Forum Discussion

adamis's avatar
adamis
Nomad II
Jul 06, 2017

Camper / Bed Alignment Products - Do they exist?

The last couple of trips I have taken I've noticed that my camper tends to shift to the side just an inch or two. Though not typically a problem, if the alignbment gets too far out, it can cause issues with the rear doors hitting the front jacks when opened. I've realigned the camper a couple of times but it is a pretty big hassle and yes, I do have rubber mats to help reduce slipping in the first place.

I know there are many home grown solutions to keeping the camper in the middle of the bed but I'm surprised there does not seem to be any products out there. I've thought about having brackets made up that would match the bed bolts so it can be secured directly to the bed / frame of the truck. It would be about 8" wide and run beneath the width of the camper. On each end would be a bracket that the camper side would butt up against. The tops of the bracket would be slightly angled so that when lowering the camper, it would slide / shift until it was properly aligned and then it would fit tight into the slot. The whole assembly would be sized to the camper so that it would be a good tight fit such that you wouldn't have any side to side movement. I would have two brackets, one that would take advantage of the front bed bolts and the other for the rear.

I know there are quite a few people that have done something similar out of wood or possibly metal but as far as I recall, I don't think I have seen anyone use the bed bolts to secure it to the frame of the truck. Rather they just use the sides of the bed to help keep their system in place. I'm specifically looking for a system that is frame mounted.

I have the capability to design and have such brackets made (probably out of stainless steel) but before I go through that effort, does anyone know of a company that already offers such a product?
  • Don't think you want steel brackets scratching your camper.
    I did front guide by starting with 1/4" plywood covering about 2 feet of front of the bed. My camper needed front raised to clear truck roof lights and that's how it started. Cut to the shape of the bed it stays there even when I have the camper off. (helps in keeping other materials from dinging front of the bed as well)
    Than I added a piece of 2x6 on front with taper on the top, that's where camper front bumper rest and additional pieces of 2x10 on the sides, with taper on the top and cut to leave less than 1/2" play for the camper floor.
    That worked well on old truck and works even better on new one, where higher bed leaves me with no way to see how the camper sits on the bed.
    I can see it about 6" before it hits the front of the bed, but final setting has to be done by feel only.
  • I put a couple sheets of scrap chipboard against the front wall of the truck bed when I load the camper. Maybe 24" X 42"? There's an indentation on the bed wall that I cut the chipboard to fit. The rubber bumpers on the front of the camper are against it and it moved the camper back about an inch. I've got a rubber bed mat on top of fitted plywood floor and the camper will move around a little.
    But to answer your question, I haven't seen any product like what you want for sale. Maybe a business opportunity??