Your truck camper experience is ?
I bought my first truck camper in the early 60's and was with my family in them prior to that. With the internet weight police and all of the this or that.I wonder what the actual experience of som...
Forum Discussion
My first was a ‘69 Security 8’ on a ‘59 Chevy Apache 3600. That was a 3/4 ton. 3200s were half tons. It was a nightmare to drive.
Then followed a ‘67 Security 10’ on a ‘67 Chevy dually pickup. Custom made, Chevy didn’t sell dually pickups until ‘73.
Then a 10’ Western Wilderness on a ‘76 F150 4x4 with overload springs, Rancho 9000s, and a hot-fodder 428/4speed. I towed a boat behind.
That truck got a complete F250 chassis swap because it was too much for a half-ton, although I can’t help but mention that it was in fact handling it.
There were several others in between and several afterward.
What I remember most about the old ‘60s and ‘70s campers is the jacks!
They were scary!
I had the ones that were a tripod, you guessed the center of gravity of the camper and set the jack there. Only two jacks, you were expected to balance it. There was just a piece of angle iron on the jack, you set it against the edge of the camper. There was a cable and crank to lift the camper.
I had jacks that had square legs rather than tubular, perforated with about 1/2” holes. You had a bottle jack you stuck on the jack between some little brackets and pumped it up a few inches, put a pin through the holes in the camper jack legs, reset the bottle jack and did it again
Manual by hydraulic jacks were the lap of luxury!!
There were no holding tanks. The sinks just had a drain tube that dumped right overboard.
Then followed a ‘67 Security 10’ on a ‘67 Chevy dually pickup. Custom made, Chevy didn’t sell dually pickups until ‘73.
Then a 10’ Western Wilderness on a ‘76 F150 4x4 with overload springs, Rancho 9000s, and a hot-fodder 428/4speed. I towed a boat behind.
That truck got a complete F250 chassis swap because it was too much for a half-ton, although I can’t help but mention that it was in fact handling it.
There were several others in between and several afterward.
What I remember most about the old ‘60s and ‘70s campers is the jacks!
They were scary!
I had the ones that were a tripod, you guessed the center of gravity of the camper and set the jack there. Only two jacks, you were expected to balance it. There was just a piece of angle iron on the jack, you set it against the edge of the camper. There was a cable and crank to lift the camper.
I had jacks that had square legs rather than tubular, perforated with about 1/2” holes. You had a bottle jack you stuck on the jack between some little brackets and pumped it up a few inches, put a pin through the holes in the camper jack legs, reset the bottle jack and did it again
Manual by hydraulic jacks were the lap of luxury!!
There were no holding tanks. The sinks just had a drain tube that dumped right overboard.
