The Ultimate Guide to Truck Campers 

If you've been dreaming about turning your pickup into a go anywhere basecamp, good news! We know a thing or two about truck campers. Here at Four Wheel Campers, we've been building pop up truck campers since 1972, and in that time we've helped thousands of people figure out the same handful of questions: What types of truck campers are out there? Which one fits my truck? How much weight can I actually carry?

This guide walks through all of it. By the end, you'll understand the differences between slide-in, flatbed, pop up, hard side, and topper style campers, and you'll know exactly what to look for when matching a camper to your truck.

The Main Types of Truck Campers

1. Slide-In Truck Campers

The slide-in camper is the classic truck camper design and the one that started it all for us. As the name suggests, a slide-in camper slides into the bed of your pickup, usually with the tailgate removed, and gets secured to the truck with tie downs. The camper has its own floor, walls, cabinetry, and living space, all sized to fit between your bed rails.

Slide-ins are the most popular style for a reason. They're self contained, they can be loaded and unloaded with camper jacks, and they come in sizes for everything from a short bed Tacoma to an 8′ long bed one ton truck. Our slide-in lineup includes the Swift and Fleet for midsize trucks, and the Raven, Hawk, and Grandby for full size trucks.

Slide-in campers are a great fit if you:

• Want a fully self contained camper with a kitchen, seating, and sleeping space
• Plan to remove the camper between trips so your truck stays a daily driver
• Have a standard pickup bed rather than a flatbed or tray

2. Flatbed Truck Campers

A flatbed truck camper mounts on a flat deck or tray instead of sliding into a standard pickup bed. Because there are no wheel wells or bed sides eating up space, the camper can use the truck's full width, which translates into dramatically more interior room, more storage, and a lower center of gravity when designed well.

Flatbed campers are the choice for people who live on the road. The extra floor space, additional cabinets, storage under the cabover bed, and gear boxes built into the tray itself make long term travel far more comfortable. We build the Fleet flatbed for midsize trucks and the Hawk flatbed and Grandby flatbed for full size trucks, and we pair them with rugged Summit Expedition Trucks (SET) aluminum trays for a complete turn-key installation.

Flatbed campers are a great fit if you:

• Spend weeks or months at a time on the road
• Want maximum interior living space and storage
• Are building a dedicated adventure rig rather than a part time camper

3. Pop Up Truck Campers

Now we're talking about our specialty. A pop up camper has a roof that lowers for travel and raises at camp. Soft, insulated fabric sides connect the roof to the hard lower walls, so when the roof is down, the whole camper sits low and tight against your truck.

Why does that matter? Three big reasons:

• Weight. Pop up campers are dramatically lighter than hard side campers, often by 1,000 lbs or more. Our campers range from around 950 to 1,400 lbs dry, which means they work on trucks that could never safely carry a hard side.
• Aerodynamics and handling. With the roof down, a pop up adds very little height and wind resistance. You'll get better fuel economy, less sway in crosswinds, and a lower center of gravity for off road driving. Most of our campers even fit in a standard garage.
• Off road capability. Less weight up high means your truck drives like a truck, not like a top heavy RV. That's why pop up campers dominate the overlanding world.

The tradeoff is a couple of minutes of setup at camp to pop the roof, and slightly less insulation than a hard walled box, though our optional thermal packs close that gap for cold weather campers. Every camper we build at Four Wheel Campers is a pop up, because after 50 plus years we're convinced it's the best design for people who actually go places.

4. Hard Side Truck Campers

Hard side campers have rigid walls from floor to ceiling with no pop up mechanism. The upside is zero setup at camp, maximum insulation, and often more room for large amenities like full bathrooms and big holding tanks.

The downside is significant weight and height. Hard side campers commonly weigh 2,500 to 4,500 lbs or more wet, which typically requires a three quarter ton or one ton truck, often with a dually rear axle for the big ones. They also stand 9 to 12 feet tall on the truck, which affects fuel economy, handling, clearance under branches and bridges, and where you can go off pavement.

Hard side campers are a great fit if you:

• Camp primarily at established campgrounds and paved destinations
• Want residential style amenities and don't mind the weight
• Already own a heavy duty truck with serious payload capacity

If your idea of camping involves forest roads, mountain passes, and getting away from the crowd, a lightweight pop up will take you a lot further.

5. Truck Toppers (Pop Up Topper Campers)

The final category is the truck topper style camper, and our Project M is the leader here. Instead of sliding into the bed, a topper camper mounts to your truck's bed rails, and your truck bed becomes the floor of the camper. You keep your tailgate and full use of the bed for hauling.

The Project M weighs just 375 to 400 lbs depending on truck size, making it the lightest way into truck camping by a wide margin. Pop the roof and you get standing room, a big cabover bed, and a weathertight space you can build out however you like. During the week it hauls lumber, bikes, and gear. On the weekend it's your basecamp.

Topper campers are a great fit if you:

• Want the lightest, most affordable entry into truck camping
• Need to keep using your truck bed for work or gear
• Like the idea of a custom DIY interior build

How to Choose Your Truck Camper 

With the types covered, here's the process I walk every new buyer through.

