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VictorM's avatar
VictorM
Explorer
Jul 16, 2020

Truck camper loading question

First time owner of a truck camper . Northern lite short bed
My driveway is fairly steep and I need advice on loading and unloading on the flat pad at the bottom
The pad is filled by my F-350 super crew short bed when it is flat on the pad
As I load /unload I’ll need to raise the front of the camper a good number of inches so the front of the camper isn’t hit by the truck cab as it slides under
How much higher can the front of the camper in relation to the rear get and be safe.?
What the best and safe height /width of wood blocks
  • So , I’m figuring I’ll raise it up high enough with no more than 4 inch difference from front
    To back and ease it in/out with out hitting it and then slowly lower it down and slide in very slowly.
    The space isn’t going to let me slide in level
    Don’t have another space to keep it that’s free

    Thanks for your help
  • My suggestion would be to get bubble levels and use those religiously as your guide. I have two of them on my camper, one for side to side leveling and one for front to rear leveling. Both are placed on the driver side above the front jack. The one for side to side sits under the overhang on the front wall of the camper and one for front to back is right around from that one on the side of the camper above the front left jack.

    I raise and lower my camper using those two bubble levels. My RV pad on the side of my house slopes away from the foundation so I know there is probably 3 inches difference between the right and left side of the camper when it is off the truck on the pad. That does not matter, what does is that my camper is level, or even better is about 2 inches lower in the rear than the front.

    If you need to get some blocks in order to raise the front end a little higher, that should not be a problem. Again, the important thing is to keep your camper level, or slightly lower in the rear.
  • I think only 8' campers might have risk of tipping forward when making front lower.
    With my 12' camper I have to to make front lower than the rear at final loading point. I have wood guides behind the cabin and with empty truck leaning forward, it takes some level difference to have front of the camper go into guides before rear hits the deck.
    The only risk of making front much higher is bending the jacks. They are flexible to some point, especially when you have dually brackets, but making 1 end much higher applies bending forces.
  • Never position the cabover lower tha the rear, as the fore/aft Center of gravity is closer to the Cabover. And possible tipping.
  • Sorta depends how sturdy the jacks are mounted. The camper will never tip over backwards being nose high (within reason), but side loading the jacks (front to back) is a concern I think.
    I’ve gotten 5-6deg nose high before while loading or unloading at a sloped site without issue.
    Idk how much further I’d push it than that.
    Personally I’d put the camper on big blocks so you could raise it higher, more level.
    Just keep the base area of the blocks bigger than the height and on solid ground.
  • I have a similar scenario, and I use 8" X 8" blocks. Your front jacks are mounted quite a bit higher than the rear so maybe use smaller blocks on the rear. I try not to be more than 3"- 4" Front to Rear. The jacks do have markings to help you judge, including a warning.