Newbie questions

[RandMJacobs]

First off, I am a long time camper, but this is our first truck camper. If not for the owner raising this issue, I wouldn't be asking. Well, this is the son of the very elderly owner. He said not to fully extend the slide without a brace on the 2000 Lance 1161 he sold us...when it is on it jacks and off the truck. He also said to put some type of brace both under the slide and under the front cap when off the truck. Both sound overkill and unnecessary. I mean, I guess if we each weighed in the 400 lb range...then maybe. But my way of looking at it...if this camper is pushing 4000 lbs, I can't imagine a 225 lb and 130 lb couple risking tipping the trailer if both sitting in the dinette or both in the bed at the same time.

Am I wrong to feel any type of brace is unneeded?

Also, when camping and if we remove the camper, can I assume it doesn't hurt the camper to sit with all the weight on the jack's leg...I will lower to within about a foot off the ground. But what about when in longer term storage? I wouldn't think it would be good for the jacks to have all the weight on the jacks...what is the preferred way to leave the camper for longer storage? Could it sit on maybe 9 concete blocks spaced 3 across the front, 3 across the middle and 3 across the rear? (we just finished a construction project so have around 30 blocks we don't have plans for. Or is there a better way than the block.

I know I have a lot to learn and look forward to that, but these couple of questions are those that have cropped up in just the few hours we have owned this rig.

[billtex]

Kayteg1 wrote:

billtex wrote:
Have been using/storing TC’s on jacks for only twenty years. Have never had any issue. Maybe I’m doing something wrong but this is how the Mfrs and dealers store campers also.

You should be reasonably level (within ~2’) before deploying slide. I understand Lance is finicky about this. If door opens/closes you should be fine.

Your replay has no value without saying what size/weight camper you have.
There is going to be different story with 2000 lb TC having 15 gallons fresh water tank and 4500 lb TC with 35 gallons of fresh water pushing the floor down.

For those with reading comprehension beyond kindergarten, See camper in my sig.
The majority of TC’s are built to used on/off the truck.
We carry 55 gals total H2O. Typically leave home full as we don’t know where we will camp. That is almost 500lbs of water. Load/unload, leave it on jacks, leave it on truck, doesn’t matter. Only thing I pay attention to is try to get level with ~ 2”. Sometimes that doesn’t happen no matter how much shoveling I do.
Most important-get out and use your TC, you’ll figure it out as you go. Life is short.

[Kayteg1]

billtex wrote:
Have been using/storing TC’s on jacks for only twenty years. Have never had any issue. Maybe I’m doing something wrong but this is how the Mfrs and dealers store campers also.

You should be reasonably level (within ~2’) before deploying slide. I understand Lance is finicky about this. If door opens/closes you should be fine.

Your replay has no value without saying what size/weight camper you have.
There is going to be different story with 2000 lb TC having 15 gallons fresh water tank and 4500 lb TC with 35 gallons of fresh water pushing the floor down.

[Grit_dog]

JimK-NY wrote:
I would not store my camper for long periods of time solely supported by the jacks. Shaking from the wind is going to be hard on the jacks and supports. I put a stack of pallets under the camper to take up much of the weight. When off the truck the front of the camper should be even or higher than the back. If that is the case a pile of people could be in the overhang and the camper will still be stable.

Like Kayteg explained, some Lances had/have issues. There are enough campers out there to not buy one that has known issues.
But in general it is not an issue to store just on the jacks. At least not AF campers.
Our old AF sat on jacks only for many years and we used it, off the truck, on jacks many times.
No issue other than 17 years old, it finally cracked a fw tank support brace. Took a couple hours to fix it how it should have been built to start with.

[billtex]

Have been using/storing TC’s on jacks for only twenty years. Have never had any issue. Maybe I’m doing something wrong but this is how the Mfrs and dealers store campers also.

You should be reasonably level (within ~2’) before deploying slide. I understand Lance is finicky about this. If door opens/closes you should be fine.

[JohnJM]

AS JimK said I prefer the non shacking too. My camper becomes my little man cave in winter, I work on my fishing gear, tie flys, watch ball games, have a nice cigar a cocktail etc.......It gets me outta the house anyway and were all the happier for it. This winter ill take the jacks off and repaint the old ones and replace the dead one.

[JimK-NY]

I would not store my camper for long periods of time solely supported by the jacks. Shaking from the wind is going to be hard on the jacks and supports. I put a stack of pallets under the camper to take up much of the weight. When off the truck the front of the camper should be even or higher than the back. If that is the case a pile of people could be in the overhang and the camper will still be stable.

[JohnJM]

I recall that there some issues with slide outs in the begining but I dont really know.

As for unloading it and leaving it on the jacks, thats no problem. Its deigned for that. We have spent 100s of nights in the camper on the jacks alone. I will put additional support under the camper when we are home and it will be sitting a long time.

[Kayteg1]

It is not tipping over as 1161 does exceed 4000lb loaded.
But Lance did pretty poor engineering on this model, where there is not much frame under the slide.
Not only main frame is only 3/4 x 1.5" piece of hardwood, but there is no reinforcement in the corners, so there is a limit how much chunk of aluminium flashing and staples can hold.
Observe the front corner under the slide and whenever you have a chance - reinforce it. Lot of topics on this issue already, but there is metal channel under the slide, who end 2" before reaching the corner, where you have steel channel holding the jacks.
Adding steel bracket connecting the 2 will be great improvement in camper integrity.
I went as far as removing the 3" stripe of siding under the slide and adding 3" aluminium angle channel to keep the floor from sagging.
When leaving camper on jacks - also observe front floor. With full water tank and aged frame- the weight of the tank can start floor separation. I always support front wall, what not only helped structurally, but prevent camper from swinging when we enter.

[TxGearhead]

I used concrete blocks for awhile, but found that 6x6 wood about 16" long with a 4x4 on top and across the bottom of the camper is easier to move around. Three supports under the camper...front edge, in front of the wings, and as far to the rear as possible. I have to move all but the far rear supports to load and unload and that concrete gets heavy.

[RandMJacobs]

bwlyon wrote:
I think the previous owner was a bit of an extremely cautious type person. We have an aluminum framed Chalet camper with a slide and never has it crossed our mind to brace the slide when it is out, or the cab over when the camper is off the truck. We sleep in the overhead with the camper off the truck and have the slide out as well. As far as using blocks under the camper to store it, we let the weight of the camper rest on the jacks. With that said there is nothing wrong with using concrete blocks and resting the camper on the blocks with just a little pressure on the jacks.

Since I have obviously been shopping for a TC, I have come across quite a few TC pictures with the TC being stored on some type of frame or other support. Since the jacks are electric (vice hydraulic), I can't think of any potential harm to the jack itself, but the concern would be more to the point where it connects to TC itself. I am hoping to be able to store the camper inside my shop over the summer and will probably just rest the base on the concrete floor, but with some, albeit minimal, pressure on the jacks. Thanks for your reply.

[bwlyon]

I think the previous owner was a bit of an extremely cautious type person. We have an aluminum framed Chalet camper with a slide and never has it crossed our mind to brace the slide when it is out, or the cab over when the camper is off the truck. We sleep in the overhead with the camper off the truck and have the slide out as well. As far as using blocks under the camper to store it, we let the weight of the camper rest on the jacks. With that said there is nothing wrong with using concrete blocks and resting the camper on the blocks with just a little pressure on the jacks.