Well first off, I just recently registered here on the site and am pretty excited about it, I have been camping the last 20 or so years and just recently purched a truck camper, I also have a 32' tag along. Camper that I have for my truck is a 2003 9.5' KZ Sportsman, getting ready next weekend to take it on my maiden voyage.
My question is this, I have a F250 4x4 and when I want to take my camper off I have to jack the camper up very high and it becomes unstable and makes me worry a great deal, don't know what else to do but jack it up and drive out then lower it, but it is at the top of the jacks when I get ready to pull out the truck, what are any of you doing different that I could try.
Thanks and looking forward to a great site. Rob
That's about the drill, mine goes all the way up too. Do it on a flat surface, in calm weather, with alacrity and you'll be fine. If you don't have electric jacks, an 18 volt battery drill works, or I just use a fairly hefty 1/2" power drill.
Brian
2003 Dodge Ram 2500 Quad Cab, Hemi, 5 speed manual, 3.73 gears, Tow Beast hitch with 24" extension.
28 ft race car hauler, Lola T440 Formula Ford, NTM MK4 Sports Racer
2004 Travel Hawk 8' Truck Camper - Roll at 16K combined weight
Rob, it's unnerving in the beginning for everyone. You'll gain confidence and experience less stress with practice. Each has a system to aid in squaring up the truck to the camper. I use one offered by Sterling in the blog, Where RV Now, Saucer Separation. It may be of interest to you.
Well Welcome to the world of truck camping. You are going thru the same concerns we all have. To understand the issues, you need to read a classic post authored by our moderator Brad. Check this out:
If you are setting the camper on supports that are up high, drive out part way, put the first support under the back of the camper, drive out some more, place the second, drive right out, then move the front one to the front of the camper. If you have a jack collapse, it will settle onto the supports.
It is very important to take each corner up in very small increments. That way the camper will flex a bit and all four jacks will stay in contact with the ground. It's also important that the jacks all go up straight. If one is skewed, it will put a lot of pressure on all the jack mounting bolts.
Mike and Carole
2000 Ford F350 SC PSD "Newman"
1994 Snowbird 8'10" "Rosietoo"
2005 16.6 Double Eagle
You'll get used to it being up so high after awhile and it won't bother you as much. Mine had to go up pretty high to get it on my 4x4 1-ton as well. Mine had hydraulic camper jacks and I just raised it about 3 or 4 pumps at a time in each corner, doing the left front - right front, then left rear - right rear. It takes awhile with only one person but don't get in a hurry and you will be fine. Don't worry, it won't fall over if you keep it fairly level.
You could put some tall blocks under the legs before you let it down then you would not have to go all the way up with the jacks. Like a 8x8 or something. I use to have to the same thing with my old camper and truck with manual jacks. Good luck have fun and enjoy the camper.
xnorp
Are your jacks bolted to your camper? I remember an old set of cable jacks I owned that just hooked under the camper, one on each side. They gave me the heebe jeebe's, but if the jacks are bolted to the camper, it's pretty rare for a camper to come crashing down. I've never had it happen to any one I've known directly.
Always a good approach to stay focused though. Congrats on the camper , I think you'll have a lot of fun.
It might seem tempting when lowering it to just crack the jacks and let it ease to the ground all around. Do not even think this will work. Just keep walking around and around and around, a bit at a time.
I have one jack that does not do any work on the way down. That one I leave cracked the tiniest amount, and that corner will only lower when one next to it is cracked. It's the lightest corner on the back.
If your jacks can reach without using blocks, it's better go without the blocks. I had to use blocks on mine cause the jacks just didn't go high enough. I used 12x12x4 blocks stacked 3 high under each jack to get enough height to get the camper on and off the truck. I would preferred to have done it without blocks as the jacks do tend to 'walk' a bit on top of the blocks so some attention is need to be paid to making sure the jack feet are still on the blocks.
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