Is there an easy way to align the front of the camper?

[bkenobi]

I've had my TC for a few months now and am getting better with load times. I found that if I get it close at the back, I can center it perfectly by having someone push on the side in the last inch of lowering it. An even easier way is to use 2 air bags (the type used on car doors for lock outs) between the TC side and the rail.

The part I'm still struggling with is nailing the front spacing (side to side). I can get within a couple inches, but it seems like there should be some method to adjust that last little bit. Anyone have recommendations?

[mountainkowboy]

adamis wrote:

mountainkowboy wrote:

GeoBoy wrote:
When I bought my first TC in 2006 the dealer showed me how to load it. To get it perfectly even all around he took a dead blow sledgehammer, a 2x6 and placed the wood against the base of the jack leg and gave it a good wack. Went around to the other leg and hit it in the direction he wanted the camper to move. I can get my camper to within 1/8” to perfect with his method.

I watched a guy at the dealer straighten it out by leaning and pushing on the corners, it was dead straight.

By dead straight, did you take a tape measure and measure it or did you eye ball it? Each one of us has a different measure of what "dead straight" means. For some of us, being off an inch or two wouldn't bother us in the slightest, for others of us, anything greater than 1/4" is too much. Neither is right and neither is wrong so long as the camper stays on the truck from point A to point B.

Being an engineer with borderline perfectionist tendencies I've personally tried to push on a camper to get that last 1/4" but found I can't exert enough sideways pressure to really be effective. Taking a hammer to the legs could work if you are just tapping it 1/2" at a time but it is putting stress on something already under a lot of stress. It is surprising to me that there does not appear to be products on the market to address this problem (hence why I've been thinking of developing my own).

he would lean and lower, lift and do it again...it was within 1/2". If thats not close enough....you shouldnt have a TC.

[GeoBoy]

Kayteg1 wrote:
When I have my over 3 tons TC high on the jacks, I don't allow anybody to get close to it, even less pound the legs with sledge hammer.
When the jack legs seem to hold OK, on both campers I bought, I had to straight up the dually brackets and foot rings.

I only fine tune the TC in the truck bed before I lower it. There is no way a 3 ton TC is going to fall over when it is completely in the bed of the truck.

[adamis]

mountainkowboy wrote:

GeoBoy wrote:
When I bought my first TC in 2006 the dealer showed me how to load it. To get it perfectly even all around he took a dead blow sledgehammer, a 2x6 and placed the wood against the base of the jack leg and gave it a good wack. Went around to the other leg and hit it in the direction he wanted the camper to move. I can get my camper to within 1/8” to perfect with his method.

I watched a guy at the dealer straighten it out by leaning and pushing on the corners, it was dead straight.

By dead straight, did you take a tape measure and measure it or did you eye ball it? Each one of us has a different measure of what "dead straight" means. For some of us, being off an inch or two wouldn't bother us in the slightest, for others of us, anything greater than 1/4" is too much. Neither is right and neither is wrong so long as the camper stays on the truck from point A to point B.

Being an engineer with borderline perfectionist tendencies I've personally tried to push on a camper to get that last 1/4" but found I can't exert enough sideways pressure to really be effective. Taking a hammer to the legs could work if you are just tapping it 1/2" at a time but it is putting stress on something already under a lot of stress. It is surprising to me that there does not appear to be products on the market to address this problem (hence why I've been thinking of developing my own).

[mountainkowboy]

GeoBoy wrote:
When I bought my first TC in 2006 the dealer showed me how to load it. To get it perfectly even all around he took a dead blow sledgehammer, a 2x6 and placed the wood against the base of the jack leg and gave it a good wack. Went around to the other leg and hit it in the direction he wanted the camper to move. I can get my camper to within 1/8” to perfect with his method.

I watched a guy at the dealer straighten it out by leaning and pushing on the corners, it was dead straight.

[Kayteg1]

When I have my over 3 tons TC high on the jacks, I don't allow anybody to get close to it, even less pound the legs with sledge hammer.
When the jack legs seem to hold OK, on both campers I bought, I had to straight up the dually brackets and foot rings.

[GeoBoy]

When I bought my first TC in 2006 the dealer showed me how to load it. To get it perfectly even all around he took a dead blow sledgehammer, a 2x6 and placed the wood against the base of the jack leg and gave it a good wack. Went around to the other leg and hit it in the direction he wanted the camper to move. I can get my camper to within 1/8” to perfect with his method.

