FWC Newbie Question....

[Eshelman]

Hello all,

Been a reader of WTW for a little while now as I’ve been researching truck/camper combos. Now that I’ve dialed-in exactly what I’m after (2003-06 Tundra + FWC Hawk or Kestrel), I figured it was a good time to start getting some input from the folks who have been using these types of campers for a long time.

My first question for you all is really pretty simple. How realistic is it to think that I could/would take the camper on & off the truck with some regularity. Regularity meaning – leave the camper off for driving the truck to and from work, etc. and then putting the camper on every couple of weeks in the spring through fall for weekend road trips.

Now that I’ve asked that question, let me give a bit more background info that might be helpful. I’ve been a tent camper or sleep in the bed of a truck kinda guy for a long time now…so the concept of upgrading to a FWC is an exciting idea for me. I’ve done a lot of research on FWC’s and really feel like it would be a great fit for me. I did consider other options – VW camper van, sprinter with self-mods, truck with topper and self-mods – however they all have drawbacks for my particular lifestyle. Some of the main reasons are - I need a 4WD option and I really like the idea of having a truck because I can pull the camper off and use it like a truck.

Also, I have put some thought into what kind of system I could build that would allow for easy (relative term I know ) removal/install of the FWC. I think have a concept that would actually work pretty well and be easy to build. That being said, I haven’t actually seen how the campers mount to the truck in person, so I’m just trying to get a feel for how much of a pain it is to disconnect and remove. I guess that brings me back to my question…

Anyway, I would really appreciate any input you all would be willing to share on this topic, since you guys are the ones with expertise!

Thanks!
Brandon Eshelman

 

[DirtyDog]

I don't think taking the camper on and off is that big of a deal. However, resist the urge to leave your jacks on the camper when mounted on the truck. They are heavy, they rattle and annoy the heck out of me when driving with the window down, and if you ever catch one on something you are probably going to do thousands of dollars in damage.

If you are quick about it, putting the jacks on and off-loading the camper is about a 45 minute job. I'm sure it can be done faster than that but 45 is a number i'm comfortable with. Actually it takes me 1.5 hours cuz I have to bolt on the beers while I'm doing it.

 

[Cort]

Brandon,

I would not worry about mounting and unmounting the camper. I do it on a regular basis and as DD has said it will take you about 1.5 to do. And that includes bolting on the jacks, sliding the camper in, securing it, and then taken the jacks back off. I leave my camper ready to go meaning, that I have everything minus food and beer already in the camper so once I have it loaded all I need to do is swing by the local brewery....uuuumm I mean supermarket and get some food and my favorite liquid nourishment. It really not that much longer than having to pack my tent and all my camping supplies etc, like I used to do when I slept in a tent or the back of a truck.

Cort

 

[DirtyDog]

beer already in the camper


Did you get some custom extra heavy duty jacks?

 

[pods8]

That being said, I haven’t actually seen how the campers mount to the truck in person, so I’m just trying to get a feel for how much of a pain it is to disconnect and remove.


Where are you located? If you're around one of use with a rig I'm sure people would be open minded to showing you theirs if you wanted to ponder some things out.

As already mentioned its not that big of a deal to take the camper on/off, DD's 45min estimate seems solid in my mind. Biggest thing I've found is its a little harder putting my camper on solo because there isn't a ton of clearance both between the jacks and also in the tailgate width area. With another person for the backing up portion it speeds things up (assuming you can communicate clearly ).

 

[Cort]

read more closely,"I have everything already loaded minus food and beer...". I don't think they make jacks strong enough for me to leave the beer loaded Next rally I'm showing up with Odoul's just for DD

Cort

 

[DirtyDog]

read more closely,"I have everything already loaded minus food and beer...". I don't think they make jacks strong enough for me to leave the beer loaded Next rally I'm showing up with Odoul's just for DD

Cort


An Irishman with Odoul's in his cooler. Yeah right.

