HOW TO video for loading my camper

[deltabravo]

I did another video, this one shows how I load my camper.

The ground leading to my shop is sloped sideways some about 20 feet away from the shop door, so I don't have a great distance of level ground to back up and get the truck line up straight to get under the truck. I park the camper to the far side of the shop, which also makes it hard to get lined up because I have to watch my dually fender and truck mirror to keep from hitting the door opening on the shop. As a result, it takes multiple attempts to get straight under the camper.

The green carpeted spacer is used to keep the camper spaced back away from the front of the truck bed. Without that spacer, the rubber bumpers on the front of the camper will contact the sheet metal on the truck bed where the metal has an angle bend in it. If the bumpers were lower or higher, they would contact the front bed wall where the sheet metal is complete vertical.

Regardless of where the bumpers are attached, I still like the spacer idea because if the camper were to move with no spacer, the bumpers would put a lot of pressure at two points on the bed and could bend the sheet metal on the truck bed. The spacer distributes the pressure across the entire width of the truck bed.
With that said, my camper has never moved in the 8+ years I've traveled with it.

There's also a white stripe I painted down the center of the bed mat and a black piece of tape on the front of the camper marking the center to help get centered.

Loading my AF 811

[deltabravo]

SideHillSoup wrote:
Excellent idea with the tape down the middle of the rubber bed liner and the tape in the center of the camper wall facing the truck.

It's actually white paint.

Driving without the camper in the truck, the mat will shift some so I always recenter the mat before loading the camper.

[sljohnson1938]

there is a video on You Tube to check out.

go to You Tube and enter 'Truck Camper Hookup laser alignment.

[996Pilot]

I've got about 1-1/2 inches between each rear fender flare and each front camper jack (not much). I just back up and keep the fender flare/camper jack spacing centered as one passes by the other. Then keep the wheel straight and back up until done. I have a centering board at the front of the bed for any slight misalignment. This loads the camper precisely enough that I never have to adjust the fast guns. Just snap and go.

[SidecarFlip]

About the way I do it as well but I have a red paint stripe on the camper that I line up with my split rear window. I keep my wife at the backend to watch the swing on the back of the bed. It takes me a couple tries as well but unlike you, I have manual jacks.

[SideHillSoup]

Excellent idea with the tape down the middle of the rubber bed liner and the tape in the center of the camper wall facing the truck.
Been loading truck campers on and off my pickups at different times over 40 years.... never thought of that one.
That’s gets you a two thumbs up!
Soup.