[adamis]

Kayteg1 wrote:
When I don't think stainless steel plate will be gentle on the camper finish, I had vertical guides in the past and now have horizontal guides I pictured above.
Took my camper off after last trip and the fir shows pretty extensive rubbing on it, so I am thinking of going back to horizontal guides. They have limited guidance, so you have to get the camper within 1", but then they seem to work better.
For my rear guides I used ape wood, what is very dense wood and that seems to work best. I have some more scraps of it, so will try to use it on front as well.
The biggest problem I have on new truck is that the sides of the bed leave very small gaps, so I don't see final point where camper sets on the bed. Sometimes I have to squeeze phone camera in the gap to take a picture and see where it goes.

I should have clarified that the stainless plate would be covered by whatever rubber matt or foam / plywood is used to keep the camper from moving and raise it to the proper height to clear the cab. Ideally if the concept works as I intend, there would be zero movement of the camper.

Perhaps this winter I'll be able to work on the design enough to put together a prototype.

[SidecarFlip]

I have to say that after 32 years of driving tractor trailers and backing them into some horrendous spots, I'm pretty good at backing under the camper but on a scale of difficulty 1-10, getting under the camper consistently straight and equal side to side rates about a 9 out of 10.

[Kayteg1]

When I don't think stainless steel plate will be gentle on the camper finish, I had vertical guides in the past and now have horizontal guides I pictured above.
Took my camper off after last trip and the fir shows pretty extensive rubbing on it, so I am thinking of going back to horizontal guides. They have limited guidance, so you have to get the camper within 1", but then they seem to work better.
For my rear guides I used ape wood, what is very dense wood and that seems to work best. I have some more scraps of it, so will try to use it on front as well.
The biggest problem I have on new truck is that the sides of the bed leave very small gaps, so I don't see final point where camper sets on the bed. Sometimes I have to squeeze phone camera in the gap to take a picture and see where it goes.

[adamis]

Being a perfectionist and an engineer, I actually get a tape measure out and measure all four corners to ensure I'm within 1/2" of alignment all around. What I have found is that it is easy to get the front OR the back evenly aligned side to side but getting BOTH front AND back aligned is very difficult because turning the truck affects alignment in both places.

Being in the manufacturing business, I it is on my todo list to build alignment guides that utilize the bed bolts in the truck with two flat plates of 12g stainless steel that fits under the camper side to side (one front and one back) and angled vertical guides that attach to the flat plate on either side with padding so when the camper is lowered, it self guides into place (assuming you have it reasonably close so as not to put too much pressure on the jacks). Many people have done this same thing with 2x4s, so it's not a unique idea but having something that bolts into the bed of the truck (and is removable when not needed) I think is what would separate this idea from a home built system out of wood.

In addition to the above idea, I have in mind to build casters that attach to the bottom of my jacks. What I would do differntly however is that I would not have castors that pivot, just straight casters and they would be mounted for side to side movement (truck bed is North/South but casters on camper allow movement East/West). With the casters aligned East/West (and non-pivoting) it is a matter of backing the truck close enough and then to roll the camper side to side so that the receiving metal guides in the bed will do the rest.

I think the system would work well and it is on the todo list to design and build but my time is pressed in other locations right now.

[mountainkowboy]

This is what I use...4' dowels in aluminum conduit attached to the sides. They just slide back into the conduit as it loads.

[Kayteg1]

bkenobi wrote:
This might be slightly overkill, but I thought some might appreciate it.

https://youtu.be/iIccu9lvkI4

The owner of the lift would definitely benefit from hand-cranking.
He grabs the camper by higher sides. Don't think you can do it on models with slide.

[bkenobi]

This might be slightly overkill, but I thought some might appreciate it.

https://youtu.be/iIccu9lvkI4

[okan-star]

I have happijack pad - bumpers at the front , mounted on steel angle on my flat bed and short pieces of angle in the rear that the camper drops in between , its in exactly the same place in the bed every time , I don't have to re-adjust the fast guns

Try this : after backing about less than a foot to the front of the box ,to about where you would to hook up the power cord , assuming you have the connection in the front of the bed , if you notice the front of the camper needs to go to one side , crank the truck wheels all the way that way and back up , that will pivot the camper in the bed at the front only ,to get the front where you want , if the back is now not centered , amusing your jack controller reaches , push on - lean on that jack until the camper starts to contact the bed when you bring it down
Repeat a few hundred times

Now that they make a truck that backs a boat down a ramp by itself , how long until it drives under a camper , I`d rather do it myself