Bought a truck for my 10ft Alaskan NCO!

[Land-roamer]

Hi again all, it's been a little while since I've been on here, life is busy etc.
Anyway, I've been casually looking for a suitable truck to carry my 10ft NCO Alaskan next year, and after looking at a couple of Dodges, I bought a 1996 RAM 2500 12 VALVE CUMMINS AUTO 4X4 EXT CAB with only 60,000 miles. Original owner sold it to me, he and his wife (seniors) towed a 5th wheel with it a few times. Truck has had a lot of maintenance repairs in the last 2-3 years to hopefully that bodes well for me. It has the "camper package" (3500 helper springs, and sway bar in the back).
I attach a picture.
I suppose I'll need to remove the two metal bars in the bed (bolted to the frame underneath I expect) that held the 5th wheel hitch.

Couple of questions:
1. Should I keep the plastic bed liner inside, which might help keep the water off the bottom of the Alaskan?
2. Any tips on how to best arrange to secure the Alaskan to the bed of my truck, or the best product out there to do the job (I'm a little new to slide-in truck campers)?

Anyway, looking forward to completing the reseal job on my Alaskan this winter (and in the Spring, if it gets too cold in the garage), then putting it on the truck. I'll come back to get some tips on getting the sucker up on there, when the time comes.

Thanks!
--Robert

 

[DirtyDog]

Looks like you found a good one

 

[Tris]

The extended cab is nice. They didn't have that when I bought my 2003 - but I wish they had. I'm not all that keen on plastic bed liners, there is a good chance that they will just trap water underneath if your drains get plugged. I got a sprayed on liner on this truck and that seems to be working well.

The Alaskan factory suggests that you raise the camper off the truck bed with some cross-wise 2X4s, so air can circulate underneath the camper and keep the bottom dry. I don't see how the liner would help with that. I had an older camper previously and painted the bottom of the floor with epoxy to seal it and then put it on 2x4s. The new camper seemed to have pretty good sealer on it and I'm just relying on that plus the 2x4s.

Here is my two cents worth for attaching the camper. (There was a discussion of this a while back on this site and you will find lots of comments if you look down through the older posts a ways.) This is what I said in that previous discussion:

My 2003 Ram 2500 had tie down cleats in all four corners of the bed. I took those out and bolted a 1/8 x 1" x about 18" steel strap to each. The rear ones angle forward, the front ones angle back. The straps area long enough that the upper ends are just accessible between the top of the truck bed and the camper shelf. I bolted the upper ends of the straps into the sides of the camper - not the shelf - so that the strain is in shear and doesn't want to flex the shelf down. I put thin rubber washers between the straps and the camper siding on the outside and fender washers on the inside. I also have 4x4 spacers in front of the camper on the truck bed. Nothing's moved in about 15,000 miles, but I drive mainly on highways rather than off road.

 

[simimike]

Nice find on the truck. I would lose the plastic liner. Either a get a spray in liner or a bed mat. as far as attaching the camper to the truck, like said above, check out some older discussions.

mike

 

[Rusty]

An appropriate truck for a fine camper Robert...spacers are a good idea for the air circulation...there are several ways to tie down....as you'll see

Looking forward to seeing that beauty mounted next spring...

Air bags on the truck....a must..

 

[banderswipe]

Hi Robert, Congratulations on your truck purchase. I have a bed liner in my truck,the liner has one inch deep ridges running the length of the bed so it allows for some air movement. After a rain I take the truck out for a short trip and drive up some hills, this gets rid of any water, not that there is ever much in there.The only problems I have had with the liner are less room when loading the camper and the camper does not go all the way to the front of the truck box because of the rounded shape of the liner at the front.
I think I am going to take out the liner and put in a bed mat 1"x4'x10' instead. I agree with simimike, but you could try it and form your opinion.
As to attaching the camper Tris's sugestion sounds good to me.Here is the thread for attaching camper.
http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/index.php?/topic/3287/
Cheers,
Banderswipe.

 

[Mike S.]

Congratulations! You are going to love the Dodge, we sure do. Great fuel mileage too.

As was all ready said get air bags even with the rear sway bar mine rolled around something awful until I installed them. I also installed rancho 9000 shocks, we drive the truck a lot with the camper off and I can dial down the shocks for a softer ride. And if you do not have gauges get at least a transmission temp gauge.

