Camper / Bed Alignment Products - Do they exist?

[adamis]

The last couple of trips I have taken I've noticed that my camper tends to shift to the side just an inch or two. Though not typically a problem, if the alignbment gets too far out, it can cause issues with the rear doors hitting the front jacks when opened. I've realigned the camper a couple of times but it is a pretty big hassle and yes, I do have rubber mats to help reduce slipping in the first place.

I know there are many home grown solutions to keeping the camper in the middle of the bed but I'm surprised there does not seem to be any products out there. I've thought about having brackets made up that would match the bed bolts so it can be secured directly to the bed / frame of the truck. It would be about 8" wide and run beneath the width of the camper. On each end would be a bracket that the camper side would butt up against. The tops of the bracket would be slightly angled so that when lowering the camper, it would slide / shift until it was properly aligned and then it would fit tight into the slot. The whole assembly would be sized to the camper so that it would be a good tight fit such that you wouldn't have any side to side movement. I would have two brackets, one that would take advantage of the front bed bolts and the other for the rear.

I know there are quite a few people that have done something similar out of wood or possibly metal but as far as I recall, I don't think I have seen anyone use the bed bolts to secure it to the frame of the truck. Rather they just use the sides of the bed to help keep their system in place. I'm specifically looking for a system that is frame mounted.

I have the capability to design and have such brackets made (probably out of stainless steel) but before I go through that effort, does anyone know of a company that already offers such a product?

[mkirsch]

Do you have a real RUBBER bed mat, or a plastic one? If your bed mat was shiny and tended to hold the rolled-up shape when you cut the packaging off, it is PLASTIC. A flexible rubber-like plastic but plastic nonetheless.

An actual rubber bed mat is dull and flops out flat without having to leave it in the sun for hours, when you cut the packaging off.

I've got one of both. An old DeeZee from 1997 that is rubber, and starting to dry rot after all these years. That's the one that I use under my camper. My other one is a 2016 bed mat from Tractor Supply that is plastic that I use in my daily driver. I have no doubt the camper would slide around on the newer bed mat like a skater on ice.

Campers slide around on plastic, and stay put on rubber.

[noteven]

I thought about some kind of raised guide/holder straight system... with my backing and loading "skills" I would be concerned with sidewise stress on the jacks 😄

[noteven]

I use rubber horse stall matting cut into about 12" strips - I set the perimeter of the camper on them to raise it a touch to clear the B&W hitch safety chain U-bolts that stick up in the box. The camper kind of bites into the rubber and the narrower strips seem to conform to the ridges in the bed - usually taking a "speed" bump cross threaded or traversing a gas station approach - will throw a "rock and roll" test at the system. Stays put pretty good.

[Kayteg1]

Don't think you are missing anything.
It is my long time observation that RV industry is badly over-commercialized.
Buyers are talk into buying expensive luxury items on vehicles that lack basic safety features.
Anyway, don't overthink the issue. This is the pad I build 5 years ago and only had to adjust it for smaller aluminium bed.
Build it in just minutes from the stuff I had laying around.
No, I don't live on junk yard 😉

Click For Full-Size Image.

[adamis]

Thanks for the comments so far. Just a quick clarification... my camper has only slid about 1" and that is after doing some dirt road treks (nothing requiring 4 wheel drive). Most poeple might not notice or even care of this amount of slip but it does bother me and I do have a clearance issue with my doors if it goes much beyond this.

The suggestions offered so far seem to be in line with what I have seen before which is fine but I would prefer to have something that is more durable and weather resistant (hence stainless steel). On my current setup, I needed 2" of foam plus two rubber mats to get the camper to clear the cab of the truck. The plate / bracket I'm thinking of would sit under all of this so the bottom of the camper would not be scratched and the side brackets would have some sort of carpeting to prevent the same. I'm looking at possibly 12g stainless steel which is about 1/8" of thick so it would just require a rubber mat laid on top to prevent the bottom from being scratched.

Since it doesn't appear that any company makes such a product I may just have to go forward with having it made for me. I'm just honestly surprised that the current companies already in the business haven't developed something along these lines. It makes me wonder if I'm missing something obvious.

[jimbow2]

Have a '99 ford super duty and Kodiak K-99 camper.... what boards on the front needed to keep back lights on p/u clear.... rubber floor mat and grid to raise up to clear p/u roof.... now for OP ???, I have put 2x6 5feet long on end just inside of each wheel well and it makes a snug fit to keep camper from moving at all.... B/4 2x6 it would move to a angle, not acceptable for me.... tork lifts with fastguns for tie downs......

[jimh406]

Not that you should overtighten, but are you sure your tiedowns are properly tightened. There are commercially available centering guides. You can do a google search or similar to find them.

Here's one system a member built. https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/28280951/print/true.cfm

[Kayteg1]

Don't think you want steel brackets scratching your camper.
I did front guide by starting with 1/4" plywood covering about 2 feet of front of the bed. My camper needed front raised to clear truck roof lights and that's how it started. Cut to the shape of the bed it stays there even when I have the camper off. (helps in keeping other materials from dinging front of the bed as well)
Than I added a piece of 2x6 on front with taper on the top, that's where camper front bumper rest and additional pieces of 2x10 on the sides, with taper on the top and cut to leave less than 1/2" play for the camper floor.
That worked well on old truck and works even better on new one, where higher bed leaves me with no way to see how the camper sits on the bed.
I can see it about 6" before it hits the front of the bed, but final setting has to be done by feel only.

[TxGearhead]

I put a couple sheets of scrap chipboard against the front wall of the truck bed when I load the camper. Maybe 24" X 42"? There's an indentation on the bed wall that I cut the chipboard to fit. The rubber bumpers on the front of the camper are against it and it moved the camper back about an inch. I've got a rubber bed mat on top of fitted plywood floor and the camper will move around a little.
But to answer your question, I haven't seen any product like what you want for sale. Maybe a business opportunity??