How to put on camper

I back under the TC till the front is about two feet from the front of the bed, that gives me room to reach in and connect the electrical. Then I lower to one inch clearance and slowly back up till I see slight movement of the TC showing me the bump stops are hitting the bed. Lower the rest of the way and connect tie downs. Good to go at that point.

I have a 2x8 at the front of my bed down low spread out against the beefed up corners. My camper doesn't touch the upper lip at all. It didn't have the rubber/plastic bump stops that some of the newer ones have either, so the 2x8 gives me a tall board to back up against, spreads out the load, and keeps the upper lip from getting deformed.

Later
C

And again, VERY, VERY, VERY slowly. I use a 2X4 standing on edge in the bed against the front. That puts the hard plastic rub strips on the camper right against the lip of the front of the bed. It is best to have something against the front of the bed at the floor so the camper isn't only pushing against the lip at the top of the bed.

Keep in mind that if there's a hangover in the back of the camper (many shortbed campers seem to have that), you don't want to bang the truck's taillights. Ours will hit the taillights before the bumperstops.

jmacpolo wrote:
It seems like it would be bad to hit the camper with the truck bed when it is on the jacks.

You will be backing in VERY slowly. VERY SLOWLY.

If anything you would lightly tap the camper on the front of the pickup box.

But a padded spacer is a good idea. We have a 2x4 standing on its 2" edge with rubber strips on the front and back.

I lay a 2x4 flat on the floor of the bed, that acts as a spacer. I have about 1" between the camper and the lip of the bed that way.

Brian

realter wrote:
The front of the camper is supposed to always be higher than the back when on the legs, so I leave about an inch or two, then when the camper "comes down" it usually ends up sitting snug against the truck body. After a few years on loading and unloading, you will have scratches in the truck bed. The front of my camper has some type of hard plastic--a thin strip--which supposidely protects the paint job. good luck.

I am not the OP,but thanks for the tip.When I return to Ariz next month,it will be the first time I load the camper back on the truck

My truck has a little "lip" on the back of the bed. I "bump" the rubber stops into the lip then drop the camper straight down. I'm not sure if this is the right procedure or not as the stops are not against the camper bed. On the other hand if I put the stops against the bed they will run into the "lips" if I raise it too high.

The front of the camper is supposed to always be higher than the back when on the legs, so I leave about an inch or two, then when the camper "comes down" it usually ends up sitting snug against the truck body. After a few years on loading and unloading, you will have scratches in the truck bed. The front of my camper has some type of hard plastic--a thin strip--which supposidely protects the paint job. good luck.

I'd put a board like a 4x4 or something between the front of teh camper and the truck bed, to act as a spacer.

Most campers have bump stops on the front of them, though often times they interfere with the way the sheetmetal in the ruck bed is contoured.