Forum Discussion

skidsteerpilot's avatar
skidsteerpilot
Explorer
Sep 26, 2020

Fine Tuning the load

We have just upgraded from SRW pickup to DRW flatbed. Our camper has "dually" brackets which made loading the SRW a breeze. With the flatbed, there is approx 1.5" between jacks and bed frame if loaded evenly. My question is, is there a way to move camper an inch or so left/right using jacks? I can get it pretty close with mirrors, but it would be nice to have a trick in the bag if needed. Also, with the SRW we noticed the camper would frequently gravitate to the right side (road camber), if this were to happen too much with new rig, the left dually bracket may not be able to swing all the way out and we would need a way to move back closer to centerline. I have considered a long 2x6 and bottle jack against the short side, but would prefer not to push against lower side of camper like that. Any thoughts/experiences appreciated. Thanks.
Truck Campers
  • Reality_Check's avatar
    Reality_Check
    Nomad II
    Sep 27, 2020
    We load and unload so often, I worked on coming up with something reliable and easy several years ago. These pictures are on the old flatbed, but the new one is exactly the same.

    Because we do this so often, I installed angle iron on three sides of the camper as rub rails.



    We have angle screwed to the flatbed. The original design, because the angle couldn't be permanent due to other uses, just had two drop pins in it. Either way, these are the guides on the flatbed.







    Loading is a breeze; no shifting. Same spot every time.
  • Kayteg1's avatar
    Kayteg1
    Explorer II
    Sep 27, 2020
    1.5" clearance ain't bad.
    My set has only 1" and the wider end has to come with 0 clearance on side of gate opening.
    On front I put 2x6 board where the camper front would rest and attached 4x4 blocks with taper who would push the camper into center.
    That said for 1" difference you can lower the side you want to move into a bit down and with some hand push that should do the trick.
    That said, I was loading my camper for 2 years using side mirrors, only to discover for season 3 that my 360 cameras have trailer mode, who combines pictures from both side mirrors side by side, so you don't have the parallax error the mirrors have.
  • thedavidzoo's avatar
    thedavidzoo
    Explorer II
    Sep 27, 2020
    We have less than an inch to spare on each side between the jacks and our dually fenders.
    We can easily shift the TC in the bed by over an inch either direction to center it between the wheel wells just by lowering one side before the other. Same front to rear.
  • KD4UPL's avatar
    KD4UPL
    Explorer
    Sep 27, 2020
    On my flatbed with top mounted tool boxes I only had 3/4" each side if I was centered. Mine never really moved around. I had it sitting on a horse stall mat. If you just have it sitting on the metal flatbed I can see it sliding all over the place.
    You can move the camper side to side by running the jacks down lower on the side you want it to move toward.
  • Bedlam's avatar
    Bedlam
    Moderator
    Sep 27, 2020
    I have less than inch on each side with the jacks flipped in. I just use a center stripe in the camper bottom and deck to line things up. Neither of my campers have drifted or moved on the horse stall mats.
  • skidsteerpilot's avatar
    skidsteerpilot
    Explorer
    Sep 27, 2020
    Thank you for the replies and ideas. We've got a bit of tiedown metal work to get done and then we'll spend some more quality time going through the loading/lining up process to see what mods we may look into for this. Cheers.
  • mkirsch's avatar
    mkirsch
    Nomad II
    Sep 28, 2020
    The camper will easily "wobble" an inch in any direction sitting on the jacks with a simple push from you. Jack it up off the deck, push and hold in whatever direction you want to move it, and let it back down.

    Your camper should NOT slide around on the bed. Do people grease the bottoms of their campers before loading or something? I could literally drive a slalom course with my camper, tiedowns removed, and it would not budge a fraction of an inch. All I have under it is a conventional rubber bed mat.
  • Bert_the_Welder's avatar
    Bert_the_Welder
    Explorer II
    Sep 29, 2020
    Ditto to all the suggestions above. I have a 98 GMC. The bed tapers narrower at the tail gate. It's a PITA, but practice makes close enough. :)
    With the flip out dually brackets, and being a weldor, I've often wondered if anyone's fab'd up a couple plates to extend the legs out further?
  • Kayteg1's avatar
    Kayteg1
    Explorer II
    Sep 29, 2020
    Bert the Welder wrote:
    ,,,
    With the flip out dually brackets, and being a weldor, I've often wondered if anyone's fab'd up a couple plates to extend the legs out further?


    As a welder you should also have pretty good imagination how much stress any extension brings.
    I was thinking about such modification, but then I am also a driver and 1" clearance is good enough, although dropping camper on uneven pads the 1" can vanish very fast.
  • wnjj's avatar
    wnjj
    Explorer II
    Sep 30, 2020
    If you want a little more than pushing against the wobble, you can gently hold your foot against the jack before it touches down to force the slack to one side. Then once the camper lifts off it will automatically shift to the center and you can gently move it beyond by holding when you lower it back down.

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