lqhikers
Senior Member
well i'm back at it.
it has been a few years since we have had a pop up on a truck but since i bore
easy i bought a 2015 4x4 tacoma ( had a 2008 tacoma and a 2003 tacoma before)
with a fwc eagle.
since i knew i would be buying another pop up i went ahead and set the truck up ready
to load it once i found what i wanted.
i know there has been a lot of posting on air bags,good,bad,depending on who is posting.
thought i would add my way to mount air bags.
i have yet to read of anyone else doing it this way.
first thing i did was to measure the distance on a flat surface (garage floor) from each end of receiver hitch to floor. on my truck it was 18" +or- 1/4 ",since i also have custom front receiver hitch i also measured it 14"+or- 1/4".
with above noted i went ahead and installed air bags,easy job,now i'm ready for camper,
wait not yet.
as i never have liked the system most pop up campers use to mount so i also added frame mounted
receivers on the four corners where campers jacks are mounted,this way i will use happijac
connectors to secure camper to frame with out the hassle of using a weak in my opinion system
that you have to use on the cheesy plastic bed of the tacoma.
once the above was done it turned out the wife found the camper she wanted,a north star model
mc600. ( thanks craigslist ! ) good timing 1 day after i finished above mods.
picked up camper,the person i bought it from did not have a flat spot so we drove to a shopping center found a flat spot and took some measurements drivers side rear was 14" passenger side was 16"
seemed about the difference i thought as most campers seem to be built with more weight on drivers
side plus tacoma's gas tank is farther to the drivers side.
front measurements now were now 16"
so now i hooked up air compressor added air in rear to return to original heights, about 60 psi on drivers side and 35 psi on passenger side. this also returned front to almost the original height (1/2"
lower)
so you ask why this way.a couple of reasons first its easer to measure than rely on air gauge
plus you have a base line to go by,second this method keeps your headlights adjusted correctly,
with out a base line you are are guessing on how much air to add to bring truck back to normal height.
and without normal height handling is effected.
just my way,yours may differ!
Les,lqhikers
it has been a few years since we have had a pop up on a truck but since i bore
easy i bought a 2015 4x4 tacoma ( had a 2008 tacoma and a 2003 tacoma before)
with a fwc eagle.
since i knew i would be buying another pop up i went ahead and set the truck up ready
to load it once i found what i wanted.
i know there has been a lot of posting on air bags,good,bad,depending on who is posting.
thought i would add my way to mount air bags.
i have yet to read of anyone else doing it this way.
first thing i did was to measure the distance on a flat surface (garage floor) from each end of receiver hitch to floor. on my truck it was 18" +or- 1/4 ",since i also have custom front receiver hitch i also measured it 14"+or- 1/4".
with above noted i went ahead and installed air bags,easy job,now i'm ready for camper,
wait not yet.
as i never have liked the system most pop up campers use to mount so i also added frame mounted
receivers on the four corners where campers jacks are mounted,this way i will use happijac
connectors to secure camper to frame with out the hassle of using a weak in my opinion system
that you have to use on the cheesy plastic bed of the tacoma.
once the above was done it turned out the wife found the camper she wanted,a north star model
mc600. ( thanks craigslist ! ) good timing 1 day after i finished above mods.
picked up camper,the person i bought it from did not have a flat spot so we drove to a shopping center found a flat spot and took some measurements drivers side rear was 14" passenger side was 16"
seemed about the difference i thought as most campers seem to be built with more weight on drivers
side plus tacoma's gas tank is farther to the drivers side.
front measurements now were now 16"
so now i hooked up air compressor added air in rear to return to original heights, about 60 psi on drivers side and 35 psi on passenger side. this also returned front to almost the original height (1/2"
lower)
so you ask why this way.a couple of reasons first its easer to measure than rely on air gauge
plus you have a base line to go by,second this method keeps your headlights adjusted correctly,
with out a base line you are are guessing on how much air to add to bring truck back to normal height.
and without normal height handling is effected.
just my way,yours may differ!
Les,lqhikers
