Advice needed - 8" gap between rear cab & camper

[AndyOnTheMountain]

Hi everyone, I just picked up this 1986 Grandby which is in amazing condition for the age. Anyway should I be concerned about the camper not being able to push up against my cab? There’s about a 8” gap between the camper and the rear cab of my truck. The truck is 2015 F350 turbo diesel with 8’ bed. The gap does look kind of funny but I find it nice to have the area for storage. I was also thinking of building some kind of cabinet to store/lock up items. If this gap is concerning I can modify my truck bed to fit the camper better. Let me know your thoughts

The reason I can not move the camper forward: My truck a 2015 and the camper a 1986 which is made for an older truck. I could make a modification to my truck bed which has a 1" lip on the rear left and right side... not the floor- so raising it will not do anything.

Has anyone built cabinets or some kind of DIY storage between the truck cab and camper? I think I may end up doing this.

 

[ski3pin]

My take. Your camper's fine where it sits in the bed and make use of the space as fits your needs.

 

[lqhikers]

I had a gap like that with my Northstar pop up on my long bed tacoma.
What i did was to build a 2"x4" spacer that set on the truck bed, this was to make sure camper did not shift under rough
conditions.
AS most 4wc owners only use turn buckets to secure campers i would make sure to do this mod
as it is known for 4wcampers to tear turnbuckles loose, it did on mine on a Baja trip after which i added tie
downs from camper to truck frame.

Les,lqhikers

 

[AndyOnTheMountain]

I had a gap like that with my Northstar pop up on my long bed tacoma.
What i did was to build a 2"x4" spacer that set on the truck bed, this was to make sure camper did not shift under rough
conditions.
AS most 4wc owners only use turn buckets to secure campers i would make sure to do this mod
as it is known for 4wcampers to tear turnbuckles loose, it did on mine on a Baja trip after which i added tie
downs from camper to truck frame.

Les,lqhikers

Thanks for the tip. I've ordered the turnbuckles and eye bolts with the metal plates from FWC. I will be heading to Baja in April so definitely want it to be bomber!!

Can you give a bit more detail of the 2x4 spacer you built. Is it just a square and you place the camper in it or is it mounted to the floor? Pics would be awesome if you have any. Or a link.

Thanks

 

[lqhikers]

I built the spacer so it just was on the truck bed, not under camper so what it did
was stop camper from sliding forward.
Sorry no pictures have never learned to post them even with all the suggestions from some of
experts on this site!

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Check out post 12 in this thread. Roger (Drumwood) has some nice ideas to both center when loading, and keep the camper from shifting.

https://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/23807-turnbuckle-question-torklift-derringer-handles/page-2

 

[camper rich]

I use that space to store my aluminum sand ladders. They are wrapped in some outdoor carpet and jammed in there tight enough to make them hard enough to steal that theives wouldn't recognize them.

The tiedowns on my '98 FourWheel Ranger II were bolts that were flathead bolts that went through the plywood that had metal imbeded in the countersunk hole to stop them from pulling through the wood. The underside of the bolt heads were tapered to fit the metal lined countersunk hole. The turnbuckles attached to a cast loop on the underside of the camper. I had one of those bolts (of course it was the one under the cabinet) literally pull through the plywood and leave a big hole. I solved the problem with a 4" square 3/16' plate that I used like a big washer to spread out the force on the tiedown. I then added big washers to the other 3 bolts so they would't pull through. That worked until eventually the bolt broke. After I made it strong enough I found that it was pulling the eyebolts up through the sheetmetal of my bed which I had my welder repair by welding some large L brackets to my frame. Bottom line: Baja will eventually win, and by strenghening one thing it puts more force on something else. My 2016 Grandby has brackets that spread out the force on the tiedowns better than the original design.