 

[BillM]

My 2 cents, I leave the camper on full time. I drive a 99 nissan sentra econojunker to work. 40 mpg and I don't put useless miles on my truck. Crunch the numbers for your commute and then do what's cheapest.

 

[Argonaut20]

Really easy on and off. The hardest part is backing the truck under the camper IMHO. As for attachment, turnbuckles on all four corners that need to be reached and tightened once the camper is on the truck. You can also get fastgun equipment if you mount with exterior mounts.

 

[John D]

Brandon, We have a Keystone, the heaviest and largest For Wheel Camper, and it is not that difficult to load and unload, or slide it in, if you will. We operate the same way as Dirty Dog. Truth is, I actually enjoy loading and unloading the camper and it gets me fired up about the camping trip.

Bolting and unbolting the jacks takes a little time. Like Dirty Dog, I don't like to leave the jacks on the camper either. Many larger slide in camper folks leave their jacks on their campers all the time. I just don't see the need for that with our lightweight campers and they are liable to catch on something causing damage, as DD says, though it is really not that risky if you watch where you are going. I think the heavier campers need to be steadied by lowering the jacks on camp site because they are usually over gross weitht limit on the trucks. Also, the heavier campers are used like conventional RVs by parking in improved commercial camp grounds for weeks at a time. These folks set up their campers on the camp site for perhaps a month and they want to be able to use their trucks for transportation. Four Wheel Camper people operate more like you are accustomed to when tent camping and shell camping. FWC people usually don't camp in one spot very long. Of course, there is nothing wrong with destination camping in a lightweight popup when the need arises. But if I were going to the same camping spot every year to stay there for months at a time, I would want a much larger RV. I am presenting that idea so you can contrast it with the idea of a lightweight mobile habitat, highly mobile, compromise in comfort over the Class B and Class C, flexible, inexpensive, low maintenance, and convenient as possible.

I had cable jacks on another camper that weighted about 2000 pounds and felt uneasy with them because I knew if that camper fell, it would probably cause a lot of damage if not serious bodily injury. On the other hand, if you are loading an empty shell camper that weighs less than 700 pounds, I would consider cable jacks and saw horses. A 600 pound camper can be man handled by a strong working dude. You can put it up on saw horses, back the truck under the front of it, let the front down on the truck bed, and muscle it on the truck. Load the camper down hill. If you are a construction dude, no problem. It is something to think about.

Point is, you probably will find loading and unloading to be part of the fun. When you get that camper off the truck, it runs like a rocket.

John D

 

[whizbang]

We are on our 4th truck/camper combo. 45 minutes to an hour is what it takes for the entire loading process. 45 minutes on, 45 minutes off at the end of the trip.

Filling the fresh water tank, recharging the porta-potti, loading food and gear take even more time and not included in the 45 minute number.

If you load up the day before, or leave it on the truck loaded with food, cloths, etc., it's a lot less work. I would think that you would want to off load a camper from a daily driver, unless your commute was real, real short.

 

[randygirl]

I have a 04 Tundra with a Hawk and I will agree with everyone that on and off is not that bad. I think the hardest part is backing up under the camper. With a Tundra there is not any wiggle room in the bed. You have maybe 1/8 inch on either side, so you have to be precise.

Jacks off definitely while using it. I have had my combo for only a few months so I am still new at this and it took me about an hour and a half putting the jacks on and removing the camper.

 

[MarkBC]

I keep my camper on the truck 99% of the time -- I've only removed it once in the 5 years I've had it (I had a lot of stuff to haul to the dump...which, BTW, isn't nearly as fun as it used to be since they no longer let you back up to the big hole).

BUT, that one time I removed and later replaced the camper was no big deal.
Unlike the famous Stew, I'm not a World Champion Backer Upper, but I did it by myself without guidance and without knocking the camper over...surprisingly easy.
It was only this year that I noticed that all the cool guys remove their camper jacks, so I did, too. Obviously, a socket on an electric drill is the way to go for this task.
And I think if I was going to be mounting/dismounting the camper every couple weeks I'd leave the jacks on all the time...I'm very lazy.

