Eagle install - bedliner, rails clearance

[Seth]

Finally I'm on to installing an older eagle (with tail lights) onto a 2013 Nissan Frontier... It's been a bit of work on camper and truck to get it to this point.

The dealer says no plastic bedliners. The factory says not advised, but they sometimes have done installs on top of bedliners. Obviously you need a hole in the bedliner so that the upper fender washer and the shoulder of the eyebolt are all on the metal of the truck bed... Used a rubber mat to increase friction between camper and bedliner?

Anyone done one of these - any thoughts on whether they'd do it again. I'd *like* to keep the bedliner in place for use when the camper isn't mounted.

Second question is clearance between the pickup rails and the camper rails. It looks like if I do a straight install, I'll have about an inch of clearance. However, there are a couple of protruding bolts from the bottom of the camper rails on each side that look to come in contact. Why? Did those have blocks threaded on them for pickup stake pockets? Should I cut them off flush, or nearly flush? Or, are they important to keep as-is (?), and therefore I would add another inch or more of blocking to the bottom of the camper?

Any comments on my driver's side front anchor - on the camper it is oriented so the bed eyebolt will apparently need to be on the wheel well.

All help & comments much appreciated!

 

[Seth]

PS. How much clearance between top of pickup rails and bottom of camper rails will I want? Enough to get one's hand between, or closer to no clearance?

 

[LuckyDan]

I'll take a stab at it. 1 or 2 inches of clearance between the bed rail and camper should suffice. As for your bolt protruding question, I'm having a hard time visualizing what they are exactly. Posting a pic or 2 might help. As for the eye bolt alignment you obviously are reinstalling an older camper and your eye bolts on the camper may require relocation to give the correct angle to the truck bolts or vice versa.



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[LuckyDan]

I suppose in relation to clearance, I'm not aware of any rule for exactly how much room needs to exist between bed rail and camper. Obviously you don't want the camper resting on the bed sides. The goal is clearance enough so when the bed twists or moves when driving over rough ground it doesn't contact the camper. While the camper should move in relation to the bed, in practice there can be a little difference.

Good luck with your install


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[Seth]

Here's a photo that shows the driver's side of the camper, looking front to rear, the structure for the tail lights is at the far end.

Fore to aft:
A protruding bolt (maybe I need to go into the camper to see if it's even doing anything!)
Left, an extra outlet for sink drain from first owner - he used a grey water tank in his bed.
Right, the water supply system drain, very much in the way of truck rails.
Far, one more protruding bolt.

The passenger side is similar, with 2 protruding bolts.




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[Seth]

Any opinions on bedliners?

A partial answer to the clearance question is that when I got around to shoot a photo of the passenger side, I want clearance enough to provide space around the water storage drain in the photo above.


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[singlefin]

I too thought the way around that slippery bed liner was to place a rubber Matt between the bed liner and camper bottom. So I installed a factory Tundra rubber bed Matt over the factory bed liner so I could keep the bed liner. Mounted the camper on the truck with 3/4 " clearance between bed rail and camper shoulder.
So next day drove around 50-80 miles to season the turnbuckles and camper fit. Got back in my driveway to discover that my camper was now resting on flat on my Tundra bed rails.
Whoa!! I later learned that the plastic liner has a compression of only 450 lbs. Hawk dry weight is double that. So it was crunch time. The only explanation was the plastic liner compressed under the camper load 3/4" or a bit more. Essentially flattening it and landing the camper on the Tundras bed rails. Additionally, the turnbuckles were about 1 to 1 1/2 turns loose.
So talk about having ones eye on the wrong ball! Since then have ditched the factory liner and put in a spray liner and my rubber bed Matt. After 3 weeks and 700 miles, Hawk retains her 3/4" gap on Tundra bed rails and turnbuckles are staying tight.
So the pundits at FWC know of what they speak when they kindly advise customers to ditch their plastic bed liners.


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[Seth]

So, there are some answers.

Singlefin, thanks for sharing your experience. What I got from the authorities only addressed slipperiness, not compression. I think what you wrote is pretty definitive, as much as I'd like to keep the liner it's got to go!

The mystery of the protruding bolts was solved. Come to find out they only go through a single layer of ply, and what looked like T-nuts on the bottom didn't have the prongs into the wood that T-nuts do. Now, all four are out after some vice-grip and plier action, and in one case a bolt-cutter. I'm thinking these were attachment points for some other anchoring system.

My water tank drain still seems *very* oddly placed, but if I can keep the camper an inch above the rails there will be clearance for it. Other mysteries were all solved today.

Thanks LuckyDan and singlefin. It's a bit of a zig-zaggy path to get this thing going, but I'm getting closer!


