Loading Camper

We found it useful to mark the centerline of the camper on the bottom front side of the camper. Then also mark the centerline of the truck box at several points.

This gives a visual clue for the driver as you can see the marks on the camper and truck box and ensure they're lining up all the way in.

Our camper has only about a half inch clearance each side around the wheel fenders. We've learned it is best to have most of the gap on the driver side and snug fit the passenger side because the back-of-the-camper driver-side has a protrusion that won't clear the tailgate area otherwise.

It needs to touch the front of the truck bed so that it doesn't move during "aggressive braking" (panic stop). There may be some kind of stop, rubber bumpers, plastic/aluminum strip, on the front of the camper. You may need to put a piece of wood between the camper stops and the front of you truck bed to prevent the camper from rubbing against the top edge of the front truck bed.

LeRoy

Same camper, same truck.

What I have done is put a ROUGH piece of cedar 2 inch by 6 inch on its edge wedged tightly across at the front of the box. You need full dimension 2" by 6" for the thickness. When I lower the camper down, I start about 3/4 of an inch out from the top of the box, and then looking down I can clearly see the front bottom edge just tuck in behind the cedar 2 by 6.

Using a 2 by 6 like this also really helps to align the camper in the box. It's easy to see if you have one side out from the other and the camper in sideways slightly. It's really important for your mirrors to have it as close to perfectly placed as you can.

If you use the bumpers on the camper to prevent movement in the box, you will push out the top rail of your truck. Doing it this way the front of the camper is held about 7/16 of an inch away from the top rail.

PM me if you want any more hints on owning one of these campers.