RAM 3500 Frame Cracked In Half By Camper Fail: This Is What Happens When You Assume... 

A gallon of water weighs 8.34lbs.

@@Ren_O_72 a gallon of water at 62° Fahrenheit at sea level weighs 8.3454 lbs. For the sake of argument, and the fact that most people aren’t engineers and will round down, let’s just say water weighs 8 lbs per gallon.

@@the_ghee_spot 😆 nice!!! You are right!!!

and there will most likely be some water in the grey and black tanks as well

And if they've been eating at Taco Bell, add another 20lbs

👏🏾 thanks for posting this, most people will never let others know when things like this happen because it is embarrassing but I’m sure it happens more often than not 👍🏾👍🏾

I always comment on peoples videos when they have a Power Wagon and a camper in the back, they get mad. I tell them attorneys will eat you alive if you get in an accident. They tell me I have no clue…

Yep SMDH I see over-loaded rigs all the time. Ridiculous

Congrats on getting your degree👍

This is interesting, could you name some of these cases?

That's what I try and tell everybody. My buddy has a brand new travel trailer that weighs 9700 pounds dry. It's massive for what he hauls it with. He pulls it with an ecoboost f150 with a weight distributing hitch and airbags. On paper that truck can do it, but should you? Towing shorter distances to nearby campgrounds he's probably okay, but we all go on a trip that the nearest overnight stop is 600 miles every year. I'll tell you, you want to see sketchy, ride behind that thing going 65+ for 600 miles. I always tell people to get more truck than you actually need. Does he typically need a F250 diesel, no. But that camper should not be towed those distances by anything smaller in my opinion. Every time we came to long hills he had all he could do to keep that thing above 30 mph and coming down hills even with trailer brakes it looked like the camper was going to push the truck out of the way. he even admitted, there's times the "pucker factor" was high and he seriously questioned his own choices.

Yes the 3500 was too light

Or Silverado hd3500

@@RohanSanjith stull break if you overload them

I would have reinforced the frame. My neighbor would do that with all trucks he owned with camper inserts

@@stinkymcstinkerton1854 I would have stayed in a nice motel room or condo. I'm all for enjoying the outdoors but like coming into a nice room and building at night.

@@greggc8088 we hotel sometimes, too. Sometimes the rv parks or camping spots are 250-500 per night. Sometimes being close to a destination is more important . the topic of payloads will include towing/ GVWR. Sometimes we pull the rv. Sometimes we pull an open hauler with 2 Jeeps on it and hotel , sometimes we cart a hauler and camp.

@@greggc8088 he wanted to live like a European camper lifestyle, he should've got the Chevy Silverado hd3500

Had several truck campers remember the air stream ones much heavier than today's campers never had a frame split maybe because I have a Chevy

👍🏾👍🏾

Which is vastly less than what the manufacturers claim

If your unit was at the max in normal camper mode , How on gods green earth did you think adding a 27' boat to the mix would be a good idea.Really what part of your Pea brain were you NOT thinking with. ( the 4 year old side) people like you should be made to walk wherever you go for at least a year then test you ( if you haven't stepped out in front of someone who has overloaded their RV and can't avoid running you over

Going by the number of companies repairing damaged chassis in the United States I would say very common

I thought the same.

You’re not kidding, that truck was put to the test and it failed miserably… sadly if that guys math was correct, he was only over by about 1300#’s (8800# truck + 6500# camper = 15300 total - 14000# GVWR = -1300 over capacity) which means that truck most likely failed because of defect… 😂😂😂 all RV’s will go on a diet for New Year’s resolutions

@@JB_WhoWork your right because there is always a safety factor put in or suppose to be. As working in engineering always shot for 30% or more than load limit depending the situation. It seems they almost engineered for the bare minimum of their rating.

Dude you are 100% right about the lever affect. Dodge has such short beds on trucks! You nailed it.

@@JB_WhoWork looks like a 400lbs+ motorcycle and rack mounted 10' behind the rear axle too.

