Cracked the bed of my truck
So, this summer my camper spent a lot of time on the truck. Made several long trips. One to Inavale Horse Trials in Oregon and another to Kalispell, MT for The Event at Rebecca Farms. In September I...
Forum Discussion
I'm having a hard time visualizing how a camper with spread out weight distribution would cause such a crack without seeing something else bent or broken
Visualize the truck bed flexing (the bed is no longer flat, but twisted) and the truck camper tub not flexing in tandem with very soft bed connected to very stout (but torquable) truck frame (now, you have essentially the camper tub rocking on 2 small truck bed areas at X points).
Truck campers are actually extremely rigid, especially at the tub (the tub is the strongest part of the truck camper: it is the foundation upon which the entire camper depends). And even more: most truck camper tubs are shaped like a T at the rear. If the truck camper tub (and thus the entire truck camper shell) flexed as much as your bed, your truck camper shell would be destroyed over some x time (remember: the truck is far in excess the weight of your camper, and the truck's torquing action can't be stopped by simply bolting the camper tub down, nor just by the camper simply sitting on the bed surface).
I suspect that the shorter the truck bed (ie. a short bed vs. long bed), the less the chance of the bed flexing as severely as a long-bed.
To test the above: find a flat cardboard (cut out a piece of cardboard box) the same proportion as your truck's bed but at a smaller scale (maybe 12 x 6 inches), and then find a rigid rectangle about the same proportion as your truck camper's tub. Place the rigid rectangle on the flat cardboard, then torque the cardboard about 10%, and note where the simulated camper tub poses on opposite corners...
Concluding:
While your truck BED may not flex to any visible extent, it may flex just enough to put extreme load MOSTLY on 2 points of real estate on your bed...this is why we have a thick rubber bed mat under our camper and refresh it every 5 years or so (to mitigate any undue flex point load). Some on this Forum use 1-inch closed-cell XPS foam 4 x 8 sheets to do this (and, to lift their camper a bit to clear truck cab).
I hope this helps?
S-
