Dangerous Twisting of Jacks When raising and Loading Alaskan 10 CO on my Ford Long bed

[Dbcasterson@gmail.com]

I have had major problems when loading and unloading my Alaskan 10 CO on my 2019 Ford Long bed truck. It is difficult to position the front tripods so that the jacks clear the rear OEM tires AND have the jacks be absolutely vertical. When lifting the camper, the jacks to twist toward the rear. The last time I attempted to load my Alaskan back onto my truck I needed to have my very strong son and son-in-law on the back corners pushing against the camper to keep the camper from serious listing backwards. I haven’t removed the Alaskan for a year now, mostly because I am afraid to. We lost our house to a fire 3 years ago and have since rebuilt it and moved back in. But I need to be able to use my truck to haul fencing, landscaping materials and stuff for the farm. Any suggestions re: loading and unloading the camper would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Czechsix]

Build a couple of A-frames, drive under and use chain falls to lift the camper from four points.

 

[ripperj]

When I had my Alaskan on my Ram with 33x12.50 tires , I had the same issue with tires hitting the front tripods . I just used a stack of 2x12”s nailed together to make a block. I took the front tripods off and jacked on the blocks. I think I had a carriage bolt sticking up from the top that the jack tube went over.

This works fine-IIRC the jacks end up about 3” in from the inside edge.

Do this at your own risk, im sure if you tried hard enough you could dump it, but it worked fine for me.

My situation was compounded by off level in two directions, so I used a small come-a-long between the camper front jack at the top and a nearby building.(this was on the up-hill side)

I just took up the tension so the camper didn’t want to move. Adds a few minutes, but made it safer.


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[Nailhead]

We built these:

Those brackets (seen at center) move the jacks out 6” or so:

They’re not hard to make if you have the equipment and know how to weld.


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[IdaSHO]

Please do not use (suicide) jacks.

Find something safer. 4-jacks minimum.
If you have the budget, remote control electric jacks are worth every penny.
It makes it a <10 minute load and <5 minute unload job, with one person.

 

[ripperj]

If by suicide jacks you are referring to the old style tripod jack that just had a piece of angle at the top(not even attached to camper)……. These are not them


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[Regcabguy]

When I had my Alaskan on my Ram with 33x12.50 tires , I had the same issue with tires hitting the front tripods . I just used a stack of 2x12”s nailed together to make a block. I took the front tripods off and jacked on the blocks. I think I had a carriage bolt sticking up from the top that the jack tube went over.

This works fine-IIRC the jacks end up about 3” in from the inside edge.

Do this at your own risk, im sure if you tried hard enough you could dump it, but it worked fine for me.

My situation was compounded by off level in two directions, so I used a small come-a-long between the camper front jack at the top and a nearby building.(this was on the up-hill side)

I just took up the tension so the camper didn’t want to move. Adds a few minutes, but made it safer.


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33-12.50 tire?

 

[ripperj]

33-12.50 tire?

Doesn’t seem right does it.
Black round rubber things that hit the jacks.
Don’t have the truck
Toyo Open Country AT2
285/75-17???


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[Kmehr]

I know this seems like a lot of work, and it was, but the jack situation on my jayco was crazy scary so I built this cradle for it:

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[ripperj]

Not sure I see how that cradle works? How do you get it off? Is it backwards in the pics?


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[Mickey Bitsko]

This ^^

 

[billiebob]

Not sure I see how that cradle works? How do you get it off? Is it backwards in the pics?


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cradle spreads the front jacks, more material than Nailheads option but the same principle

 

[billiebob]

I have had major problems when loading and unloading my Alaskan 10 CO on my 2019 Ford Long bed truck. It is difficult to position the front tripods so that the jacks clear the rear OEM tires AND have the jacks be absolutely vertical. When lifting the camper, the jacks to twist toward the rear. The last time I attempted to load my Alaskan back onto my truck I needed to have my very strong son and son-in-law on the back corners pushing against the camper to keep the camper from serious listing backwards. I haven’t removed the Alaskan for a year now, mostly because I am afraid to. We lost our house to a fire 3 years ago and have since rebuilt it and moved back in. But I need to be able to use my truck to haul fencing, landscaping materials and stuff for the farm. Any suggestions re: loading and unloading the camper would be greatly appreciated.

give us a few pictures

 

[ripperj]

cradle spreads the front jacks, more material than Nailheads option but the same principle

So it stays on the camper when on the truck I guess??


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[billiebob]

So it stays on the camper when on the truck I guess??


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That would be my guess to ease setting up base camp while camping too.
Nailheads option would likely stay at home making the camper permanent on the road.