My Camper is Moving Sideways in my P/U Bed

Plastic bedliner = Teflon coating.

The camper won't stick to the truck or your money back. Guaranteed!

I have my camper off the truck at my intermediate destination, and plan to build a duplicate in the next few days!

If you look closely at the picture you will see that I did mine in three pieces: one is 4 ft long and about 5 ft wide at the front, extending to the bed sides to make sure it doesn't shift sideways. The other two are left and right halves about 5 ft long aft. The aft pieces overhang the end of the bed by about 8" to ease the 'hard edge' at the end of the bed. That ends up taking 3 pieces of plywood (with a bunch left over) if you don't want more joints. I did it that way so it would lock into place and still each piece be small enough to carry. But there are plenty of variations on this theme. I only allowed about a half inch total sideways clearance (the Bigfoot has rounded corners which effectively adds a bit to that), and it helps as a guide to getting it lined up perfectly when you put the camper on. If you are traveling it is pretty easy to knock that together in a Home Depot parking lot with a battery powered sawsall. In finishing mine, I lined the rails on the sides with 1/4" polyethylene sheet material - but I don't think that was really necessary at all. The camper doesn't seem to rub much on the rails.

Like you, I liked the poly bed liner for its protection, starting again I would have kept it. In fact I may put it back in one day...

Wow!!

THAT is the simplest solution YET, and I like it the BEST.

I was thinking of using angle iron (bolted to the bed floor) with carpeted wood on the inside to protect the BF's gel coat.

But simply form-fitting two pieces of plywood into the bottom and gluing/screwing 2X2s to the plywood is GREAT!

It's intuitive, though I didn't think of it, and my bed liner won't interfere if I choose to drive home w/ it and remove it there.

I've carried all manner of really bad (sharp) stuff in my truck, and the bed liner has been bullet-proof, and allows stuff to slide easily (if I want) or not if I use the thick rubber liner on top.

Not sayin' they're perfect, but they're not all bed, either.

Bob

I have carried two Bigfoot campers in my F350 (not at the same time!). I had a plastic liner in for the first one (9.6) with a 2" platform on top. It didn't move much. The 10.4 Bigfoot seemed to move more, and on the advice of people on this forum I removed the plastic liner and put in Line-X. The camper moves just as much with Line-X as it did on the plastic liner. The camper sat on a rubber pad in both cases. I had it move quite a lot on one particular trip, heavy crosswind bumpy two lane with semis blowing by the other direction. I ended up making a 3/4" plywood platform that fit the bed of the truck pretty close so it wouldn't move, and putting low rails on it to keep the camper in place. This has been completely successful.

Conclusion: 1) there was no difference in camper shifting between the poly bed liner and the Line-X.

2) A rubber pad might help, but will not always solve the problem.

3) Line-X is nice paint, but is expensive does not protect the bed like a poly liner will.

4) Especially since you need the 2" platform anyway, just add to it so that it is corralled by the bed and won't move, and put low rails on it (2" high is plenty, these are 1.5") so that the camper cannot move on it.

This is all you need:



As an aside: if you put a poly liner in a pickup, you need a liner liner. This is 1/8 inch polyethylene foam sheet, under the poly liner (accessory stores sell it, or you can just buy the material). It keeps the dust and grit from destroying the paint on the bed. My poly liner was installed by the dealer when I picked up my new truck. I took it home and immediately installed the liner liner under it. When I removed the poly liner at 13 years old and 83,000 miles, the bed looked like it had just come from the showroom. There were only two or three very small places (far less than 1 sq in total area) where the liner liner was rubbed through and the paint was worn to shiny metal. Everywhere else the paint was perfect. This is the 3rd truck I have done this to with the same result (first one I owned had no liner liner and the liner ate the paint). At this point I regret paying for the Line-X- cost money, does not protect the bed very well, and solved no problem.

10-4. Thanks!

The Mad Norsky wrote:
kerry4951:

what type of rubber did you use??? And how did you attach it???

I have just one small rub spot on my SnowRiver from those same Lance guides.

Saw your photo and an AHA! moment ensued.

Glued down to the top side of the guide I am guessing here.

But anyway, main question is where did you get those rubber strips?????

Myself, I was thinking of an old bicycle tire, but unsure if that would work.

I dont recall what specific rubber that I used. I know I had a piece lying around the shop. I would equate it to something like the harder rubber used for the rubber truck floor bed mats that most of us have. I use "The Gluesmith" industrial adhesive glue. Its a cyanoacrylate product that Ive been using for years and would not be without it.You can find it on: www.thegluesmith.com

I have the same issue. I put two pieces of 6x6x12" blocks in each corner of the front. Works great and they aren't permanent..

kerry4951:

what type of rubber did you use??? And how did you attach it???

I have just one small rub spot on my SnowRiver from those same Lance guides.

Saw your photo and an AHA! moment ensued.

Glued down to the top side of the guide I am guessing here.

But anyway, main question is where did you get those rubber strips?????

Myself, I was thinking of an old bicycle tire, but unsure if that would work.

Seems like all the things being considered are way harder than just taking that plastic bed liner out! It's not so hard and you can just trash it. You will be lucky if you can give one of the things away on craigslist anyway.