Wooden fail safe camper alignment tool

Reading 5 pages is just way more than I can handle, so if this is a repeat, sorry.

Here's my problem with those bed alignment things;
The jacks stay planted on the ground and those devices are gonna torque the snot out of the jacks and the mounts AND the fasteners to the camper. Why would anyone think it is a good idea to twist a 4,000 pound camper on those skinny camper jacks if the jack footings can't move too?

If you can't get the camper to line up when you are backing up, then learn. If you are worried about the camper moving after it's in place, then put in a spacer after it's off the legs, not before so the whole mess is being twisted until eventually something gives.

sleepy wrote:

Butch50 wrote:
My Gosh people.

This is not a new idea take a look in the sticky "Truck Camper University" under "Camper Loading, Hauling, Tiedowns:"

Then part way down under this heading there are numerous threads on Camper Centering Guides.

There have been people doing this for years and it works great.

This is just another way of accomplishing the same thing.

Gee Butch... didn't mean to offend you.... someone had posted a question that was close enough to remind me of this solution....

Would you like for me to request that this thread be eliminated?

Your post is one reason that many no longer share solutions and modifications.

Many of us don't know very much.... and few know it all...

I'M CERTAINLY NOT A ROCKET SCIENTIST... :W

Sleepy

Sleepy,

I wasn't responding to anything you said or wrote. All I was trying to do is show the people that were questioning you about the jacks having to tweek themselves and other posters that this has been done in the past with no problems.

I'm sorry if you took it wrong but that was not my intentions.

I guess I won't be posting on your posts anymore so you don't take them wrong. I'll just stop posting in the TC section anymore so I don't offend someone because I don't have a TC anymore. I still love them and wish I could still have one but my needs have changed.

Have a good day.

I just love innovation. And building over buying something made of plastic. Nice job!

Note: we are all different and we approach problems differently:

After a lifetime of designing and building experiments for a living I have found that the simpilist design that functions properly is always best.

Each added unecessary component or variable is another opportunity for fsilure.

To keep my illustration impersonal I'll use an example that we are all likely to have experienced.

I had a single shot, bolt action, 22 cal rifle with iron sights when I was a kid. It was trouble free and with a little practice help feed our family.

Over the years... I got a rifle with a magazine that held multiple rounds of ammo... then a scope... and a few years ago... even a LASER

The simple rifle still works perfectly after me using it for more than 65 years (it was old when I got it)

The magazine on the "more advanced" rifle jambs occassionally... just when I need it... always.

The scoped rifle has to be baby'ed... if it gets tapped it won't aim well enough to hit anything and you can't see around it to get a shot off either.... Uggg!

I thought the LASER would be nice... just put the red dot on the racoon and squeeze the trigger... no real sighting needed. Oops! the battery was dead when I grabbed it... the racoon had another litter of babies before I found the special batteries in the LASER



IF it can fail at a crucial point in time it will... on vacation or a camping trip?

Keeping things simple has always worked best for me and I find that this works best for me when I do truck camper projects too

Form follows function, think about it. (learned it from Industrial Design engineers)

Chet

bb_94401, that is an ambicious project and nicely done.... having to raise your truck camper almost 4" to get it over the truck bed sidewalls sure caused you a lot of work... and added a considerable amount of weight. Can you remove it easily when you want to use the truck for something else?

I took an opposite approach in that I wanted friction to help, once the camper is in the floor of my truck I am trying to get it to stay in place and the truck camper to be as low as possible for stability.

I haven't seen any abrasion on the base of my camper so I haven't added any slick surface materialss. My front guides have the wood grain parallel with the slope... my only concession for a slipery slope. After a couple of hundred nights on the road they still look snd function the same.

Each truck and truck camper combination has different factors that need to be addressed.... and so there are a lot of possible solutions as you can see in the TC Univ.... or think up for youselves.

It is good when everyone shares them.

Sleepy

Eugarps wrote:
Sleepy,

Do you use any kind of bed mat or horse stall mat under your camper? I may plagiarize your design. You know how much I like simple and elegant design. I'm a Civil Engineer, so the simpler the better.

Thanks my friend,

Bill

No!

When I bought my truck I looked at the options that other people had already installed in their truck beds:

Some seemed to cause much more trouble than they solved;
In my opinion...

