The turnbuckles loosening happened on my dads 04 Tacoma with a FWC (has a steel bed). We just finished fixing it. In his case, it was not the rubber mat, it was that the rear of the bed buckled and the front of the bed tore open. The camper was attached with eye bolts and 2.5" fender washers. the bed is now plated with 1/4 and 3/16 plate and the camper is attached with 5k lb d rings welded to the plate.
Rubber mat between the camper and truck?
- Thread starter Paul B.
- Start date
The turnbuckles loosening happened on my dads 04 Tacoma with a FWC (has a steel bed). We just finished fixing it. In his case, it was not the rubber mat, it was that the rear of the bed buckled and the front of the bed tore open. The camper was attached with eye bolts and 2.5" fender washers. the bed is now plated with 1/4 and 3/16 plate and the camper is attached with 5k lb d rings welded to the plate.
That's the one we'll use. Our footprint is 4' x 9-11' depending on final configuration. So 2 will do the job perfecto. Thank you.
I notice tractor supply has a 1/4" X 48" liner/pad sold by the foot, length cut to order.
I think that would do nicely with no seam, especially if just used as under camper grippy material.
http://t.tractorsupply.com/en/store...ber-1-4-in-thick-sold-by-the-foot?cm_vc=IOPDP
I think that would do nicely with no seam, especially if just used as under camper grippy material.
http://t.tractorsupply.com/en/store...ber-1-4-in-thick-sold-by-the-foot?cm_vc=IOPDP
Don't think so. FWC installed my Hawk at their factory in December. No rubber pad. Tech guy made it very clear before I showed up that there should be nothing in the bed.
This is right from the FWC website:
One piece plastic bed liners (*except with the 2005 – 2014 Toyota Tacoma trucks), carpet bed rugs and carpet kits must be removed prior to your installation appointment. Plastic bed liners are very slick, compressible, and might cause the camper turn buckles to unexpectingly loosen up. The one piece plastic bed liners also interfere with installation of the camper tie down system in the truck bed. Bed rugs will also get in the way of the camper tie down bolts (which is used to hold the camper onto the truck). The bed rugs or carpet kits can become saturated with rain water which can damage the bottom of the camper and the truck. Although spray-in bed liners (such as Line-X, Rhino Liner, etc.) and/or rubber bed mats are not necessary, they do help protect the truck bed long term.”Spray-On” bed liners or a simple rubber bed mat will prevent damage to the truck bed and prevent the camper from shifting in the truck bed while in motion. The “Spray-On” bed liner is the preferred choice for most all customers. The newer Toyota Tacoma trucks (2005 – 2014) have a have a composite (plastic) truck bed, so that CANNOT, and does not need to be removed before mounting the camper).
Why model truck? My dads was installed by 4WC in Denver. Not sure if they do things the same as the factory. They put a 1/2" rubber mat, similar to the stall mats posted above, under it. He had to remove the crappy plastic Toyota Bedliner first, but the mat was there. 04 extra cab taco.
The truck now has line-x after the repair and strengthening. But he'll reinstall the mat too.
It's a 2012 GMC Sierra 2500HD. Does have a spray-in liner but no mat. Camper has never slipped or shifted.
Regcabguy
Oil eater.
The mats cushion the tin can beds of these modern trucks as well as provide friction. I've been using them for decades.
I even used them back when I drove a pre-tin can 64 F-250. It would cushion your knees climbing in and out of the shell plus served as a pattern for a short nap carpet.
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OK - tin can beds of these trucks? Not sure what that means. Does the camper bounce up and down on the bed? Mine doesn't do that, it seems like a bad thing. Provide friction? Unclear about this as well. My spray-in bed liner is quite rough and the camper has not showed any tendency to slide about.
Not flaming here, just trying to learn more as I'm a new owner. More detail would be greatly appreciated. Knowledge is a good thing and I would like to learn from your experience.
Not flaming either. Just pointing it out. It sounds like you have a MUCH beefier truck than my dad's Taco, which, sadly, does have a tin can bed. The FWC mounts actually ripped and peeled the bed back, much like a tin can
Anyway, he just got it bedlined too, but will probably put the mat back in, since it doesn't seem to hurt.
Motafinga
Adventurer
I built a simple wood platform using pressure treated 2x4's and plywood. I wanted to raise the camper about 3 inches over my cab and also make sure the camper never sat in standing water that can get into the bed of the truck. I coated the bed in Hurculiner and did another coat on top of the platform itself, seems to work great and hasn't shifted around at all.
Bombsight
Observer
I'm not a FWC owner yet but, I would be very suspect of anything soft under my FWC.
Soft (i.e. rubber, rug ... etc) allows for small spaces or gaps. If H20 were to sit in these small spaces for a long period of time, I would think the FWC would take a hit from rot ... or at least be problematic to some degree.
Those are just my thoughts ... carry on
Soft (i.e. rubber, rug ... etc) allows for small spaces or gaps. If H20 were to sit in these small spaces for a long period of time, I would think the FWC would take a hit from rot ... or at least be problematic to some degree.
Those are just my thoughts ... carry on