Loading The Camper

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I am usually mounting the camper by myself, and with a full size, crew cab truck, I find it difficult to load the camper. I have tried multiple methods, but it’s just difficult to see. Having arthritis in the neck doesn’t help either.

A recent YouTube video showed a chap using a laser projecting a line onto camper centerline marks, and it looked easy compared to my typical gyrations. We are going to find out.

Here’s a link to the laser level I bought. If nothing else, it will be handy for hanging pictures, but I’m hoping for success loading the camper.

 

[jkszoo]

I am usually mounting the camper by myself, and with a full size, crew cab truck, I find it difficult to load the camper. I have tried multiple methods, but it’s just difficult to see. Having arthritis in the neck doesn’t help either.

A recent YouTube video showed a chap using a laser projecting a line onto camper centerline marks, and it looked easy compared to my typical gyrations. We are going to find out.

Here’s a link to the laser level I bought. If nothing else, it will be handy for hanging pictures, but I’m hoping for success loading the camper.

Seems like a good idea, looking forward to hearing about it.

 

[DesertDave]

When I got a prior camper with my current truck, I put a piece of scotch tape in the center lower of the truck rear window, put a white line in a couple spots in the center of the bed mat, and a piece of electrical tape to mark the center bottom of the front camper wall. Worked well for me to load that Bigfoot 18 years ago, and still works on the same truck with my 11 year old 4WheelCamper. Remnants of the paint still remain after numerous loads of dirt, rock and gravel shoveled off that bed mat.

 

[Wyo4Life]

When we had our Northern Lite, I got really good at knowing how much space needed to be between the bed and the jacks. Once I had the truck lined up and the camper raised to the right height, it became pretty easy to back it in and be very close, if not on center, to where I needed to be. It did take a couple of tries to get the rubber bump stops (of which I cut off 1 inch of the stop to get it closer to the front wall of my bed) about a quarter of an inch from the front of the bed.
They key for me was to always follow the same process, don't let someone else try to help or talk to you while loading or unloading, and take your time. I got to where I could load mine and have it locked down with the fast guns and pulling away in less than 30 minutes start to finish.
However, I will say that doing that all the time, loading and unloading the camper, was the main reason we got rid of it and I went with a FWC that is now on my truck 24/7/365. If I had a dedicated truck to just use with the camper where I could leave it on full time it would be different but my truck is my daily driver and I did not want to haul around my NL all the time. With my FWC, I do not even know it is on there for the most part.

 

[rjap]

I have not loaded or unloaded my Hawk yet, but the folks at Mule told me to line up the truck as best you can and then make sure the steering is straight the last few feet you back up. Then kick the feet of the jacks to center and align the camper to the truck, sighting along both sides of the camper. Then back the truck under the camper without touching the steering. If you need to make adjustments midway, then adjust the camper and not the truck.

 

[bajaphile]

I had never thought of just marking the centerline of the camper and the truck bed. *mind blown*

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I had never thought of just marking the centerline of the camper and the truck bed. *mind blown*

I’ve done that for years, but when we went to a crew cab, my ability to see that centerline was restricted. Loading on uneven terrain complicates it even more. Camper level, combined with truck not level is interesting.

 

[Jon R]

I’ve done that for years, but when we went to a crew cab, my ability to see that centerline was restricted. Loading on uneven terrain complicates it even more. Camper level, combined with truck not level is interesting.

I had never thought of just marking the centerline of the camper and the truck bed. *mind blown*

Contrasting electrical tape is easy to see on the siding.

I also marked the back side of the front cleat and the bottom of the rear wall so I can see the camper centerline when I get out and look under the camper from the rear. I made corresponding marks on the bottom of the front truck bed wall and on the rear edge of the bed floor.

For new folks as you are learning, get out as many times as you need to and walk to the back to check alignment, centering, and bottom clearance. Pull forward and reset instead of trying to make large corrections. Same goes with unloading - pull halfway out and then get out and check bottom clearance so you don’t end up unexpectedly pulling on the camper as the rear of the bed passes under the front cleats. Watch the camper for movement the entire time you are pulling out slowly.

 

[ski3pin]

<snip>

For new folks as you are learning, get out as many times as you need to and walk to the back to check alignment, centering, and bottom clearance. Pull forward and reset instead of trying to make large corrections. Same goes with unloading - pull halfway out and then get out and check bottom clearance so you don’t end up unexpectedly pulling on the camper as the rear of the bed passes under the front cleats. Watch the camper for movement the entire time you are pulling out slowly.

Good advice here!

 

[Wyo4Life]

No matter how many times I loaded and unloaded our Northern Lite, I still got in and out of my truck numerous times to check on how things looked, especially when loading. Also, I know the jacks have numeral markings on them to show how high the camper is but those wear off over time so I make a black line with a sharpy on each jack to tell me the right height I needed to be at to clear my bed by 3 inches. That was a big help in knowing I had the camper raised high enough to clear the bed.
As I said in a previous post, over time, I just knew by looking out my driver side rear view mirror how much distance I needed to have between the inside of the jacks and the side of my bed.
Also, when lowering the camper onto the truck, I always lowered the rear of the camper onto the bed first and then lowered the front end, this helped in getting the front camper bumpers to settle right against the front of the bed. I would also add that I cut off 1 inch of each of the bumpers on my NL as with my F350, having the standard front bumpers touching the front of my bed put the COG behind my rear axle by an inch. I did not want the COG behind the front axle and cutting off some of the front bumper solved that issue for me.

