The 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty will undoubtedly be used as a camping vehicle loaded with a slide-in camper. While slide-in truck campers have been used for decades, their Achilles-heel has always been, and still is, vehicle stability. In many cases, vehicles that can handle the payload weight of the camper cannot handle the top-heavy characteristics that many slide-in campers add.
Rarely do you hear of automakers addressing this issue. This is why we are posting the Ford F-Series Super Duty safety video. It shows what lengths Ford is willing to go for camper safety.
Here’s Ford’s take: “Ford knows its owners all have different uses for their F-Series Super Duty, which is why the company goes to extraordinary lengths to satisfy as many customer needs as possible. For the needs of outdoor enthusiasts, testing involves using a custom-built slide-in camper simulator to test the truck’s roll stability when its center of gravity is raised. The test simulates carrying a camper weighing more than 7,500 pounds, loaded with fresh water, cooking gear, fuel and batteries. Watch Ford engineers put Super Duty through its paces at Arizona Proving Grounds, subjecting the truck to low- and high-speed lane changes as well as slalom runs to help ensure every Super Duty customer is a happy camper.”
Ford has not released the payload and towing ratings for the 2017 Super Duty trucks, but slide-in campers can stretch to over 11.5 feet of floor length, over 19 feet of overall length, and weigh over 3,300 lbs. These large campers require a 3500-class dually truck with enough payload capacity and overall stability to carry a loaded camper and all the passengers.
Almost everyone associated with The Fast Lane Truck has or once had a slide-in camper. We can all attest that the safety and stability of the trucks we used was always at the forefront of our minds.
Take a look at Ford’s video. It’s interesting to see the rig they use to simulate the size and weight of a large slide-in camper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhSEhPg-ILk
Speaking of the next generation 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty, here it is making the debut at the 2015 State Fair of Texas.
worldwide.