This is what I got also.

Which really does it matter because if you check most of your camper manufacturers they clearly inform you do not transport while loaded with liquid in the tanks it avoids the warranty of the camper they're supposed to be transported empty

A friend of mine's got a 25 ft toy hauler he's got a 2019 four-door crew cab Chevrolet Duramax dually with the Allison and all of his water stays in drugs in the bed of the truck not in the camper

@@allencharlei8351 that's stupid AF! The whole point in having a fresh water tank is to be able to haul water with you where ever you go! Do they expect people to get to their destinations and then what call a water truck to come fill her up? Fu@《!NG dumb

@@faithnevaehmartinez4509 evidently or you put it in a different container and haul it separate and then add it when you need it my friend has the Forest River 25 ft toy hauler bumper pulled and it will avoid the warranty if You Haul with liquid in the tanks

Any person that has a grain of common sense wouldn't buy a vehicle that was a joint product of Chrysler and Fiat. Let's just take two POS vehicle manufacturers- one that as almost gone into oblivion TWICE and the other which was laughed out of the US car market in the 80's, combine them .. and build a truck?

@@AdamWaffen I guess you don’t know that the Ram is the best 3500 on the market. They generally go 500,000 miles using the Cummins and 200,000 miles with the 6.4 hemi. Not sure where you got your facts.

I would call it a Scissor effect

No problem thanks for being a part of the channel 👍🏾

Thanks 👍🏾👍🏾

All the air bags and shocks and springs don't do anything to strengthen the frame. And all that mass hanging past the bed in the air is just a huge lever.

He needs to plate the frame maybe add some cross members when I did my flatbed I added rails and boxed in the back of the frame welded the frame to the bumper, hitch and flatbed still have more to do since it's a old rig

Show this video to him lol

Damn dude he’s literally driving on hope.

@@jasonvoorhees8545 I would, but he wouldn't listen!

A friend who has a CHP officer living next door said the officer told him they know almost EVERY RVer going by the scales is probably overloaded but they are too busy busting big trucks to worry about the RVers. Probably right. I'm an RVer myself and am probably overweight. I HAVE weighed at some closed scales and seem to be 'alright' though.

To think if he had bought a travel trailer that Cummins could have towed the 💩 out of a travel trailer bigger than the one he piggybacked on the poor RAM. 😆 What a piss poor decision.

micrometer will only tell part of the story, metal treatment, cross section, boxed, c channel, bracing, etc…many things will go into the overall strength of the frame than just the thickness.

💯

Ecoboosts are the only half ton that will tow that without a problem too. They all make it there and back too

The only thing misleading is - and it's hard to say this without busting out laughing- FCA.

Absolutely. We were told our Ram 1500 5.7 Quadcab 6' bed or our F150 5.0 Crew 5.5' bed would both be ok to tow some of the shorty 5-ers when we first started out. But we knew better and looking at weights fully dressed out and just a snapshot of the trucks' basic capacities, it was clear we would be in a narrow window. Salesmen are never experts and just want the sale. The dealer or salesmen have zero liabilities on their hands for what they sell you. THAT should change!

@@mikz86ta1 why should the salesman be liable? Granted I get that people just listen to whatever they're told and trust that it's true! But really in all Actuality it's your responsibility to do your own homework, and make sure you talk with several different people from different departments in the auto industry! If you only ask the salesman you'll only get salesman responses! You see someone with A setup like this on the street? St and talk to them about it if they are willing to or have time to talk with you! What's the worse they can say? (NO!) 9 times out of 10 people are more than willing to talk and answer questions. I've had truckers with pretty sick and interesting setups allow me to see what they got going on inside! There have been the ones who quite obviously were delivery drivers just transporting the vehicle to the actual owners,cause they didn't know Jack about it! Obviously your not getting manufacturers specs doing this. But what you are getting is real life information from the people who actually drive these vehicles around! Not engineering information from the manufacturers who most likely never drove these vehicles themselves they just designed them. They get given a box with so much square footage space. And told to design something with a checklist of amenities, and to make it all fit! Ya sure this specific truck can haul this specific camper just fine with the weight. But why doesn't anyone ever factor in altitude how long and how steep a climb shit is? Sure your frame can handle the weights without breaking! But can your motor handle it and at what speed and altitude? The higher you are the less oxygen moving through your engine so now you got over heating problems cause you can't just stop midpull! You have to fully commit to that hill cause stopping and losing all your momentum will be even worse on your motor when you finally get going again then it would be to just push through it! All this completely depends on how much Hill you still got left to go and if it's safe to stop there or even turn around! Is it windy out? I feel like the video brings up valid points on the legality side. But what about these things that also should be considered in the real world experience side of the scenario?

