Newbie question: how to tie down camper on the truck?
Hi everyone!
We have recently joined the truck camper community. A few days ago, we bought a 2002 StarCraft M-1150 truck camper which sits on our 2008 Dodge Ram 3500 6.7L diesel 4x4 dually.
We are planning a trip through central America (we're living in San Antonio, Texas currently) with our truck and truck camper; hopefully to start in a few weeks from now for 3-4 months.
We just returned to San Antonio, TX from a 7 month trip up to Alaska. This was with our Jeep Commander towing an Airstream travel trailer. However, we decided not to take the Airstream through central America because of the high risk of damage (small roads, potholes, ...) and high visibility (too shiny).
So, for the trip down to central America, we bought a truck camper. :)
We looked around for a cheap truck camper, as we didn't want to buy one that is too nice, because of the high risk of damage down there (e.g. offroad trips into the jungle to see ruins). We found a 2002 StarCraft 'monster' (it's 19'9'' exterior length) and hangs a good bit over the back of our long bed dually. We hoped to find something shorter but all we could find were used Lance TC and they were too nice & expensive for the trip down south.
So ... long story short: here's my first TC question :)
The TC came with tie downs. How/where do we attach this to our truck? If I understand it correctly, we need to attach the front of the TC to the back of the truck (and vice versa)?
If that's true, then the ropes of the tie-downs are definitely not long enough for the wider fenders of our dually as I can't reach the truck frame underneath the truck to attach the hooks.
As far as I understand, the tie down ropes should not go straight down to the truck as this can rip off the underneath of the TC (too much power pulling down on the bottom of the TC)?
Where do you attach your camper to? Inside hooks in the truck bed or underneath the truck?
All advice is greatly appreciated. We don't want to look back whilst driving to see our TC laying on the road. :)
Thanks!
Jorn
We have recently joined the truck camper community. A few days ago, we bought a 2002 StarCraft M-1150 truck camper which sits on our 2008 Dodge Ram 3500 6.7L diesel 4x4 dually.
We are planning a trip through central America (we're living in San Antonio, Texas currently) with our truck and truck camper; hopefully to start in a few weeks from now for 3-4 months.
We just returned to San Antonio, TX from a 7 month trip up to Alaska. This was with our Jeep Commander towing an Airstream travel trailer. However, we decided not to take the Airstream through central America because of the high risk of damage (small roads, potholes, ...) and high visibility (too shiny).
So, for the trip down to central America, we bought a truck camper. :)
We looked around for a cheap truck camper, as we didn't want to buy one that is too nice, because of the high risk of damage down there (e.g. offroad trips into the jungle to see ruins). We found a 2002 StarCraft 'monster' (it's 19'9'' exterior length) and hangs a good bit over the back of our long bed dually. We hoped to find something shorter but all we could find were used Lance TC and they were too nice & expensive for the trip down south.
So ... long story short: here's my first TC question :)
The TC came with tie downs. How/where do we attach this to our truck? If I understand it correctly, we need to attach the front of the TC to the back of the truck (and vice versa)?
If that's true, then the ropes of the tie-downs are definitely not long enough for the wider fenders of our dually as I can't reach the truck frame underneath the truck to attach the hooks.
As far as I understand, the tie down ropes should not go straight down to the truck as this can rip off the underneath of the TC (too much power pulling down on the bottom of the TC)?
Where do you attach your camper to? Inside hooks in the truck bed or underneath the truck?
All advice is greatly appreciated. We don't want to look back whilst driving to see our TC laying on the road. :)
Thanks!
Jorn
