53 replies to this topic

[lostwon]

[Living The Dream]

Looks good. certainly will be incredibly tight to back into!  How do you plan to attach the floorpack/camper to the truck?

[Portercassidy]

Maximizing that space! Looking good.

I planned on cutting through my side walls in the front of the floor pack. Installed some eye hooks underneath the horizontal section of my floor pack, and connecting straight to my hooks in the corners of my bed.

I am not sure if you have room for that now. But there are other options.

Edited by Portercassidy, 25 November 2017 - 11:32 PM.

[lostwon]

Maximizing that space! Looking good.

I planned on cutting through my side walls in the front of the floor pack. Installed some eye hooks underneath the horizontal section of my floor pack, and connecting straight to my hooks in the corners of my bed.

I am not sure if you have room for that now. But there are other options.

Hopefully not too tight of a fit backing in! I think it will probably be ok....

I plan on using a similar attachment to the bed as Portercassidy, although I'd like to figure out some other way to attach other than an eyebolt as it seems like the nut and threaded end of the eyebolt took up a lot of space on the interior of the camper. Thinking of something that will be lower profile but haven't quite come up with the perfect solution yet.. There is not a lot of room, but unlike the pictures show, there are a couple inches on each side for a eyebolt or mounting bracket to be attached. Will have to get creative...

[shellback]

You should either ditch the plastic bedliner, "way too slippery", or use a rubber bed mat between the camper and the plastic liner. Not sure how practical it would be to anchor the camper through the wings and into the bed stake pockets? I built my Grandby with brackets to use conventional pickup camper tiedowns. The angle brackets on the camper are bolted through the wings and also the aluminum frame which I doubled in that area. I take my camper off the truck for easy access, my wife is handicapped. You can see my mounts and also my electric jacks in the picture.

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[shellback]

I also use a laser sight to load my camper. I bought an inexpensive pistol sight and mounted it on a magnet. I place the sight at the center of the bed in the front, then center the laser beam on the center of the tailgate. When backing up to the camper I just keep the laser beam in the center of the camper. It's best if you have a truck length or 2 to get a good straight shot when backing up. Doesn't take much of a twitch of the wheel to get off center. I have about 1 inch on each side of the tailgate opening.

[longhorn1]

Lostwon, Shellback k is right about the plastic bedliner. In fact FWC states that plastic bed liners must be removed prior to FWC installations. I removed mine and had Zebart install a spray-in and then I put a rubber mat in. When it comes to attachment, the eye bolts or outside attachment maybe your only ways. Don't use the truck manufacturers corner tie-downs. They aren't structurally designed to secure the weight of a camper. jd

Edited by longhorn1, 26 November 2017 - 02:09 PM.

[Portercassidy]

Longhorn is right, I hope I can find the tie down adaptor that will fit my truck with the wider floor pack.

[ntsqd]

3M 5200 gets put in the same bin as red Lock-tite. Both are considered 'permanent', but that doesn't mean that you're never, ever going to get something assembled with it apart. Heat works for both. Take red Lock-tite above 450° and it comes right loose. 5200 has a service temperature limit of 190°F A heat gun will warm it past that and then it too comes loose. There's too much myth out there about this stuff that just keeps getting perpetuated, when it is purely myth and not reality.

[lostwon]

You should either ditch the plastic bedliner, "way too slippery", or use a rubber bed mat between the camper and the plastic liner. Not sure how practical it would be to anchor the camper through the wings and into the bed stake pockets? I built my Grandby with brackets to use conventional pickup camper tiedowns. The angle brackets on the camper are bolted through the wings and also the aluminum frame which I doubled in that area. I take my camper off the truck for easy access, my wife is handicapped. You can see my mounts and also my electric jacks in the picture.

No plastic bed liner here, I have a spray-in liner. Was planning on using the existing bed tie downs but didn't know they weren't structurally sound enough to hold down a camper so thanks for the info! With a little searching, found how FWC recommends and so I will add some eyebolts to the bed. Will do an outside attachment like Shellback's (looks good!) if there isn't enough room for the eyebolts. Would love to have some of those electric jacks too!

I'm wondering if I maximized the space a little too much as there is only about an inch difference between the floor pack and the width of the fenders (about a half inch or so on each side). Maybe it will be ok? I'm not too far yet to take out an inch of width but need some opinions as I've never actually loaded a camper into the back of a truck. Seems as if I were to figure out a laser pointer type of alignment system like Shellback it may not be that big of a deal.

Made some more frame repairs and a coat of primer on the floor pack...




Anyone have a link to educate me on how to add multiple quality pics to a post?