New Ford F-150 for my Hawk

Just finished setting up my Hawk on my new F-150. it's an extended cab with the 6.5' box, 2.7 liter Ecoboost engine with the payload package. Sticker on the door says 2123 lbs. of payload and passengers. Maiden voyage this past weekend and the truck handles the load very well. I purchased the brackets from Mule Expedition Outfitters so the front eyebolts are connected to the truck frame rather than just the aluminum bed. I did replace the original tires with E rated but I don't think I will need to do anything else. Just replaced my Blue Sea with a Victron 12/12 30 DC-DC Charger. Working on figuring that out and when my AGM batteries need replacing I will switch to lithium.

Nice setup, like the inside of your bed.

R

I had to offset the camper 1 inch to the right to make clearance for my pvc gray water tanks. It was was a very tight fit though with only 1/2 inch of space between the top of the truck box and the camper.

rustytinbender said:

I had to offset the camper 1 inch to the right to make clearance for my pvc gray water tanks. It was was a very tight fit though with only 1/2 inch of space between the sides of the truck and the camper.

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perfect;,, i find that the left side of the f150 is heavier anyhow as the gas tank is there.. I do the same..

I might suggest air bags simply for the roll effect on turns. I also have the HDPP and while its not necessary, it does add stability for a small cost..

I could never knowingly mount my camper one inch to one side. I wouldn’t be able to stop seeing it. My OCD about symmetry wouldn’t allow it.

Nice brackets from frame to bed, who makes thoses?

Looks good. Is the truck a 4x4?

I was considering the Mule Expedition Outfitters brackets for my F150 w 6.5' bed but wasn't sure if the resulting eyebolt locations would work for a new Hawk. I thought they may not be forward enough. I didn't want to buy and install them just to hear from the dealer, who said they weren't necessary, that the location was wrong. It looks and sounds like the brackets work just fine. Does anyone see a reason, besides cost, not to install the brackets before I travel across country to pickup my new Hawk?

BBZ, what kind of airbags did you install

fish more - here is a link to the brackets
https://dasmule.com/products/ford-f-150-camper-mounting-brackets?_pos=1&_sid=f333ef12e&_ss=r

fuzzymarindave - yes it is a 4x4

Regular Guy said:

I was considering the Mule Expedition Outfitters brackets for my F150 w 6.5' bed but wasn't sure if the resulting eyebolt locations would work for a new Hawk. I thought they may not be forward enough. I didn't want to buy and install them just to hear from the dealer, who said they weren't necessary, that the location was wrong. It looks and sounds like the brackets work just fine. Does anyone see a reason, besides cost, not to install the brackets before I travel across country to pickup my new Hawk?

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Have you considered completing the installation of the eye bolts yourself? I didn’t want an installer in a rush deciding how and where to drill holes in my new truck. I looked at it carefully in the bed and underneath, looked at my reinforcement options, measured the locations of the anchors on the camper, and talked to the dealer (Mule Outfitters), and finally verified with the dealer that the exact locations I proposed were going to be acceptable. The rear anchors were easy to figure out, but the front ones were more of a challenge to reinforce in the desired location. I was able to take my time, do the work just how I wanted, and the dealer was satisfied.

I use the air lift 2000 and install the lines independent as the left side of my rig is heavier (gas tank on truck and kitchen area in camper are on left side also). My trucks payload is 2611 and my camper is 1250, while not needed it does help with leveling and side to side roll.. hardly notice there is a camper on there...

Rusty, Thanks for the pics of the bracket cut offs and your back plates. Nice work. Did you take this extra effort for brackets and plates because of past experience or is it the aluminum bed? I'm new to this and the aluminum bed is my concern.

Jon, I wish I had the camper in front of me to figure out the right locations in the bed. That's why I'm so interested in the Mule brackets, they should take the guess work out of the front locations, the holes and cutouts in the frame should be the same on all F150s.

All, I'm interested in these brackets because I was told or read somewhere that the front tiedowns get the most stress and cause problems with the aluminum beds. I'm not sure how true that is. Right now I'm leaning towards installing the front brackets before I pick up the camper using the tips from Rusty and let the installer do his best in the rear. After a gentle 3,000 mile maiden voyage, in home port, I can make some backing plates for the rear if necessary.

Regular Guy said:

Jon, I wish I had the camper in front of me to figure out the right locations in the bed. That's why I'm so interested in the Mule brackets, they should take the guess work out of the front locations, the holes and cutouts in the frame should be the same on all F150s.

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I didn’t have my camper at the time either, but the dealer was very helpful. The measurements for where the brackets are on each model and version are available. Once you have those measurements your target for locating the eye bolts is six inches forward of the front ones and six inches aft of the rear ones, and as far outboard as practical given your bed contours. (See the FWC video). It doesn’t need to be exactly 6 inches. You do want lateral symmetry, though.

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Nice setup. We have found the F150 works well for us. ENJOY!

Regular Guy.

I bought the brackets because I was concerned about the aluminum bed. If you decide to install them don't worry about the hole location. Your dealer can just do what I did and drill through the brackets from underneath.

I had considered those Mule brackets back in April when I was heading out to AZ from SC to pick up a 2018 ATC Panther..

I kept looking at the pics online and could not figure how they would mount to my truck a 2020 F150 6.5 bed crew cab.

Now looking at @rustytinbender pics I still don't see how. The frames for the different cab/bed lengths apparently have the factory holes in different spots for what would be the mounting points for the Mule brackets.

I ended up just using 3/16" x4" AL flatbar and I've got about 10k miles on the camper and they've held up fine.

SkyP, you might want to clarify whether you just made backing plates out of the aluminum versus diy frame tie brackets.

Jon R said:

SkyP, you might want to clarify whether you just made backing plates out of the aluminum versus diy frame tie brackets.

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Just backing plates. I do use some turnbuckles I've had through several truck campers over almost 30 years- the fronts have internal springs and the rears have some sort of internal rubber donut. I think they are HappiJac brand.

BBZ I installed Firestone Ride Rite air bags. My camper is off for the winter so we will test those out next year.