Step 1: Start with your truck (or the truck you plan to buy). Your truck determines everything else. Note three things: the truck class (midsize, half ton, three quarter ton, or one ton), the bed length, and the payload capacity listed on the driver's door jamb sticker. If you haven't bought the truck yet, you have the luxury of picking the camper first and matching a truck to it.

Step 2: Be honest about how you'll camp. Weekend trips to established campgrounds are a different mission than three month overland routes on washboard roads. The more remote and rough your destinations, the more a lightweight pop up design pays off.

Step 3: Decide on amenities. Do you need an indoor shower and toilet, or is a portable toilet and solar shower fine? How much battery and solar do you want for off grid stays? A furnace for winter trips? Every amenity adds weight and cost, so build the camper around what you'll actually use. Our Build & Price tool on each model page shows you exactly how each option affects both.

Step 4: Set a realistic budget. Entry points vary widely by style. Our Project M topper starts around $12,395, slide-in base shell models start around $19,995, fully equipped slide-ins typically run in the high $20,000s to $40,000s, depending on options, and flatbed models with trays sit at the top of the range. Factor in tie downs, installation, and any truck upgrades like suspension enhancements & roof-mounted solar setups. 

Step 5: See campers in person. Spec sheets only tell you so much. Stand inside a camper, lie down on the cabover bed, and sit at the dinette. Visit our Woodland, California showroom, a dealer near you, or catch us at an overland expo or trade show.

Four Wheel Campers Truck Compatibility: What Fits What

Here at FWC, we offer pop up campers, pop up truck toppers, and flatbed campers ready to hit the grid with full off-grid capabilities. Here are our camper models by truck type: 

Midsize trucks (Toyota Tacoma, Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon, Ford Ranger, Jeep Gladiator, Nissan Frontier):

• 5.0′ to 5.5′ beds: Swift slide-in or Project M topper
• 6'0″ to 6'7″ beds: Fleet slide-in or Project M topper
• Midsize flatbeds: Fleet Flatbed

Full size trucks (Ford F-150/F-250/F-350, Ram 1500/2500/3500, Chevy Silverado, GMC Sierra, Toyota Tundra, Nissan Titan):

• 5'5″ to 5'8″ short beds: Raven slide-in or Project M topper
• 6.0′ to 6’7 beds: Hawk slide-in or Project M topper
• 8′ long beds: Grandby slide-in or Project M topper
• Full size flatbeds: Hawk Flatbed or Grandby Flatbed

The Truck Camper Weight Guide

Weight is the single most important technical topic in truck camping, so let's break it down properly.

1. Know your payload. Payload capacity is the maximum weight your truck can carry, including the camper, all cargo, fuel beyond factory spec, accessories, and every passenger. You'll find it on the yellow sticker inside the driver's door jamb, and it's specific to your exact truck, not the model in general. Options like four wheel drive, crew cabs, and sunroofs all reduce payload from the advertised maximum. 

2. Understand dry weight vs wet weight. The dry weight on a spec sheet is the base camper with standard equipment and nothing else. Real world weight adds up fast:

• Fresh water weighs about 8.3 lbs per gallon, so a full 20 gallon tank adds roughly 167 lbs
• Propane tanks, batteries, and factory options can add 200 to 400 lbs
• Food, gear, clothing, tools, and toys commonly add another 300 to 500 lbs
• Then add the weight of everyone riding in the truck

A camper with a 1,200 lb dry weight can easily become a 2,000 lb load once it's packed and watered up for a trip. Always do this math before you buy.

Typical weight ranges by camper type:

• Pop up topper (Project M): 375 to 500 lbs dry
• Midsize pop up slide-in: 950 to 1,050 lbs dry
• Full size pop up slide-in: 1,050 to 1,300 lbs dry
• Pop up flatbed models: 1,300 to 1,400 lbs dry
• Typical hard side campers: 2,500 to 4,500+ lbs wet

3. Match the camper to the truck class. As a general rule, our midsize truck campers are designed for midsize truck payloads, our full size pop ups work on properly equipped half tons and up, and hard side campers from other manufacturers usually demand three quarter ton or one ton trucks. A lightly optioned pop up is one of the only camper styles that lets a half ton truck carry a full featured camper safely.

4. Leave a margin. We always recommend keeping your loaded weight comfortably under your payload rating rather than right at the line. Your truck will handle better, brake better, and last longer, and you'll have headroom for the gear that inevitably accumulates.

Why We Build Pop Up Campers

After walking through all the types, you can probably guess where we've landed after five decades of building campers. The Four Wheel Camper pop up design gives you the best balance of livability, capability, and truck friendliness of any camper style. Our welded aluminum frames, one piece aluminum roofs, and low profile designs have carried owners across every continent and every kind of terrain, and many of our campers from the 1970s and 80s are still out there making memories.

Whether you land on a nimble Swift for your Tacoma, a family sized Grandby for your long bed, a Project M topper that keeps your truck a truck, or a flatbed build for full time life on the road, the best next step is the same: use our Build & Price tool to spec your camper, check the numbers against your truck's payload, and come see us in person if you can.