Keeping Camper Centered

[bajaphile]

Hey All,

Looking for some ideas on keeping the camper centered in the bed of my truck. Seems like after every offroad trip, the camper shifts all the way over to one side, and while it doesn't really matter, it just bugs me.

I have a 2003ish Hawk on a 2001 Ford Super Duty. There is about a 2" gap on either side when centered. Before every trip I make sure the tie downs are tight, but not too tight. I got the eye bolt locations from FWC and drilled & installed them. I am assuming they don't have enough lateral angle to them, which allows the camper to slide around a bit.

I remember my dad had just drilled through the base of his 80s Grandby into the truck bed with normal bolts and it kept it in place. Since I've already drilled the eye bolts, I wasn't that stoked on drilling an additional 2 down the center, but that is all that I have come up with so far.

Any other ideas I am missing here? I wanted to just wedge in some wood on the sides but I just don't see that holding up on long dirt roads.

Thanks for your help!

 

[craig333]

i put wooden blocks in the sides and they stay pretty well.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

See post #12

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

 

[BBZ]

i put wooden blocks in the sides and they stay pretty well.

This... doesn't move at all..

 

[Jon R]

A rubber bed mat helps keep it from sliding around, too.

 

[Sleddog]

I put wooden blocks on each side of mine too, they stay in place even on the bumpiest roads.

 

[camper rich]

I have a riser I built that goes under my camper to give me more roof clerance. I built it with parallel 2 x 3's laying flat plus a couple of them on edge so that they stick up and act as a guide to sliding the camper in and keep it from moving sideways. The end 2 x 3's are cut so they fit snug to the sides of the camper to stop side to side movement. It's held together with "L" brackets.

 

[Jon R]

If you decide to brace the camper in position I would suggest you use blocking that is tall enough for the lateral loads to be applied to the actual camper footwell structure and not just to the cleats attached to the floor of the camper. Also, provide for the drainage and ventilation of the spaces between the cleats.

 

[pvstoy]

Spray in bed liners add enough ruff surface to hole the camper down pretty good. Add some blocks for more resistance. I always had to jack mine up slightly to move it where I wanted it then lower the jacks. Some will buy a mat from a source like tractor supply, it adds some resistance ruff surface to prevent sliding around than just a smooth metal surface.

Three FWC campers each one I've bolted it down to the bed so the clamping force never allowed the camper to move on any trail.

 

[Jon R]

My factory spray in liner on my 2021 gmc is certainly better than painted metal but the camper still moved around even when not doing any real off roading. I put in a 3/8 thick gmc accessory rubber bed mat. It helped a lot.

My factory liner is slightly more grippy than the Line-X I had sprayed in my old truck, but not as grippy as Rhino Liner.

 

[fuzzymarindave]

i put wooden blocks in the sides and they stay pretty well.

Same here.

 

[Atlin]

Different material but similar to the wood block approach. I put two pieces of nylon block (approximately 3" cube) bolted to the top of the truck bed in the front corners. Beveled the inside parts of the blocks so when the camper goes the last few inches forward, it is centered between the two blocks. Probably 1/8" clearance when fully forward. In the back I put a couple of additional pieces of nylon block low on the side of the bed, attached just forward of the tailgate. Mine are about 1" thick, but may need to be thicker/thinner depending on your truck and camper.

The nylon is slippery enough that the camper doesn't hang up on it. I countersunk the bolts so no heads are above the nylon (avoids scratching the camper moving in and out). This has worked well for me. I leave the blocks in place even when the camper is off.

I also have a rubber bed liner, and added some 1/4" wood strips to the bottom of the camper (crosswise left-right) to keep the bottom of the camper out of any water that might accumulate on the rubber pad.