 

[GVWRLOL]

check it out yall... I did the same with some angle iron

 

[rubberlegs]

Interesting. I was just thinking about something similar this past week, since we had the camper off to do some hauling. The Tacoma needs bed bars (for Four Wheel Campers), which have an angled rubberized feature. Maybe putting on a similar angled piece of wood attached to the floor pack would guide the camper as it drops onto the truck bed.

 

[buckland]

Been thinking on a similar line but not from the top down but as we back up and insert the camper between the rails. I will try this when next I take the camper off: I have a 1/2" clearance on each side between the rear (tail gate width) sides. I want to make a wheel hump contour form and attach to them a material I use on my table saw jigs. It is a slick poly-dense plastic material used in table saw guides. It won't bind up. I would attached those to the forms to guide the camper in dead center and once dropped to the bed, it woiuld not allow a shift left or right. The turn buckles would hold in place w/o side tension. If it fails I'll let ya know! ( the video has similar material (white) on the forms.

 

[GVWRLOL]

I think its awesome how we can all look at the same thing and have a ton of different ideas to bounce off each other like that. this is what the internet is supposed to be!

 

[rubberlegs]

OK, today I cut some 2x4s, 4" long and screwed them to the bottom of our camper so they line up with the bed bars for our Tacoma. I didn't chamfer them to my estimated 22 degree angle like the bed bars, so this is just an experiment to see if the camper is easier to install, and if it stays centered better. The angled bed bars happen to be just a skosh wider than the camper floor beams (joists?). So I lined up the 2x4 pieces with the edge of the floor pack (39-1/16" wide). Hope the 4" long pieces have enough shear strength to take the rockin' and rollin' the camper experiences on poor roads. We install the camper some time next week and head out on a month-long trip soon.

Usually our camper slides to the left side until it bumps the side of the truck bed. There's more weight on that side -- fridge, sink, heater, storage cabinets, water tank. Our side dinette and lithium battery must be lighter than the stuff on the left. Unfortunately, when I'm driving there's more people weight on the left side, and the gas tank is on the left side (muffler on right slightly mitigates that)............. My theory is the weight wants to make it slide to that side. And then the CG is even more to the left!

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Reporting back…

I loaded the Cougar yesterday, and the laser that I linked in the first post, was a huge aid in keeping the truck centered as I backed under the camper.

I simply mounted the laser on a board that was laid across the bed rails, with the laser centered. Slowly backing down, with lots of stops to get out with a tape measure and accurately determine any needed corrections, got me under the camper on the first try.

When lowering the camper, by alternating which jack was being lowered, I ended up with a measurement between the camper and the truck bed that differed by about 1/8” at each corner.

The biggest problem was getting the tailgate off. The connectors are in an awkward spot, and not easy to separate.

 

[AWG_Pics]

Ready to roll out now!

 

[ski3pin]

Ready to roll out now!

The best part!

 

[Tom n N]

I’ve been loading and unloading my 4WC several times a year for over twenty years, so have gradually picked up some tricks over time. Several are listed in previous posts, but figured I’d list everything that works for me.

I used a yellow paint pen to mark the center of my bed mat, and also the center line on the front ( towards truck) of the camper. This is a great help when backing under it.

Mounted some sections of cheap nylon cutting boards to fill the space between the camper and wheel wells. Mount them with counter sunk screws. They slide easily against the truck, keep things centered and don’t do any damage.

Rather than bump stops at the front of the bed, which are hard to see and just mangle the flimsy Japanese steel of my bed, I mounted a section of angle iron to the bottom of my camper that buts up to the back edge of the truck bed (with some more pieces of cutting board mounted to the angle iron to protect the truck). I then marked where the ends of the angle meet the truck when it’s centered correctly with the paint pen. When the angle is flush and square with the back edge of the bed and between the paint marks I know the camper is perfectly centered, no measurements needed! Also a handy way to verify that the camper has not shifted out on the trail with just a quick glance. When the camper is not installed, the paint marks are covered with the tailgate.

I store the camper in my uneven gravel yard, so when loading I just back under it to within about 6” of all the way in, and don’t worry too much about getting it centered well. I then pull into my nice level garage with its slick cement floor. I straighten the wheels as mentioned in a previous post, then lower the jacks until there is a very slight gap between the camper and bed mat. I put plastic drink cup lids (that come with Big Gulps at the mini mart) between the jack bottoms and the floor to make them slide easier. A few taps on the jacks with a rubber mallet gets the camper centered perfect. Then it’s just a matter of pushing the truck back a few inches until the angle iron hits the bed. No more burning the clutch going back and forth trying to get things centered!

Hope this helps someone, it works for me.
Tom

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Tom, the tip about cup lid sliders is outstanding! Thank you!