Info on 1972 chevrolet
 

Why does a 72 camper special have 8 lug rims ?????????????

Re: Info on 1972 chevrolet
 

Camper special was setup to handle the extra weight of a slide in camper. Some of them weight up to 3000 or more. Chevy installed HD rear axles to carry the load. Usually a "full floating" rear end. What this means is the load is carried on the housing not the axle as is the case for cars. The load rating also necessitated a 8 lug wheel and higher rated tires (10ply )

Re: Info on 1972 chevrolet
 

Camper Special started in 73. 65-72 are Custom Campers, even though the SPID RPO is occasionally listed as “Special Camper”.

Lug count is only dependent on whether the truck is a C10 (5 lug in 72), K10 (6 lug in 72) or C/K20,C30 (8 lug).

Custom Camper option (Z81) was actually available on 1/2 ton trucks for some years.

FF rears are a 3/4 ton or above thing, not necessarily related to Z81 option.
Having said all that, MOST Custom Campers, by far, were 3/4 ton or above for the GVWR bump that came above a 1/2 ton.

Re: Info on 1972 chevrolet
 

Here are some 1972 Ads.
The last pic is our 1972 Custom Deluxe 20 Custom Camper. It carried a cab over camper from late 1971 through 2010. It has/had many of these options. It does have 8 lugs under the caps and the 500 lb. Dana 60 is also still there.

Re: Info on 1972 chevrolet
 

Trust me if we did not have 3/4 ton or 1 ton trucks this hobby be dead

Re: Info on 1972 chevrolet
 

A '72 Custom Camper has 8-lug wheels because the oprion was offered only on 30-30 series. The xles have nothing to do with the Z87 option. The option is actually just the name plate (emblem). You could be looking at a Custom, Custom Deluxe, Cheyenne, or Cheyenne Super with that Custom Camper emblem. Prior to '71-earlier the name plate would be in place of those name plates. They did offer 10 series custom Campers through '69. As I mentioned, the option is just the name plate, but there re minimum other options required to allow the option to be available. Things like certain HD tires, springs, and radiator. I believe, without looking, the sway bar option, too. Even a sliding window and camper wiring were options you'd spec or not. You could have Custom/20 truck better equipped for hauling a camper than a Z87 equipped truck.