 

[lostnot]

I am definetely the minority here. And I guess not cool. I leave my jacks on all the time because as a full time rver I don't have a homebase to set the camper down. I pull the truck and camper behind a 40 ft rv.

When I get to say my daughter's and need the truck to haul I can take the camper off. Or if I need to carry a large part for the bus I can also do that. I go everywhere with the camper and jacks on.

The previous owner also kept the jacks on all the time. He used it to gold prospect but I don't know why he kept the jacks on.

However that being said after years of using the camper with jacks on I was able to get a good deal on it because he caught a rock on the jack and did some damage to the camper. Because the fwc is so well made I just opened up the siding bent the frame back, reenforced it and it is almost good as new.

I haven't done it yet but I plan on carrying a 4x8 sheet of ply wood with cut outs under the camper. Stan said he used this arrangement for rv shows, a better way to store your camper during the week than saw horses.

 

[Eshelman]

Guys - Thanks so much for all the well thought out replies. I had no idea I would be able to open up my laptop this morning and see so many replies so soon. It's great to hear that a lot of you actually do take the camper on/off fairly frequently. 45 min. isn't bad at all. Takes me that long just to load the subaru for a trip...

Great point about folks who live nearby. Probably one of the reasons I should go back and finish setting up my profile I'm in Salt Lake by the way. If any of you guys happen to be in the area and would be open to giving me a tour of your rig, that would be awesome. In fact, I'll sweeten the deal by promising to bring a sixer or a 1/5 of whatever

DD - great point about the jacks. I actually hadn't thought about that too much, but it makes sense. No need to have those things hanging out there aksing to get caught up on something. Plus, I would imagine all 4 add up to close to 80-100 extra lbs. or so.

Sounds like several of you use the saw horse method for storage. I've been thinking of some different ways I could store the rig. I've got room in the garage for storage, but if storing the camper in the orientation it would come off the truck, then I would only have room in the garage for the camper and the truck (truck on one side/camper on the other). The other car would have to live outside. However, if I could pull the camper off and then spin it 90 degrees, then i would actually have room for the camper and both cars in the garage. Anybody have any photos of some creative storage methods?

 

[craig333]

Since my truck handles better with the camper on, I have little incentive to take it off.

How many of you have a flat area for loading and unloading? Doing it on my sloped driveway wasn't much fun.

 

[pods8]

I'm working on a plane plane. My driveway and whole yard is flat (the yard a bit too much but that is another story).

 

[DirtyDog]

My only option is offloading the camper on a gravel drive so it stays where it gets offloaded. I lower it onto a couple sawhorses for stability.

 

[Cort]

Since my truck handles better with the camper on, I have little incentive to take it off.

How many of you have a flat area for loading and unloading? Doing it on my sloped driveway wasn't much fun.



Nothing a few blocks won't handle. I load and unload on sloping gravel. I just use some 2X6 or 4X4 scrap and all is good.

Cort

 

[Lighthawk]

[quote name='Eshelman' date='19 January 2011 -

Sounds like several of you use the saw horse method for storage. I've been thinking of some different ways I could store the rig. I've got room in the garage for storage, but if storing the camper in the orientation it would come off the truck, then I would only have room in the garage for the camper and the truck (truck on one side/camper on the other). The other car would have to live outside. However, if I could pull the camper off and then spin it 90 degrees, then i would actually have room for the camper and both cars in the garage. Anybody have any photos of some creative storage methods?
[/quote]

I built a wood dolly to store my FWC. I can lower it down on my driveway or even inside my garage I used wheels from scaffolding which I already owned. They sleeve into 1 1/2" pipe with a pipe flange which is bolted to the girder(s). I tried simply drilling holes in the 4x6 girder for the wheels, but the 900 lb camper actually began to crack the timber in half! The weight is significant. I sheared over the cracked beam with plywood and screwed/glued it. Now it's solid. I can wheel it around the garage by myself. If I put it between my garage lights, I can even pop it up after a trip to dry out.