Finally ordered a Stable Lift

I appreciate any info I can get. I got the official COG info from another Amerigo owner, so we pretty much know where the Stable Lift will be placed. A fridge tearout will be necessary on the one side, but there is plenty of room on the other side, to access, without ripping out too much. We plan on using the oldie but goodie as the hauler, the Ford 350. Eventually we want to use the new Dodge dually, but it's too new and I would rather put the work on the old truck.

We called for ETA, and it still won't be here for at least another 2 weeks, so I will keep you posted, in case we could use some advice with install.

burningman and reddog, I agree with everything you posted.

I have had my Stable-Lift for over ten years. Never had any problems with it, and it has worked one every camp spot I wanted to camp in. I have had it on some very steep camping spots, front to rear and/or side to side. I have never had to put anything under the hoop to prevent it from sinking in sand or mud. I have experimented with logos under the hoop butt have never had the need to.

I have two big rocks bordering my driveway. I have hit both or them hard enough to raise the side of the truck and camper. The only damage was skinned paint.

As burningman posted, the saddle bracket to Hoop adjustment is very important. Do pay attention to the instructions on this. I set mine with the Hoop all the way up, adjust the saddle bracket to just touch the hoop. I lower the hoop, readjust the saddle by dropping it down between 1/4" to 1/2". That gives me the preload.There is enough power in the jacks to do serious damage to the TC by having too much preload. Exaggerated, if you had 2" of preload I think it could pull the mounting bolts, or damage the framing of the TC. I have experimented with mine, and I would not go more than 3/4" of preload. I strongly believe the few people that have had damage to there TC was due to improper preload adjustment.

I should point out, you do not have to use the Saddles tiedown feature. You can use the tiedowns you currently use. Obviously the preload would then become a nonissue.

In my opinion, the Stable-Lift cannot damage a TC while lifting by the sides. The weight on the jacks is spread over a large area, not concentrated on a single corner like the 4 jack system. It is like lifting the side with a forklift. I do not believe you could rip off a Stable-Lift. You can rip off jacks on a 4 jack system, and rip out a corner of the TC.

I acquired a new to me Dually 4x4 this year. I had to remove my Stable-Lift which I used on my SRW truck. I will have to modify my Stable-Lift to fit the DRW truck.

Wayne

I have one. Love it, everyone who hasn't used one doesn't know what they're missing
I don't think your ability to offroad will be diminished. With corner jacks, it's way too easy to snag a jack and rip it off. I've done it. The Stable Lift, installed properly, isn't the lowest thing hanging under your truck. It's also a whole lot tougher and can take more of a whack without tearing off like a corner jack.

Installation is a pretty big deal. By the nature of it and the zillion different camper and truck combos in the world, it's a custom fit thing. You need to make your own reinforcement plates from wood or steel, and usually remove your appliances to get access to the topside of your camper side "wings". That's actually pretty easy to do, but depending on your camper there can be areas that will be hard to access.
You have to drill a bunch of holes through 1/4" steel, so buy new drill bits and get the good ones, Cobalt or whatever the most expensive ones your favorite place has. I did it in three steps, small/medium/large. The three bits I bought did the whole job.
I had to cut and slightly move (then reweld) my exhaust pipe to get the rear of the lift to sit right where I wanted it to.

It's important to carefully adjust the legs and the little brackets that go on your truck frame so that the lift is just snug when you fully retract it. If you set it up so it can over-tighten you'll pull the camper sides down too hard and crunch something.

I modified mine with 1x3 rectangle-tube steel running all the way along the sides of my camper, with some angle iron at each end that bolts to the original corner jack mounts.

It's all pretty simple, but it's some work to do. The payoff is huge though. It's a game-changer for using a truck camper! You can have your truck & camper parked in your driveway and want to go run an errand in the truck, and it's so easy to drop the camper you'll just drop it and go without the camper any time you want. And the camper won't crash or scare you that it's gonna!

I hope you ordered the three-jack version, or can still call and upgrade. The two-jack can lift just fine but the three-jack can level itself. No one should ever get the two-jack.

Hey truckster, I found my old installation post from LOA and I'm posting it here for your information as well as to answer any questions before hand you might have. I would be glad to help if I could....

http://lanceowners.hoop.la/topic/lance-1181-and-stable-lift

We have StableLift on our 2008 S&S 11FBSC - you will love every time you load and unload:B

We had a stable-lift on our TC and liked it very much. When we "out-grew" the TC having the lift was a big plus in selling it. lizzie

I've had a stable-lift on my lance 1181 for several years now. Love it will never go back.

Can't blame you one bit.
It is for that reason when I put my Amerigo on the truck it stayed on for the summer


GOOD LUCK!

Congrats, I'm sure someone who has one will chime in.