Worst

The drop-in plastic bed liners. I observed damage that they caused.... dirt/grit/moisture that worked it's way between the liner and the truck bed and sidewalls caused abrasian and rust. I saw more than one bed rusted through.(possibly pushed by road salt)

Not as bad: but I would not have them

I rejected the bed mats and horse stall mats... The surface of the trucks bed has high low strip grouves running forward to backward in order to drain moisture... the mats fill the grouves and can trap any accumulated moisture.... potential damage.

AND, I personally want my truck camper to sit as flat on the floor of the truck as possible. I don't want the camper to twist or flex an 1/8" repeatedly... over and over flexing will eventually cause hairline cracks at joints.... possibly entry points for moisture... camper body failure (Bigfoot campers are probably the only types immune to this kindof damage) In my opinion bed mats can probably compress or flex more than I want... in addition to preventing moisture from draining.

In my opinion... Nothing at all in the bare painted bed is better than a horse pad trapping moisture

My solution... LINEX

I had Linex sprayed in the trucks bed on the way home from the dealers when it had 12 miles on the odometer... I know... I couldn't return it to the dealer for a refund.... it was a special order, so the Linex modification didn't make any difference)

Why Linex... it sealed the trucks bed... salt, dirt, moisture, and the camper wouldn't hurt the metal of the bed...Linex looked good too! The bed still had the ridged surface I wanted to minimize flexing. It also left the draiage grouves. And... nothing else that I would haul in the truck would hurt the bed either.

I hope this helps.... looking forward to seeing your new truck and camper sometime in the future.

Sleepy

towpro wrote:
I have wondered about this method of aligning campers in beds, but if your not centered, as you lower the camper and camper body contacts blocks of wood and starts to force your camper to center of bed, don't it put a lot of stress on your jacks?

Due to different travel rates for the electric jacks, I often will end up with one jack off the ground, when lowering all the jacks at once. Found my TC to be stable on any three of the four jacks when loading it in the garage.

If you are misaligned, you can eliminate the lateral stress on the jacks by lowering it slowly until you are uncomfortable with the stress. Then lift one jack off the ground and then put it back down. Do the same for the remaining jacks and then continue lowering your TC into the bed. Repeat as necessary.

A note about alignment blocks. You might consider attaching aluminium angle to the bottom of the TC where it will contact the guides to minimize cosmetic damage to the TC lower siding. All depends on how your TC siding was attached there.

Only change I would have made to what I did would be to have the Delrin plastic on the vertical face as well. California roads bounced my TC up and down a lot and it would have been less rubbing on the siding.

sleepy wrote:

Butch50 wrote:
My Gosh people.

This is not a new idea take a look in the sticky "Truck Camper University" under "Camper Loading, Hauling, Tiedowns:"

Then part way down under this heading there are numerous threads on Camper Centering Guides.

There have been people doing this for years and it works great.

This is just another way of accomplishing the same thing.

Gee Butch... didn't mean to offend you.... someone had posted a question that was close enough to remind me of this solution....

Would you like for me to request that this thread be eliminated?

Your post is one reason that many no longer share solutions and modifications.

Many of us don't know very much.... and few know it all...

I'M CERTAINLY NOT A ROCKET SCIENTIST... :W

Sleepy

I really do not see that Butch50 is offended, just simply stating a fact.

I see no reason to close this thread at this point. I have no reason to believe Butch50 post is the reason that many no longer share solutions and modifications. I do believe responses like yours do. I think it is very arrogant of any member to think they have the only solution to any subject. I also think it is even more arrogant to play the part of a victim when questioned. I fully realize I am using my position as Moderator to make this post, but it is in fact included in my responsibilities.

Wayne
Moderators

Sleepy,

Do you use any kind of bed mat or horse stall mat under your camper? I may plagiarize your design. You know how much I like simple and elegant design. I'm a Civil Engineer, so the simpler the better.

Thanks my friend,

Bill

Butch50 wrote:
My Gosh people.

This is not a new idea take a look in the sticky "Truck Camper University" under "Camper Loading, Hauling, Tiedowns:"

Then part way down under this heading there are numerous threads on Camper Centering Guides.

There have been people doing this for years and it works great.

This is just another way of accomplishing the same thing.

Gee Butch... didn't mean to offend you.... someone had posted a question that was close enough to remind me of this solution....

Would you like for me to request that this thread be eliminated?

Your post is one reason that many no longer share solutions and modifications.

Many of us don't know very much.... and few know it all...

I'M CERTAINLY NOT A ROCKET SCIENTIST... :W

Sleepy