Thumper
10-05-2020, 11:12 AM
This weekend, I was talking to the guy who cuts my grass about the fishing trip he went on last week. He was telling me about his fishing buddy who recently bought a Chevy Colorado and he put a small camper on it that he uses for weekend fishing trips. It's not a monster set-up as he's not an avid camper, it's just a small pop-up type camper thingy to get out of the weather rather than screwing with a tent. Well, he found out last week that he has voided his warranty. WTF??? When he told me why, I called b/s, then googled it this morning. Un-frigging-believable.
Cut & Paste of an article on the net dated 10/02/2020
The growth of overlanding and the many new stock off-road midsize pickups on the market seems like a perfect match. You have a smaller, more capable pickup to get through the trails and a place to sleep under the stars — unless you own a Chevy Colorado. If you just said, huh, you’re right. Here is why you shouldn’t put a slide-in camper on the midsize Chevy truck (or the GMC Canyon).
Recently, we found yet another customer who had bent his frame on the Chevy Colorado ZR2. What makes his story unique is he had an Alu-Cab Explorer canopy on his truck. This isn’t exactly a camper, but similar to a leer, snugtop or similar topper. However, it still begs the question on a slide-in camper. Alu-Cab has been offering a camper for years and even has photos of a Colorado with the camper on its Instagram page. Rather it’s the fact Chevy specifically states do not use a slide-in camper (any slide-in camper) on the Colorado that is unique.
On page 173 of the Chevy Colorado’s owners manual, it states, quite clearly, “do not install a slide-in camper or similar equipment on the vehicle.” This is a very interesting statement considering companies like Alu-Cab offer such equipment specifically for the Chevy Colorado, and they even have installation instructions ..... Further making things interesting is this isn’t the first time Chevy has had an issue with slide-in campers. This post on GM-Trucks.com shows a 2015 GMC Sierra 1500 with a no-slide in sticker in the glove box.
11924
We checked with every other manufacturer of midsize pickups, and most said you could use a slide-in camper with the longer bed option — except for the Honda Ridgeline due to lack of testing plus the fact the trunk has a max weight of 300 pounds per the owner’s manual. In fact, Toyota and Ford both sent us pictures proudly showing off their Tacoma and Ranger pickups with slide-in campers and both directed us to Four Wheel Campers to see their product options.
With the slide-in camper products available for sale and every other midsize pickup saying a slide-in camper is just fine, this leaves Chevy customers wondering if they should ignore the slide-in camper sticker. However, the danger in doing so is rather risky. For the owner we talked about in the beginning, he is out several thousand dollars replacing the frame on his truck. Since he had the slide-in camper, Chevy denied his warranty claim and the insurance company said no as well since he didn’t follow the manufacturer’s recommendation not to use a slide-in camper.
Cut & Paste of an article on the net dated 10/02/2020
The growth of overlanding and the many new stock off-road midsize pickups on the market seems like a perfect match. You have a smaller, more capable pickup to get through the trails and a place to sleep under the stars — unless you own a Chevy Colorado. If you just said, huh, you’re right. Here is why you shouldn’t put a slide-in camper on the midsize Chevy truck (or the GMC Canyon).
Recently, we found yet another customer who had bent his frame on the Chevy Colorado ZR2. What makes his story unique is he had an Alu-Cab Explorer canopy on his truck. This isn’t exactly a camper, but similar to a leer, snugtop or similar topper. However, it still begs the question on a slide-in camper. Alu-Cab has been offering a camper for years and even has photos of a Colorado with the camper on its Instagram page. Rather it’s the fact Chevy specifically states do not use a slide-in camper (any slide-in camper) on the Colorado that is unique.
On page 173 of the Chevy Colorado’s owners manual, it states, quite clearly, “do not install a slide-in camper or similar equipment on the vehicle.” This is a very interesting statement considering companies like Alu-Cab offer such equipment specifically for the Chevy Colorado, and they even have installation instructions ..... Further making things interesting is this isn’t the first time Chevy has had an issue with slide-in campers. This post on GM-Trucks.com shows a 2015 GMC Sierra 1500 with a no-slide in sticker in the glove box.
11924
We checked with every other manufacturer of midsize pickups, and most said you could use a slide-in camper with the longer bed option — except for the Honda Ridgeline due to lack of testing plus the fact the trunk has a max weight of 300 pounds per the owner’s manual. In fact, Toyota and Ford both sent us pictures proudly showing off their Tacoma and Ranger pickups with slide-in campers and both directed us to Four Wheel Campers to see their product options.
With the slide-in camper products available for sale and every other midsize pickup saying a slide-in camper is just fine, this leaves Chevy customers wondering if they should ignore the slide-in camper sticker. However, the danger in doing so is rather risky. For the owner we talked about in the beginning, he is out several thousand dollars replacing the frame on his truck. Since he had the slide-in camper, Chevy denied his warranty claim and the insurance company said no as well since he didn’t follow the manufacturer’s recommendation not to use a slide-in camper.