Land-roamer
Advanced Member
I figured I'd do a bit of a dry run by placing the jacks that came with the camper beside it, and show you what I intend to do. I'd appreciate any thoughts about either the equipment or the method, since this is the first time I'll be doing this, and I don't want to screw up and damage equipment or limb.
You can see my driveway is fairly flat, a bit of a slight dip toward the street, and another one toward the garage. I'll position the camper (it sits on a steel frame with rubber dollies) right in front of the garage, and back up the truck in position to reverse underneath it, once camper is lifted properly.
For lifting, I plan on:
1. using the stock cable jacks (2) to lift the camper off the steel platform (which I'll slide away)
2. I'll continue raising with the cable jacks (a few turns on each side so it goes up fairly evenly) until the camper is high enough to position the 4 corner screw jacks (each of those has a capacity of 2000 pounds, and there are stout jack brackets at each corner, as you can see).
3. Once the camper is supported by the 4 screw jacks, I'll remove the 2 cable jacks, and continue lifting with the screw jacks (alternating each side and corner to try to raise the camper evenly). I'll need to measure the distance I need to raise it to clear the truck bed and sides, since the jacks come with several extension pipes that I may need to put on to get sufficient lift (the PO had a high pickup with tall tires, so needed the extra height).
4. I'll carefully back up the truck and ensure I've got sufficient clearance, then continue backing up until the camper is ready to be lowered into place.
A few questions:
- How many people should it take to do this well and safely. I figure at least 2 and probably 3 (one on each side to crank the jacks, and someone else to eyeball from a distance and make sure things are going up evenly and there is no lean on one side or front to back). Then one person to back up the truck, and one person on each side eyeballing things and giving signals if necessary.
- I plan on building a 2x4 pressure treated frame inside the box (2x4's laid flat) - 3 lengths of 8 foot joined by small pieces at each end and in the middle, which will sit in the 8x4' bed space. Then I'll use pieces of 2x4 and shims to support the camper sides on the truck sides. I'll likely keep the rubber mat in the truck. Does that sound reasonable?
- I know those cable jacks have a bad reputation, and I'm not crazy about using them (the lock pins seem to have been re-welded) but figure I have no choice, unless I use the corner screw jacks to raise one end at a time, block it underneath the camper, then the other end, block it, etc., until I can add sufficient extensions to raise it high enough. I don't have sawhorses and don't really want to build any if this is going to be a one-time thing (ie. get the camper on and leave it on!). Any thoughts?
- As per another thread, I figure I'll take the tailgate off (which will allow me to access the spare tire mechanism on my truck). That means the last 2 feet of the camper will be unsupported below, is that an issue?
Thanks a lot for putting up with these questions, and hopefully providing me with your thoughts and suggestions. Maybe that can also help someone else doing the same thing down the road.
--Robert
You can see my driveway is fairly flat, a bit of a slight dip toward the street, and another one toward the garage. I'll position the camper (it sits on a steel frame with rubber dollies) right in front of the garage, and back up the truck in position to reverse underneath it, once camper is lifted properly.
For lifting, I plan on:
1. using the stock cable jacks (2) to lift the camper off the steel platform (which I'll slide away)
2. I'll continue raising with the cable jacks (a few turns on each side so it goes up fairly evenly) until the camper is high enough to position the 4 corner screw jacks (each of those has a capacity of 2000 pounds, and there are stout jack brackets at each corner, as you can see).
3. Once the camper is supported by the 4 screw jacks, I'll remove the 2 cable jacks, and continue lifting with the screw jacks (alternating each side and corner to try to raise the camper evenly). I'll need to measure the distance I need to raise it to clear the truck bed and sides, since the jacks come with several extension pipes that I may need to put on to get sufficient lift (the PO had a high pickup with tall tires, so needed the extra height).
4. I'll carefully back up the truck and ensure I've got sufficient clearance, then continue backing up until the camper is ready to be lowered into place.
A few questions:
- How many people should it take to do this well and safely. I figure at least 2 and probably 3 (one on each side to crank the jacks, and someone else to eyeball from a distance and make sure things are going up evenly and there is no lean on one side or front to back). Then one person to back up the truck, and one person on each side eyeballing things and giving signals if necessary.
- I plan on building a 2x4 pressure treated frame inside the box (2x4's laid flat) - 3 lengths of 8 foot joined by small pieces at each end and in the middle, which will sit in the 8x4' bed space. Then I'll use pieces of 2x4 and shims to support the camper sides on the truck sides. I'll likely keep the rubber mat in the truck. Does that sound reasonable?
- I know those cable jacks have a bad reputation, and I'm not crazy about using them (the lock pins seem to have been re-welded) but figure I have no choice, unless I use the corner screw jacks to raise one end at a time, block it underneath the camper, then the other end, block it, etc., until I can add sufficient extensions to raise it high enough. I don't have sawhorses and don't really want to build any if this is going to be a one-time thing (ie. get the camper on and leave it on!). Any thoughts?
- As per another thread, I figure I'll take the tailgate off (which will allow me to access the spare tire mechanism on my truck). That means the last 2 feet of the camper will be unsupported below, is that an issue?
Thanks a lot for putting up with these questions, and hopefully providing me with your thoughts and suggestions. Maybe that can also help someone else doing the same thing down the road.
--Robert