How bad is this?
Have been RVing for years and have undertaken extensive repairs on my TT to remediate water leaks. I know in general how RVs are constructed and am not afraid of tearing into them for repairs, but...
Forum Discussion
From what I can see in the photos it looks like it’s just an 8-footer. You could get it home in an F150, though it’s curious that you’d want a truck camper if you don’t have a truck?
A U-haul car trailer could possibly work but I think it would be complicatied because they aren’t flatbeds. But, that flatbed idea sounds like a good one.
This sounds crazy but I may or may not have once done it:
Back the truck up to it with the gate down.
Put a sheet of plywood under it, spanning between the truck and under the front of the camper.
(You’ll need to have the camper jacked to the truck height).
Then the trick is to put wooden dowels under it and use ratchet straps to pull it into the truck bed. That also requires getting some wood and dowels under the middle so the back doesn’t crash off the sawhorses or whatever it’s on.
Removal is the reverse. I did a few reverse brake jolts to get it started coming out the back, do that at your own indescretion. Those dowels make that a pretty fine art.
You can get it all the way in the truck with careful-but-firm forward brake jolts but stack a few 2x10s across the front of the truck box first. Stack ‘em two-thick. Otherwise you’ll end up bending the front wall of the truck bed. Or just winch it as far in as you can then block the front so it doesn’t slam forward on its own the first time you stop.
The other way I’ve done it several times is easier.
Bring your crane truck home, strap it up with spreader bars across the roof, lift it and swing it over into the truck. That’s by far the best way, if you can get past that first step.
One more way I’ve moved a camper with a hurt foot is by using some of the old-style camper jacks.
These are a truly ready-made solution. They are portable, with a little tripod base.
They have a cable and winch, and a love of angle iron on top. You just set them up against the outer lower edges of the camper and start cranking it up.
You used to be able to rent them.
MAYBE you still can...
A U-haul car trailer could possibly work but I think it would be complicatied because they aren’t flatbeds. But, that flatbed idea sounds like a good one.
This sounds crazy but I may or may not have once done it:
Back the truck up to it with the gate down.
Put a sheet of plywood under it, spanning between the truck and under the front of the camper.
(You’ll need to have the camper jacked to the truck height).
Then the trick is to put wooden dowels under it and use ratchet straps to pull it into the truck bed. That also requires getting some wood and dowels under the middle so the back doesn’t crash off the sawhorses or whatever it’s on.
Removal is the reverse. I did a few reverse brake jolts to get it started coming out the back, do that at your own indescretion. Those dowels make that a pretty fine art.
You can get it all the way in the truck with careful-but-firm forward brake jolts but stack a few 2x10s across the front of the truck box first. Stack ‘em two-thick. Otherwise you’ll end up bending the front wall of the truck bed. Or just winch it as far in as you can then block the front so it doesn’t slam forward on its own the first time you stop.
The other way I’ve done it several times is easier.
Bring your crane truck home, strap it up with spreader bars across the roof, lift it and swing it over into the truck. That’s by far the best way, if you can get past that first step.
One more way I’ve moved a camper with a hurt foot is by using some of the old-style camper jacks.
These are a truly ready-made solution. They are portable, with a little tripod base.
They have a cable and winch, and a love of angle iron on top. You just set them up against the outer lower edges of the camper and start cranking it up.
You used to be able to rent them.
MAYBE you still can...
