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TxGearhead's avatar
TxGearhead
Explorer II
Aug 13, 2016

Couple more Bigfoot questions...

Recently acquired 2008 25C9.4 Bigfoot. The previous owner was reluctant to load the camper on my truck if the fresh water tank was full. He said the floor is not well supported under the tank. I'm wondering what I would do if I wanted to offload the camper in a camp spot and be supported by the jacks. This doesn't sound quite right to me. I looked all through the owners manual and didn't see anything like that. Your thoughts?
The other issue. The power cord from the camper to the truck. I have the factory 7 pin plug in the rear of the bed and also near the rear license plate. The cord the previous owner had was about 3 feet too long going to the plug near the license plate. I wrapped it in a loop and cable tied it to the truck receiver hitch. Looked terrible and it could have dragged on the road if the cable ties failed. I thought about just dropping the excess between the camper and the truck bed, ahead of the fender well. The previous owner really didn't want to do that when we loaded it. He was worried about the cord getting under the camper. Feedback on that appreciated as well.
Truck Campers

7 Replies

  • TxGearhead's avatar
    TxGearhead
    Explorer II
    Aug 21, 2016
    ^^^Thanks Paradox. Seems it's either pouring down rain here or it's 98F with a heat index of 118. I'll slide under it and take a look when the weather breaks.
  • Paradox123's avatar
    Paradox123
    Explorer
    Aug 21, 2016
    I have a 2005 9.4. The fresh tank has two angle irons running east-west beneath the tank to support it. I think that's adequate. A word of caution, however.when I had the bottom of the camper removed a few years ago, I found that those angle irons were not well secured--one had one screw that was bent and only half way driven. You might want to inspect the supports to give you peace of mind.

    As far as the umbillical cable, I'd use the bed jack and cut the long cable down to the right length to run from the bed jack to the camper.
  • TxGearhead's avatar
    TxGearhead
    Explorer II
    Aug 14, 2016
    54suds wrote:
    the wiring should also be easy ask your truck dealer for an in bed wire harness adapter on a Gmc it costs about 95.00 The down fall to this solution is it adds about 8 feet more to the charge wire length

    I have the in-bed plug already. I go back and forth about using that or the bumper/license plate plug. Maybe next time I'll look at using the in-bed plug and coil up the excess in front of the wheel well. See how that works.
  • 54suds's avatar
    54suds
    Explorer
    Aug 13, 2016
    the wiring should also be easy ask your truck dealer for an in bed wire harness adapter on a Gmc it costs about 95.00 The down fall to this solution is it adds about 8 feet more to the charge wire length
  • 54suds's avatar
    54suds
    Explorer
    Aug 13, 2016





    I had a tank strap pull free , it was a fairly easy repair, after dropping the cover , the lag holding the strap to framing had been put in very close to the edge of the wood and split free
  • kohldad's avatar
    kohldad
    Explorer III
    Aug 13, 2016
    I really don't think the water tank is supported by the floor but held up by straps. Easy to tell by opening up the access panel and looking in the area. Same goes for the black and gray tanks which could also pose a problem.

    On the cord, yes, if you lay it on the fender well, there is the chance it can fall and get under the camper as it rocks while driving. Easy to resolve though by putting on a hose clamp that is one or two sizes larger than needed for the wire. Then you can use the hose clamp's tail as a hook in the side pocket hole before setting the camper down. This would hold it up and out of harms way.
  • HMS_Beagle's avatar
    HMS_Beagle
    Explorer
    Aug 13, 2016
    I had a 1998 9.6 Bigfoot, loaded and unloaded it all the time with the tank full. As I remember the tank is actually hung from the floor above the basement with straps - for sure that is how it is done on my 2008 10.4. It never sits on the floor of anything, on or off the truck..

    On the cable, I would probably coil the excess and put it forward of the wheel well. I would fasten the coil with a wire tie or something just to keep it from working its way out the back and dragging. You would not want to set the camper on it, but that should be avoidable with due care.

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