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[K7MDL]

Looks like you have the normal side exit gray water drain fitting so you could remove the lower one, likely installed for a bed mounted gray water tank and I think you mentioned. Likely a T fitting that can be removed or capped inside. Should be easy to remove. If that camper was on an old Tundra with short bed sides, the gap may have been filled with a large PVC tube for the gray water and those bolts used to mount the tank to the camper. The water tank drain as you call it may be a user added low point piping drain. You might be able to move the valve inside the camper and just connect a flexible hose to the valve when you winterize.

 

[Seth]

Ok, this phase is done! Thanks for the insights & experience!

The protruding bolts, which turned out to hold *nothing* together, would have served as anchors for a flatbed, or, like K7 suggested, might have hung something. It's an older camper, I'm the third owner that I know of... PO had it on a ford ranger, with low side rails.

Bolts are gone now, and the water tank drain spigot has been replaced by a 3/8" NPT plastic plug... which protrudes just an eighth of an inch; that seems good enough. Didja' know that it's Ace Hardware that has the plumbing small parts, not either of the RV shops I visited.

The extra sink drain is just an open fitting under the sink; move the hose from the standard drain to the bottom drain when needed. It's well inboard of the truck sides, so I may leave it alone for now. It will be easy to uninstall if that's what I end up doing.

The plastic bed liner is out of the truck. Ready for the next step; ordering a bed pad. Not strictly necessary, perhaps, but I tend to haul boating gear and such day to day (when the camper isn't in), and the rubber will be a good surface for hauling and camper.

Can't avoid it any longer, I'm going to have to install the eye-bolts next!

 

[buckland]

I feel your pain.... I've done it twice ... deep breaths ...it actually isn't all that bad ... and it's over fast. I too added a bed rubber mat. Never a liner... (static charge too). Good luck and enjoy!

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

My water tank drain still seems *very* oddly placed, but if I can keep the camper an inch above the rails there will be clearance for it. Other mysteries were all solved today.

When ACT moved my Bobcat from the Ford Ranger I had it on ,to the 02 Tundra,the water valve was right in the way of the bed rail.
Marty removed the valve and installed an elbow and tubing all the way to the rear of the camper where the original valve was than placed.
Actually it's a better location as I can get water from the tank valve just at the back of the camper.
This might be a help in that depending on how much clearance you have for the valve and how easy it is for you the use it.The rear location would be possible.
Frank

 

[Seth]

Thanks for that! I'd really only been thinking about flushing & conditioning the water system; figured I could do that with a plug. Having an external water spigot could indeed be useful!

Back to my local Ace hardware for more bits & pieces...


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[BillM]

Seth,

I have a 2010 Eagle shell on an 08 Frontier. With the bedliner removed the camper siderails just rest on the bed siderails. They must have changed something between your year and mine. FYI I have not needed to beef up my suspension to carry the camper, it handles fine. Being a shell it may be lighter than yours but even when loaded for a week+ trip I don't have any rear squat. We've taken it on many 4wd roads such as Steele Pass and Lipincott in Death Valley no problem.

You may want to take a look at the camper attachment threads on the forum. The original eyebolt setup has caused some people issues with failing and damaging the bed. I designed my own attachment that has worked very well for me. You can see it here:http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/6496-cracks-in-tundra-bed-at-turnbuckle-eye-bolts/page-2

Also check the camper for aluminum backing plates, I don't know when they started using them but older campers don't have them and eyebolts have pulled through the camper plywood.

 

[Seth]

BillM, thanks for that report. Glad to find someone else with an Eagle on a later Frontier! The truth is I only got the plastic bedliner out yesterday, the rubber mat arrives Friday, and I've not taken the time to remeasure with the liner out. Possibly mine will fit just as yours does; the trucks didn't change, maybe the Eagle did change slightly in 13 years, maybe not. I'll update the thread when I know.

I've been assuming that I'll need Ride Rites and maybe a new sway bar, but your experience suggests maybe not. One step at a time here.

My camper definitely does *not* have backing plates on the eyebolts. Add that to the list... Which would mean getting into the driver's side cabinetry, another task.

Although I've never been an off-roader... Maybe that will change with this camper. I was never tempted when towing a tent trailer!

Camper is a 1997 in mostly great shape, but needs a little TLC here and there. It all worked when I bought it late in 2015, but now I'm wondering if I will need to chase electrical problems. Perhaps that's a topic for another thread... I certainly won't be the first buyer of a used FWC to run into some electrical challenges, the first being developing a better understanding of how it's supposed to work.


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[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

BillM,is this your rig? Yellowstone Madison campground 29 Sept 2013
Frank

attachment=24482SCN4828.jpg]

 

[BillM]

Nope, mine is silver.