Ski Pro 3
Placerville area
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Joined: 06/15/2012
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My 2006 Dodge RAM diesel short bed is the same way; shallow at the cab, deeper at the tail gate. It really bothered me, the way it looked so I did something about it.
I used a full length rubber bed mat made for my short bed truck and cut the front 1/3 off and laid that over the end close to the tail gate. This made the bed a 3-step level with 2 layers of rubber mat at the tail gate, 1 layer in the middle and zero layers near the cab. This made it so the camper was now even with the side rail of the bed. Measuring between the camper and the top of the bed is now within 1/4" front to back. The rubber flexes and gives so the load is pretty much even across the bottom of the camper.
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kohldad
Goose Creek, SC
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Joined: 07/20/2004
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You are asking for problems supporting with a piece of plywood that doesn't give. As mentioned, it is the truck bed rails that taper. If the look really bothers you, then I would make a platform that supports the entire bottom of the camper that is tapered the entire length to match the bed rail taper.
I'm not OCD about so have no problem with the difference in gap between the camper and truck bed rail. I'm engineer so once I saw the gap and new what was causing the difference, it no longers bothers me.
2015 Ram 3500 4x4 Crew Cab SRW 6.4 Hemi LB 3.73 (12.4 hand calc avg mpg after 92,000 miles with camper)
2004 Lance 815 (prev: 2004 FW 35'; 1994 TT 30'; Tents)
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Supercharged111
Colorado Springs, CO
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Joined: 06/09/2013
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I don't think the 97 bed is crowned, I'd have to take a straight edge to it to be sure as was mentioned. I also used my planer to taper the edge. If I'm only using the 1 piece, I'm thinking the shorter one will be better. I thought more people had done the shimming, I do like the stepped semi mudflap idea though. I'll have to check again, but I don't think the rails are tapered either.
2007 Lance 1131
1997 GMC K3500 crew cab supercharged dually
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mkirsch
Rochester, NY
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Joined: 04/09/2004
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If the crown was the problem, you'd notice the camper rocking fore and aft over the crown.
There's no magic. Your camper is sagging in the rear, or is flexing the truck bed.
With your truck being 24 years old and the camper being 14 years old, it is possible the something is getting fatigued.
Putting 10-ply tires on half ton trucks since aught-four.
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Grit dog
Black Diamond, WA
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Joined: 05/06/2013
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Supercharged111 wrote:I don't think the 97 bed is crowned, I'd have to take a straight edge to it to be sure as was mentioned. I also used my planer to taper the edge. If I'm only using the 1 piece, I'm thinking the shorter one will be better. I thought more people had done the shimming, I do like the stepped semi mudflap idea though. I'll have to check again, but I don't think the rails are tapered either.
If you're going through all this trouble, why not just measure the depth of the truck bed and the depth of the camper and see which one is not parallel front to back?
Presume it's the truck. Same thing on our old Dodge and doesn't affect anything, functionally.
But if the aesthetics bothers you, then I suppose your planed super duper wedge is the best option as it provides a good deal of support?
That said, IMO this is a solution looking for a problem.
2016 Ram 2500, MotorOps.ca EFIlive tuned, 5” turbo back, 6" lift on 37s
2017 Heartland Torque T29 - Sold.
Couple of Arctic Fox TCs - Sold
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Avid Fox
On the road often.
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Joined: 04/13/2021
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My Ford SD 350 bedrails are higher at the back than the front, so it does look tail heavy with TC on. Bed is also crowned some, about .5" or so just in front of rear axle. Rubber shims at the tail made it feel less rocking horse like.
It's annoying, but not troublesome.
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notsobigjoe
southeast
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Joined: 09/15/2016
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Slymer wrote:Ours always looked tilted too & it made no sense. Finally figured out something. Take a 5 ft board & put it across both bedrails, just behind the back window. Now take a measurement from the bottom of that board to the truck bed. Now take that board and move it back just forward of the tailgate & take that measurement again. On our 2011 F350 there was almost an inch difference if I remember rightly. Basically a manufactured optical illusion. No idea why, so I just got used to it.
Mine too, I'm gonna try that this weekend. Thanks
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Longshore
California
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Joined: 08/07/2018
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I checked my 2015 GMC 3500 and yup a four foot level rocks about 1/8" centered over the drive axle. You can't really see it till you get down and look straight up the floor of the bed. But with a one inch stall mat would this be an issue?
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Geo*Boy
Unknown
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Joined: 04/27/2020
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Longshore wrote:I checked my 2015 GMC 3500 and yup a four foot level rocks about 1/8" centered over the drive axle. You can't really see it till you get down and look straight up the floor of the bed. But with a one inch stall mat would this be an issue?
There is a 1/2” difference on a long bed. I placed a 20” wide X 1/2” thick piece of rubber mat across the back of my 2015 GMC 3500 bed, on top of my bed mat, and it took the rocking motion out of my TC.
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Longshore
California
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I have the short bed I guess I can find mud flaps and slide them under the mat front and back. I did notice a pretty good rock backwards when stopping, but the truck was real low on the back and I thought that was the cause.
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