Raising TC Off Bed

[Go_for_Broke]

Newbie here with a question about my first truck camper.

I have read that you can add rubber mat to the floor of the truck bed to raise the TC. This appears primarily to keep the shelf from contacting the roof of the truck.

So far, so good.

I would then assume that some sort of support would be added to the bed rails to support the TC full width.

Here are my questions:

What is a good material?
Should they be the full length of the bed rails?
Should they also span the width of the bed immediately behind the cab?
Should this supports be attached or are they retained by the weight of the TC?
Is a problem with water leaking around and filling the truck bed?
Anything else I should know about this technique?

Thanks Y’all,

[ajriding]

Im terribly sorry girtdog, I must have gotten lost in all the post. Thanks for policing the forum so constantly and making sure we do not make errors, glad you can be so analytical at the same time.

[Grit_dog]

^ If you re-read his post on the previous page, he says what camper and truck it is, and none of the potential issues you're talking about are issues with his setup.

[ajriding]

You have a 6 foot bed (hopefully not a 5) and putting an 8 foot (bed) camper on it?
Good luck.
This kind-of negates couple of the benefits of a TC like being able to tow or taking it off road. Hard to do either with 2 extra feet hanging off the back, TCs already typically have about 20 inches hanging off, so are you going to have 44 inches?
Lot of weight behind the rear axle, so load all weight up to the front.
Your rear tie-down point on camper will be way back there too, so your front one will not be tension balanced, the tie down will pull camper into the front bed rail.
Whatever the seller has for tie down points will not do you much good unless he has the exact same truck. On a normal setup you can get away with good brackets at the front and lesser ones like buttons on the bumper at the rear, but with your 44 inches thing all bets off.
Tork lift makes very good bolt-on brackets for the truck, expenisive, but well worth it unless you are good at steel fabrication and have time.

[AnEv942]

My question was curiosity on 20" shorter bed and wheel base with an 8' camper.
May or may not be and issue,
the way truck handles
rear tiedown angle
structure of camper (does it care if last foot and a half unsupported)

[Grit_dog]

Go for Broke wrote:
AnEv942 - Waiting to see what the TC comes with. It is being delivery on its current truck and then off loaded to the ground. Inspection, repair, cleaning from there. Still have time before Spring camping season starts.

What are your thoughts on weight distribution-support and rear tie downs?

You bought an old camper sight unseen?
Hope it’s in the condition you’re expecting...

Rear Tie downs, bumper buttons, torklift brackets or fab something off of the trucks hitch tube. You already have front but not rear tiedown brackets?
Don’t understand weight distribution question. In the truck bed, truck suspension, sitting on jacks? What are ya after?
You probably can’t wait for your camper to arrive?

[mkirsch]

Don't expect a rubber mat to raise the camper appreciably. If you have cabover/roof interference you want MULTIPLE INCHES, not a fraction of an inch.

Lots of threads on raising a camper in the bed of a truck on here. Plywood, 2x4s, rigid insulation foam, combinations thereof...

[Go_for_Broke]

AnEv942 - Waiting to see what the TC comes with. It is being delivery on its current truck and then off loaded to the ground. Inspection, repair, cleaning from there. Still have time before Spring camping season starts.

What are your thoughts on weight distribution-support and rear tie downs?

[AnEv942]

Go for Broke wrote:
...
AnEv942 - No. The two are not even in the same town yet. You must have a reason for asking, so please feel free to elaborate. "Rhino skin" here.
...

Just curious about weight distribution-support of camper and rear tie downs?

[KD4UPL]

You don't want the camper supported by anything other than the truck bed floor. It shouldn't touch the bed rails, tailgate, cab roof, or anything else.

[Go_for_Broke]

ALL - 99 F-350, extended cab, short bed, SRW. 2000 S&S Bitterroot 8SC. As for this combination, it is either this or something completely different.

ajriding - I've seen pictures some where and it seems a very savvy idea.

AnEv942 - No. The two are not even in the same town yet. You must have a reason for asking, so please feel free to elaborate. "Rhino skin" here.

ALL OTHER - Great info!

[ajriding]

You either have a Ford truck or a really old TC. Fords have tall cabs, and old TCs were made when all trucks had low cabs…

I use a super cheap floor mat rubber, probably made from old car tires. All the mat does is keep the TC from sliding around on the slippery metal bed. The horse mats are ideal as they are thick and you should get much less slide than a thin mat.

Look up on theTC forum about supporting the camper when it is off. Many use an "X" support made from one piece of plywood. How to make will be in many post, and the pic tells it all, but you put that 3/4 inch plywood, now 4 pieces of plywood, laying flat under the TC when on the truck, so take it with you. you get 3/4 inch extra height, and you have a base stand with you at all times just in case.
You still need a rubber mat, so that is extra height even.
HD can cut the wood in 4 pieces for you but I doubt they can make the cut that makes it work into an X.

Basically you cut a slot half way through each piece so the two halves can slide together making an X.
Im having trouble searching for it, so you may have to browse down the TC list.

On mine, I put the rubber mat on the truck bed, the wood on that, and the TC on the wood, then I used that foam-like rubber floor mat on top of the wood to keep camper from sliding on the wood (since mine is a fiberglass belly).

[Kayteg1]

I had to raise my Lance 3" to clear the roof lights and the rails on new F350.
All you need is "perimeter" support. Meaning only edge of the camper needs support. I used 2.5x6" planks and used screws to hold them around the edges of standard sheet of 1/2" plywood.

[Geewizard]

time2retire wrote:
I had to add height to the TC because the bed overhang touches the running lights on my truck cab. I used 2" thick Foamular 250 high density extruded polystyrene. It works perfectly. It also allows me to reach in over the bed rails to utilize for storage (fishing poles, umbrellas, furniture in a bag, etc.).

Ditto here but not because of running lights but my newer Tundra had higher bed sides than my older Tundra.

[AnEv942]

It would be helpful if info on truck and camper were included in your questions. From other current post stated an S&S 8Sc camper on F350.
pic of a '99 S&S

This camper designed to set on floor, should not contact the top of bed rails.
Primary purpose of a bed mat is to help camper from sliding, some compensation of uneven surface. Use for height, as most are only 3/8-1/2" thick, marginal. And you do want a gap between truck roof and camper.
Have you driven this short bed truck with the 8' camper on?