If you want a camper that big just get a trailer

back in 1976, I had a camper that I know was way heavier than that one. The difference is Virgin Steel on my 1976 GMC, and now it's all recycled steel

Really. Go for a 5th wheel if you need to live like that on the road or a motor home. That camper is a monstrosity.

@Jack A. Lope the only time I've seem campers that big, they remove the entire bed and it mounts directly to the frame

@@huasohvac Yea I've seen that done before. I've also seen them mounted to flat beds. But why? That thing probably cost as much as a house does in some states. If you need to live in that much comfort on the road just buy a motor home or a 5th wheel. It wouldn't cost a whole lot more if at all. The thing is that he drove that thing like that for 25K miles before this happened. There had to be all kinds of warning signs. That much weight hanging off the back axial would have made driving it a white knuckle event. The first gust of wind would have blown it right off the road.

Thanks, if you wanna order a truck from one of my dealers, they don’t charge over MSRP 👍🏾

@@JB_WhoWork actually, I would do that. I’m in the southeast but can fly anywhere.

Exactly in Australia we have off-road caravans that way roughly 8000 lb visa vastly more user friendly than the dead weight of that truck camper

Sad news is that no 2500 is capable of CARRYING any fifth wheel rv weight, so yeah you are way over gross on payload

Good point, I saw he had what looks to be motor bikes which didn’t help the situation 👍🏾

Just as important to weight is center of gravity. The CG was too far aft, the frame broke at the front tie downs (weak point). And yes he was very over weight in addition.

@@timothytaxman6789 Yes. So many people overlook the CG sticker on the camper. It's there for a reason. The frame behind the rear axle is typically not as strong as the frame section between the axles. That's why it's best to keep the CG ahead of the rear axle.

@@freetoroam7769 Toyota Hilux: hold my beer 🍺

Yeah, I was looking at a Ram 2500 and had a CARMAX car salesman tell me the same thing you wrote, when I asked him what the Cargo Capacity was he went silent...then he said, but it can tow 14000lbs. I left just shaking my head.

😂😂😂

Happy New Year Anthony!

Good point!!!

They bolt on wrap around the Frame actually beefs it up in that spot. Tork lift frame ties.

Those don't look like torklift

I'm carrying a 10.4 Bigfoot on a GMC dually, and have about 1200 lbs. of payload remaining. The truck/camper combo handles remarkably well with no suspension upgrades, and that's exactly what I wanted. I'll take handling and safety over multiple slides and fluffy trim.

@@freetoroam7769Duramax?

@@marcpikas2859 6.0 gas.

You wrote: "Or if you cause a wreck you're screwed if overloaded." You don't even have to cause it. If you're IN a wreck, you're screwed. They investigate all factors and may realize you were overweight and now, suddenly, you are found to be partially at fault even if you didn't do anything else wrong. Furthermore, the insurance companies may deny your claim because you were exceeding capacity. I once considered towing a camper that weighs just a couple hundred pounds more than the towing capacity of my SUV because I knew it COULD, but ultimately decided against ever doing it for the reasons I just mentioned.

@@NorthernKitty You're correct. And good call for not going over...

More like 8-1/3 pounds per gallon (8.345 lbs / gal)

Yes it is too lightweight