Forum Discussion

r47smiley's avatar
r47smiley
Explorer
Jul 29, 2018

Uneven ground

What are you all doing (if anything at all) when you're camping in your TC off the truck and the ground isn't level?leveling the camper with the jacks is one thing but since the bases of the jacks on the attwoods are rigid, force seems to be put on them to want to torque the jack into or away from the camper.

Carrying tapered blocks was my only thought.

Rob
  • tuna fisher wrote:
    That's what shovel and madox are for....


    At least a shovel..I would not do it unless the jack pads were level making the jack pads level, even if the legs were at different heights..
  • Front to back, I,ve gone to 6"-8", left to right 3"-4" is my max, and it better be a rock solid surface.
  • Thanks all. Happy Sunday! I think cutting a few shims will give me good peace of mind. Might be a bit OCD, but that never hurts.
  • Grit dog wrote:
    And when leveling it up after off the truck, always run 2 jacks simultaneous in line so your not putting undue weight on one Jack.

    Easier say, than done.
    Both of my campers have jacks with different speeds.
    To the degree that when I press central button and let it raise or lower by 1 foot, I always find one of rear feet about 2" above the pad. That on top of about 1" flex the camper is giving.
    Beside levels glued on camper, I also use android bubble level to check.
  • And when leveling it up after off the truck, always run 2 jacks simultaneous in line so your not putting undue weight on one Jack.
  • Couple things when unloading on a slope in any direction, it's way easier to load it back up if you take note of the angles both directions (and height). Then you can preset the camper to exactly how the truck will be.
    I don't worry about shimming the Jack pads level unless over 3? Deg. Otherwise, yeah if you know your going to be on significant slopes if just bring some shims. Don't need to be wedges. Good plywood pads and then some 2x4s blocks to level the pads up.

    Bottom line is (within reason) as long as it isn't too steep that sliding is a concern, if the pads are level you're fine.
  • By uneven I do mean a slope. It is moderate but the uneven pressure on the bases of the jack pads has me looking for a solution.

    I like taking the TC off so it is easier for my 4 year old to get in and less of a hassle for launching the boat each day.

    The TC will stay on the truck when we aren't boating.
  • I don't think I would drop the camper on slope bigger than 4".
    Even at 4" the weight of camper tilts the legs and since I have 3" clearance between legs and fenders, moving the truck under tilted camper becomes a challenge.
    Than you have to drive over camper foot on 1 side, so without even support under the foot, that can be recipe for a disaster.
    Than my camper scaled 6000lb, sure with short camper you can take more slope.
  • I guess it depends on the definition of "uneven." If it is relatively flat overall grade but 2 or more corners are not at the same elevation as the odd jack, then I use just only the minimum number of blocking items such as 2x10's, 6x6's, or screwed together multiples of 2x12's.

    If by "uneven" you mean sloped then it really depends on the severity of the angle. For me, a slope of more than 6" on the side-to-side direction is too much. If it is sloped on the long axis then I am going to stay as far away from 10" difference as best I can.

    Rarely do ever sleep in the camper when it is off the truck. In those few occasions, when I do, the TC is on level ground or I not staying in it.