Traveling without Jacks - contingency plan?

[flyte63]

For those that travel without jacks mounted on the their slide-in truck campers, do you have a contingency plan for how to get the camper off the truck if needed unexpectedly?

[ADA6969]

Had mine off for 10 years and carried them on my trailers underside. Good for going threw ditches and sharp turns. When sold that camper the jacks were trashed but still worked. Next time I would cover them

[kohldad]

The only decent contingency plan is to have them stored in a location where a friend could grab them in a pinch and ship them to you. With my Lance, if I were to travel without them, I could in a pinch get a set from lots of places shipped in 2-4 days but would run about $800 to do so.

I don't really see the saving of 150 pounds worth the possible inconvenience. Need a water pump changed in the middle of nowhere small gas station, may only be able to get it done if you take the camper off. Even a number of car dealerships won't be able to get to it without insisting you take the camper off. What may have been a day or two inconvenience becomes a week plus simply because you can't unload the camper. What about if the truck gets in a wreck where you have to buy another vehicle to get home? At least with the jacks, I can always unload the camper, usually in the mechanics parking lot, through some pallets under it for support/stability, and stay in it for a few days while the vehicle is being repaired.

As a kid we travel in a '69 Franklin which had the jacks twist up but stick outside the camper. We traveled all over the place, my father even took it out west a couple of times. Having the jacks on was never an issue despite going through some nasty place.

[notsobigjoe]

I understand about the weight thing and being in the way. On Dad's Beeline they used to remove from the vertical up and down position to a horizontal position and hang on a hook on the side underneath the wings. Between me and my wife it took maybe 15 minutes with a 9/16 wrench and socket and 3/8" nuts and bolts. There were three of them. I would at least throw them behind a seat or something out of the way cause of murphy's law and take some weight off elsewhere. JMHO Good question though! Joe

[Kayteg1]

Beside obvious use of those jacks, I always lower rears even for longer lunch stop.
That prevent camper rocking when 1 of us moves around.
Was observing neighbors in smaller camper, where energetic husband was just jumping the rear step.
His wife had to hold plates on the table with those maneuvers.

[Grit_dog]

Presuming you can’t camp in the camper while it’s sitting on jacks only, there’s really no advantage to having them
Imo only 2 reasons to take camper off during a trip.
1. Convenience of using the truck without camper If camping longer term somewhere.
2. Using the camper if the truck breaks down and gets towed to a shop.

IMO, weight is not really a consideration. 150lbs either doesn’t matter, or if it does, you have bigger issues to solve.

[flyte63]

I’m just kicking the idea of leaving them home around a bit, but there are a couple of reasons why. Yes, this is in regards to my 1965 Avion with manual jacks. First is weight, the 4 jacks with tripod bases and extensions come in around 150lbs. Second is that when traveling they are the widest protrusions on the camper itself, however obviously not wider than the trucks mirrors. They are rotated up when traveling like ticki describes, which makes them less likely to catch on anything than those that are fixed vertically. Third is that is that we don’t expect to de-mount the camper during typical use, the only use they would get might be to act as stabilizers at a campsite.

Posting here was to see what others are doing, so far sounds like they should go with us.
Someplace online I’ve seen references to renting jacks if needed, but I am not sure what I might find as a typical thing to rent that could do the job?

Thanks for sharing your experience on this,

[stevenal]

If I recall correctly, Outfitter will build a camper with a two position jack. Perhaps you could fab something similar. Simply re-bolt to the lower position prior to camper removal, after travelling rutted roads in the higher position.

Although the doors open up tall enough, the lifts in the service bays of my local Ford dealer cannot accomodate my truck with the camper aboard. I would not travel without jacks.

[ticki2]

I assume you are talking about the manual jacks for your Avion C10 . Unfortunately there really is no good contingency plan with no jacks . Some people risk it . I made a rack/bumper/spacer out of 2x8 to fit between camper and headboard . I have an 8’-6” flatbed so had that space reguardless . By placing the jacks there it helped the overall weight distribution . On a regular pickup bed it may not be as good . In my situation they would interfere with the side doors on the flatbed and I leave the camper on for the season . The are meant to swing up along the side by removing one bolt fro
M the bracket . What is your motive for removing?

[Grit_dog]

Either leave them on or pretend you are driving a motorhome. Because you are at that point. There’s no feasible “contingency plan.”

[d3500ram]

I have taken my jacks off but it was solely to prevent possible damage in a very gnarly, snotty-muddy, rutted off-road situation one time in a late season hunt when several inches of snow came down and I had to get up and out of a valley.

If I had slipped off one of the ruts into the side embankment it would have damaged the camper whereas without the jacks it might have only damaged some of the truck body. I was picking the lesser of two evils... thankfully no damage to anything as 4WD low and chains on all four kept me on the straight, steep and narrow.

But I put those jacks inside the back of the cab! If OP is considering taking off the jacks for saving weight, then my story does not apply.

When it comes to camper jacks, it is better on the road to have and not need them as opposed to the verse-visa. JMHO.

[swhunter]

I agree with jimh425. I have never had reason to take off the jacks. They have never been in the way and they are there when needed.

[jimh406]

I wouldn’t do that. There is essentially no way to take the camper off unless it is an extremely light one.

Just wondering, why are you considering going without jacks?