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Rotaxxx's avatar
Rotaxxx
Explorer
Jul 29, 2018

Metal spacers on bottom of camper

Just to make this short, I have fifth wheel rails in my truck to pull our fifth wheel. And we just got our truck camper for taking on long trips to the mountains, however one of the metal spacers screwed the bottom of the floor is right where my rail is in my truck. Theres just two screws per side holding it on and I was just going to move it ahead about 6". I just wasn't sure if they are placed where they are for structural support, or just there to lift the camper up a bit to let air flow under it. Will I be ok to move it? Thanks all.

And before anyone asks, yes the hight of the spacer is higher then the rails sticking up from the box.
  • Kayteg1 wrote:
    x2 on hard to visualize the issue, but metal should be last material for spacers under the camper.
    You want material with high friction like rubber mat or wood.


    Not really. My 14 Backpack has 3 roll formed metal rails screwed to the bottom running parallel to the bed and 2 running crosswise, one in the front and one in the back

    and... unlike the majority of posters on here, I've never run a bed mat in the bed and never had had an issue with the camper sliding around and I run off road in camber and elevation situations constantly. It's metal to Line-X on the bottom and always has been. In fact, my Lance rode on it for years and it never moved either.

    My view is, movement has more to do with the angle of the tie down hardware than any bed mat.

    I believe he could remove the in the way roll formed rail and be done with it, understanding however, that the off the truck capability of the unit might suffer a bit.

    Your mileage my differ, but my mileage is just fine.
  • An option would be to remove all of the metal spacers and then use foam or plywood pieces to make a platform to clear the FW rails. Would actually give you better overall support.
  • My guess is an old TC has spacers to raise it higher. I have no idea if there are supports 6 inches to the side or not. If you miss, I suppose you could hit something important.

    I'd probably take a look under the floor to make sure. Maybe you can look from an outside opening.
  • x2 on hard to visualize the issue, but metal should be last material for spacers under the camper.
    You want material with high friction like rubber mat or wood.