Something I found loading and unloading a 10' was to keep a saw horse under the back at all times. Mine sits high enough to load it all the time. I lift the front a little and move the front horse half way back, then back that far then take the front one out back the rest of the way and drop the front. Lift the back take the horse out drop it and tie it down and drive away. As other will tell you they can be a scary beast when they want to. I try to never give it a chance.

 

[banderswipe]

Congratulations! You are going to love the Dodge, we sure do. Great fuel mileage too.

As was all ready said get air bags even with the rear sway bar mine rolled around something awful until I installed them. I also installed rancho 9000 shocks, we drive the truck a lot with the camper off and I can dial down the shocks for a softer ride. And if you do not have gauges get at least a transmission temp gauge.

Something I found loading and unloading a 10' was to keep a saw horse under the back at all times. Mine sits high enough to load it all the time. I lift the front a little and move the front horse half way back, then back that far then take the front one out back the rest of the way and drop the front. Lift the back take the horse out drop it and tie it down and drive away. As other will tell you they can be a scary beast when they want to. I try to never give it a chance.



Hi Mike S, I like your saw horse Technique are your saw horse's higher than the bed of your truck( they must be ) and if so how much higher? Mike S you should add your loading technique to the How to load a camper thread it is great Information. Thanks very much.

Cheers.
Banderswipe.

 

[Land-roamer]

Thanks to all for the replies.
I'm definitely going to take the liner out in the Spring (getting a little late for that), and inspect the bed. Lifting up edges of the liner, I can see there's a good accumulation of dirt and grime under there, so a pressure-wash will be called for, followed by application of bright white Rustoleum/Tremclad (the benefits of having a white truck!!). I may in fact leave it out before I put in the camper, based on consensus here. Will probably go with a bed mat as suggested, and transverse 2x4's to carry the camper. I like the idea of the sawhorses, but am not sure I have room in the side of my driveway to leave the camper there permanently, when not on the truck...

About the Rancho 9000 shocks, I think it's going to be one of my first purchases on this truck: it still has the original shocks and they are getting quite rusty. I'll also consider the air bags as suggested.

I'll ponder over winter the attachment solutions indicated here and in the other thread.

The chassis (axles, springs, etc.) had a lot of surface rust on my truck, even though it was not driven much. The original owner would occasionally take it out in the winter (to "loosen things up") and probably drove it in snow/salt, then left it parked for weeks. Anyway, I brushed off the surface rust and just had it treated copiously with Krown rust-proofing oil, so it should hold the rust at bay for a while

I passed earlier on a very similar truck (97 ext cab auto cummins 3/4 ton 2x4 though), which was going for a bit more money. It had been used for slide-in years ago (so had attachment hardware mounted on the frame), then 5th wheel so had the hitch in the bed. It had more miles (150,000), and rust on one fender, even though the truck had zero rust underneath (had been used to tow a 5th wheel to Florida every winter). Owner wasn't flexible on the price and the logistics were a hassle (out of province). So I passed, and went with the 96 with lower mileage (60,000), good body, and 4x4, for less money. That 97 had air bags installed, it was ready to go, but I decided that I wanted to hold out for 4x4, and am glad I did. Time will tell whether I picked the "right" one

Cheers, all.
--Robert

 

[Kilroy]

Take the bed off and put on an aluminum flat bed. I'd never set up another pick-up without one. The storage you pick up on the sides is great. Makes loading/unloading camper really easy. Without the camper on you get about 7 feet of bed space sideways! Can always put stock bed back on when time to change trucks.

 

[brownbear]

My biggest gripe insofar as securing the camper is the fact that the rain flap on the front of the camper reaches the cab on my truck. I don't know why Alaskan would design such a thing. I think you will want to make sure that the camper is prevented from moving forward and damaging the paint on your cab by using some wood or something rather than learning an expensive and painful lesson such as I did.

 

[Rusty]

Many trucks today have different specs than the old GMC's which Alaskans were sold on. Now, there are available, 3" rubber bumpers to offset the camper back a bit from things like happi-jack tie down systems and interference with cab offsets. These large rubber bumpers create a situation where you can slide the camper all the way forward and implement the tie down system. Sorry about the trouble, but those flaps were originally installed on the campers to divert rain water from getting under the camper from the cab side and rotting the wood framework the campers were mounted on. That was in the days when Alaskans were bolted down to the bed....and they still are in many cases depending on the choice of mounting method.