CAMPER SPECIAL WITH CABOVER/ HAULING CAPACITY?

[70SBUDGET]

Good morning. I have a 76 C-K20 camper special that I am thinking of adding a full cabover to. It currently has a custom built cabover that is bare bones. Thinking of adding a fully loaded slide in from Six-pac or similar vendor. I cannot for the life of me figure out what the bed weight capacity is on this thing. Do you happen to have any pics or experience with a fully loaded slide in in a square body?

 

[Frankenchevy]

Gvwr minus the weight of the vehicle, occupants and gear. That should get you close. Or do a search for “payload capacity”

 

[Frankenchevy]

Gvwr varies on 3/4t from a little under 7k to a little over 8k. Single cabs are typically a bit over 5k curb weight.

 

[Grit dog]

Aside from the question of how physically and mechanically sound a 45 year old pickup is to work it hard with a huge load, I wouldn’t want to be much, if any, over about 2500lbs loaded, ready to camp, weight….provided the truck is in good running order with good suspension.

 

[70SBUDGET]

Aside from the question of how physically and mechanically sound a 45 year old pickup is to work it hard with a huge load, I wouldn’t want to be much, if any, over about 2500lbs loaded, ready to camp, weight….provided the truck is in good running order with good suspension.

totally hear you on that. engine has less thank 5k on it. suspension is solid. brakes obviously need to be in tip top shape. just curious on the # rating. 2500 sounds very reasonable

 

[Grit dog]

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As said, the “rating” could vary and you could look it up on GM Heritage center.
Here’s the 76 C20-C30 spec.
Looks like 4000lb spring rating (so about 2klb payload) and 5700 or 7500 lb rear axle capacity.
Subtract empty weight on rear axle from this numbers. Somewhere between <2k - 2.5klbs>.
You’ll want helpers or airbags most likely.
But the bigger limitation is TCs have a relatively high center of gravity.
It’s as much about how well you build it to handle body roll as it is overall load.

 

[Juggernaut]

Good morning. I have a 76 C-K20 camper special that I am thinking of adding a full cabover to. It currently has a custom built cabover that is bare bones. Thinking of adding a fully loaded slide in from Six-pac or similar vendor. I cannot for the life of me figure out what the bed weight capacity is on this thing. Do you happen to have any pics or experience with a fully loaded slide in in a square body?

I think the class of camper special may make a difference. Mine was a '77, K20, Z81 code, Basic Camper Special-C, and the camper loading information tag shows a cargo weight rating 1082 LBS. GVWR is 8400 LBS

 

[75gmck25]

My ‘75 camper special K25 Z81 option has a GVWR of 8400 lbs and a max camper weight of 2618 lbs. There is a blue paper tag inside the glove box, to the left of the spid tag and that shows cargo weight. The 8400 lbs GVW lbs is part of the camper special emblem on the door pillar.

 

[idahovette]

Carried a 9 1/2 foot self-contained camper on my 75 K20 for years, with no problems. It never squatted and it was very stable, except in a side wind. Weighed it once, loaded with all our gear, it went almost 8700 lbs. Not a camper special, just a standard 20 series 3/4 ton, 350/350/203/4.10 rig, A/C,PS, AM/FM, Tilt wheel pickup.

 

[75gmck25]

By accident, I once loaded my truck to 10,900 lbs when I was hauling brick to the dump. Truck drove and rode fine, but steering was a little light and I heard a few new creaks from the springs. There is quite a bit of extra capacity in the 8400 lb GVW. .

If you planned for 2600-2650 lbs as load capacity you will be well within the design capacity of a K20 Camper Special. They normally use 9 leaf rear springs and 5 leaf front springs, front anti-sway bar, 14 bolt full float axle, and at least 4.10 gears. There is also a higher level camper special option that includes something called elimi-pitch, but I think that is mostly extra supports for a a slide-in camper. The extra supports tie the camper to the front fender and the back of the cab.

 

[70SBUDGET]

Carried a 9 1/2 foot self-contained camper on my 75 K20 for years, with no problems. It never squatted and it was very stable, except in a side wind. Weighed it once, loaded with all our gear, it went almost 8700 lbs. Not a camper special, just a standard 20 series 3/4 ton, 350/350/203/4.10 rig, A/C,PS, AM/FM, Tilt wheel pickup.

EXCELENT!!!! JUST WHAT I NEEDED! curious, with the weight and height, what sort of gallons per mile/miles per gallon were you getting? single digits im guessing.

By accident, I once loaded my truck to 10,900 lbs when I was hauling brick to the dump. Truck drove and rode fine, but steering was a little light and I heard a few new creaks from the springs. There is quite a bit of extra capacity in the 8400 lb GVW. .

If you planned for 2600-2650 lbs as load capacity you will be well within the design capacity of a K20 Camper Special. They normally use 9 leaf rear springs and 5 leaf front springs, front anti-sway bar, 14 bolt full float axle, and at least 4.10 gears. There is also a higher level camper special option that includes something called elimi-pitch, but I think that is mostly extra supports for a a slide-in camper. The extra supports tie the camper to the front fender and the back of the cab.

thank you for the details!

 

[Frankenchevy]

They normally use 9 leaf rear springs and 5 leaf front springs, front anti-sway bar, 14 bolt full float axle, and at least 4.10 gears.

I’ve never seen 5 leaf packs up front. I always thought it was 2 or 3. My 5/4 ton only came with 3 with a 6.2 sitting over the front. In the rear it had 10 leaves.

5 oem type leaves in the front must ride really rough without a bunch of weight on them.

 

[Bextreme04]

I’ve never seen 5 leaf packs up front. I always thought it was 2 or 3. My 5/4 ton only came with 3 with a 6.2 sitting over the front. In the rear it had 10 leaves.

5 oem type leaves in the front must ride really rough without a bunch of weight on them.

Yeah, I've never seen that either. My 8600GVW K25 with heavy duty front spring RPO only had 3 leafs too. I've never seen more than 3 front leafs stock on any squarebody.

 

[dvdswan]

About that much as a Ford...

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[idahovette]

@70SBUDGET As I remember it, we got around 8 or 9 @ 65-70 mph. Of course gas was a LOT less then. We took a trip from Idaho all the way back to New York City, up to Boston, down to Washington DC and home in Ocrober 1976. Don't remember how many miles, but the fuel was between 50 and 65 cents a gallon, I think..........long ago