How do I prevent camper shift?

[Stereo]

We've gotten out in our "new" old 80's Skamper three weekends so far this summer and are having a blast. It's so cozy/comfy! And our first-ever 4-wheel drive vehicle (Tacoma) is getting us to local places we've never before dared to access. The many false starts down too-tough roads are all part of the adventure.

I had to take the camper off recently to do some "stuff" hauling and discovered it had been moving around enough to squeeze/dent a wheel well and scrape paint off the bed rim from some through-bolts at the tie-down locations on the camper. I'm using Torklifts front and back. Part of my problem is that the camper extends onto my tailgate so the rear tie-downs reach forward as do the front tie-downs so there's no counter force. (I'll probably put in new eye bolts to remedy that.) But that doesn't account for the side-to-side movement.

I've got the camper on a rubber mat and I placed a 2x4 between the front of the bed and the camper, but by the end of the day, the board had shimmied up several inches and was pushing out the truck bed and pushing in the front of the camper.

What methods do you all use to limit movement? What can I use to "lift" the camper another 1" or so without making things even more slippery - and without adding a lot of weight?

Here's a bad picture. It was in the shadows of the trees we squeezed between. The camper is still off the truck so I can't get you a better one just now.



Thank you for your advice.

 

[Regcabguy]

I don't know if there is an application for your truck,but the Happijac framemount setup I have contains centering guides for the front. The small amount of aft movement I experience is curtailed by small blocks cut to size in the rear which I wedge in there.

 

[tnt]

Absolutely you need to have your tie-downs pulling in opposite directions. Otherwise, I read on Wander the West where someone used one of those 1" thick foam insulation panels underneath their camper. Gives you the lift you are looking for, adds insulation to your floor, and they claim it doesn't shift at all on it.

 

[phird05]

I have come to the conclusion that you will experience a small amount of shift, once you go off pavement and are on rougher roads regardless of what you try. I have a bed mat in my truck and opposing tie downs and my camper still moves around a little bit. I was concerned about when I was a new camper owner, but I don't have much concern about it anymore. As soon as I leave town for a trip I am traveling 30 miles on dirt washboard roads, so mine will shift a little bit from the get go. It seems to find a sweet spot during my travels which doesn't give me any heartburn.

Good camping!

Paul

 

[pods8]

Have you thought about through bolting to the truck bed instead?

 

[Larry]

Have you thought about through bolting to the truck bed instead?

Exactly!

I had the same problem with my custom made Phoenix camper built for my 70’s K10. With the camper built to fit inside the bed with the tail gate closed the slightest movement caused the tailgate not to open leaving me locked out of my trail house. While the Phoenix’s strapping method is good I gave up and bolted the camper to the bed floor. I only bolted the camper to the bed with 2 bolts towards the rear of the camper. The bolts are not intended to hold the camper in the bed but only to steak it down so it doesn’t try to move backwards. The reason I only bolted it at the rear is I still want the camper to be able to flex with the bed while twisting on the trails. Even if the straps loosen up a bit, which they always will the camper won’t slide backwards. After a week bouncing around the White Rim Trail and all over Utah this has proven to work well.

 

[Pest]

I guess this isn't a solution, just wanted to add my two cents.

Our Phoenix used to bounce all over the place, but now we have a rubber mat under our camper and two dock bumpers on the front with the 4 HD ratchet straps in the corners holding our Phoenix on. Now it doesn't budge at all on any rough trail we've been down. The camper has been on the truck for the last 5 weeks, I haven't touched the straps or anything. Nothing is loose, and the camper is still perfectly centered left to right at both the front and back. I think the biggest help was the mat, it's a very sticky rubber, picked it up from Ketelsen Campers in Wheat Ridge, CO.

 

[Stereo]

I appreciate all the feedback. I do think whatever I do, I'll still get some movement, and I would think it's important to have some flex to keep the camper from getting ripped apart. I just don't want it damaging my truck bed. For sure I'll get some eyebolts forward of the bumper for counter pull front to back.

The dock bumpers sound like a great idea! I would get they have a bit of squishability but would be rigid enough to buffer the camper.

I've got a rubber mat already, but I guess it's not "sticky" enough. The use of rigid foam insulation was an idea I had read in another thread on a different topic, and it seems like a great, light-weight solution for a little extra height, but I'm having a hard time imaging which type wouldn't be slippery. For sure I wouldn't use the aluminum-faced board but even the pink or blue-colored rigid foam seem pretty slick and Styrofoam's not sturdy enough. What kind have people used in their camper bed?

If I were to bolt my camper directly to the bed, it seems like there would be a lot of force on the small area where the bolts pass through so I'd be a little worried about it ripping out the relatively thin metal of the bed as we're bouncing around on rocky, 4-wheel drive roads. Is it enough to put washers on both sides of the bolt?

 

[fisher205]

I used some old roller blade wheels and large washers to provide some give and not pull through the bed.

If you don't allow for some flex with Happijacs or Torkflites you end up with this

if you do much offroading.

Brad

 

[phird05]

That's why I will NOT bolt through the camper or the bed of my truck. I only use Torklift frame mounts (front and rear) in conjunction with Torklift spring loaded tie downs. This way all the tork is taken up by the frame of the truck rather than the camper floor or truck bed and when driving on rough roads the spring loaded tie downs allow for some give so there is not too much tork on the camper while still providing enough strength to keep the camper properly on the truck. The old chain and turnbuckles were a PITA in my opinion. I will never go back to that set up.

 

[charlieaarons]

That's why I thought 4Wheel Campers' mounting system was a joke despite their marketing for offroad use. It ripped out of the floor of my F350 bed when I had it.
I was castigated for mentioning this on the forum several years ago since 4WC is a sponsor and so on.

Charlie

 

[pealer]

A lot of good advice already. I just wanted to add that I have a very similar setup: Tacoma with Skamper (060), torklift/happijac springload tiedowns, and rubber bedmat. The only difference I see is that my tiedowns are opposing with the shorter camper. Everything works great with minimal shift even on really rough 4x4 roads. I think you'll see a marked difference by opposing your tiedowns. I did notice that it took a few trips to settle in the springs in the tiedowns so that the preload stayed the same over time. I used a grease pencil to mark the amount of preload.