I want to do. Hope this is helpful.
This is my '14 TEP Runner & our Lance 1685 camper that we pull. It is a 16 foot camper with slide and the dry weight on it is about 3500. We normally carry about 800 lbs. or so of stuff. We took it from southern Wyoming to Carlsbad & Big Bend in March and averaged about 13.7 MPG for the 3500 mile trip. Most disconcerting was trying to drive on the interstates in Texas, with the 85 MPH speed limits, when I was only going about 60! Ran the Black Gap Trail in Big Bend, but that was about the only off-roading we did on the trip. The Runner pulls the camper, but you're not going to go 70 MPH with the rig. Am planning a 3 month long trip to Alaska for the summer of 2016. It does what I want to do. Hope this is helpful.
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TechWrench
Senior Member
Good looking camper. I haven't made the trip North to Alaska, but know some who have, and they all recommend making sure you have extra spares for both rigs. Some of the roads are not fully paved, and there are long stretches' of nothing around for miles. A flat tire on either vehicle can ruin your day.
MT Runner
Member
We braved the rain this weekend and tried out the new camper. It's a 2005 Bantam Flier Trail Lite, 18' and 2,600lb dry weight. The 4Runner pulled it without a problem. I recently installed a transmission cooler and a scan gauge to monitor everything and it passed the first test. I did purchase a new class 3 hitch so I can eventually get a weight distributing set up, but I haven't had a chance to install it yet, so I just used the factory hitch on this trip.
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I'm towing a Fleetwood Cheyenne popup with my '05 Sport V6. Dry weight is about 2100 and loaded is about...I dunno, maybe 2700? Two adults and one small child.
I am able to maintain the speed limit, and only have to stomp the pedal when going up steep hills. Of course, that's to stay with traffic. If I was willing to slow down to 50mph, I'd go a lot lighter.
I love the popup, but am getting camper envy when I see hard-sided campers with the walkaround bed (not climbing over each other to go to the restroom). A bathroom with a door would be nice too. I'm reading all kinds of info on the true towing capacity of the T4R and there's some disappointing info out there. I am amazed at how many people said "after one trip, I traded it in for a...." like it's no big thing to get rid of a vehicle and get another. I'm not willing to give up my beloved daily driver just to buy a beast for camping.
I am able to maintain the speed limit, and only have to stomp the pedal when going up steep hills. Of course, that's to stay with traffic. If I was willing to slow down to 50mph, I'd go a lot lighter.
I love the popup, but am getting camper envy when I see hard-sided campers with the walkaround bed (not climbing over each other to go to the restroom). A bathroom with a door would be nice too. I'm reading all kinds of info on the true towing capacity of the T4R and there's some disappointing info out there. I am amazed at how many people said "after one trip, I traded it in for a...." like it's no big thing to get rid of a vehicle and get another. I'm not willing to give up my beloved daily driver just to buy a beast for camping.
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Sisente
Member
Your 03 is the only other one I have seen with the 3rd gen wheels besides mine.
TechWrench
Senior Member
I use them for my winter tires. I originally got a set of factory 16" steel port take-offs for winter use, but they rusted up pretty quickly. So I found the set of 16" 3rd gen alloys on ebay. I went with the 16" size, because as most know, the selection of 17" tires in 265/65 was pretty slim in the early days, and what you could find was way overpriced. The selection and pricing of 16" tires was way better, and since I don't have the oversize brakes like the Sport and Limited models, the 16's fit just fine. I still used them every winter, and because the original 17" wheels don't see upstate winters, they are still in fairly good shape. I recently picked up an '03 limited V8, and the original owner used the same wheel/tire combo all year round, so the wheels are pretty ugly. Still trying to decide how I want to go about cleaning them up. I am thinking about having them sand blasted and then go with a plasti-dip finish.
Sisente
Member
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DenverDan
New member
Here is our '06 Fleetwood Cobalt that we bought new 9 years ago and have pulled with 2 Blazers and now our 4Runner. I can hardly tell it is behind me in the 4Runner. I only needed to install some airbags in the rear springs because of the rear sag without them. Trailer weighs only 1245 lbs empty, but I imagine over the years we have added another 500-700 lbs of gear, extra water, etc.
NewguyNY
New member
Bigshankhank
New member
Not a towable camper so to speak, but here's my camping rig.
It needs a little work...
It needs a little work...
Ausumm
New member
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