Help with a (hopefully) new to me Grandby

[EDR]

I've been reading the forums for awhile and have tried searching the Site for answers to my questions with no luck.

I have a 2006 Dodge Ram with the 6-1/2' bed, so I know the Grandby will have to rest on the tailgate. I currently use an older 8' Hallmark pop up this way.

Anyway, I'm looking at buying a 1990 Grandby, that's about 5 hours away from home and I would like to make sure it will fit before making the trip.

According to the charts on the FWC sites, the 1990 and up model Grandby will fit on my truck. Unfortunately, the owner didn't seem real sure about the model year.

The camper has the rounded windows with the black rubber (?) edging versus the aluminum edging on earlier models. From what I can find, the change was made for the 1990 model year.

Is that a correct?

My Ram has a 60" tailgate opening, 50" between wheel wells and the bed sides are 20.5" tall.

Can anyone confirm that the Grandby will fit my Ram?

I also have the factory satellite radio antenna on the rear of the roof. I need 44" (floor to underside of camper cab-over) to clear the antenna.

Will the camper clear it, or do I need to raise the camper to clear the antenna? If I do how much?

Finally, I've read about the stock mounting method with the eye bolts and I noted the camper I'm looking at has the round ports to access the ties downs.

I currently have the torque lift mounts on my truck for my Hallmark pop up. I plan to use four 1K lb. rated tie-down straps to secure the camper to the torque lift mounts using the camper jack mounts.

Anyone see any reason this won't work?

Anything else I may have missed?

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[DrJ]

I would definelty call Stan or Brenda at FWC.
1-800-242-1442

There are some fit problems with older FWC and newer pickup styles.

I personally would not drive all the way out there without talking to them first.

I had FWC install my Hawk on my truck and have been glad that I did.

 

[EDR]

DrJ,

Thanks for the contacts. I'll give them a call.

Kilroy,

Sorry, it's a 2500 Diesel. I had no problem with the heavier Hallmark, but I appreciate the comment.

 

[Vento]

I just looked at a 93 Grandby that left me with a 1/4 inch of space sided to side on my 06 Dodge. I decided it was too tight for my comfort.

 

[EDR]

Vento,
Wow, that is tight!
Please let me know if you have a long or short bed.

I have a short bed, so the back 1 - 1/2 ft.would be resting on the tailgate.
I was thinking there would be more clearance along the sides and at the tailgate since the in-bed portion of the camper is narrower (an inch or more on each side) in all the pictures I have seen.

Where was the clearance tight? at the tailgate or?

I called Brenda at FWCs and she was very helpful.
She said it should fit, but since the campers were built for different trucks, she couldn't say 100%.

Any other thoughts or experiences would be appreciated.

I plan to call the guy this evening and ask him to take a few measurements. . . just to be sure.

 

[Vento]

Yah, it was tight at the tail gate (Long Box) but even at the front of the camper it still was only 1/2 an inch on either side I think.

 

[llavaseur]

Just measure the lower width of the camper (or have the current owners measure) and the distance between your wheel wells and as long as your tail gate opening is larger enough you should be fine. I say check the tail gate opening because I had this issue before with a chevy truck and an outfitter camper, the tail gate opening had large radius at the bottom that crashed the bottom camper corners. any height discrepancy can be corrected with wood or foam spacers.

http://i707.photobucket.com/albums/ww80/llavaseur/tailgateopening_zpsd860c20e.jpg

 

[Vento]

His year dodge is 4 and change wider at the front of the box compared to the tailgate opening. At least mine was.

 

[EDR]

Yeah,

My tailgate at least looks wider at the front. I know I have 60" at the tailgate and it's square (no rounded corners). I also have a 1/2" thick mat in the bed that will lift it a bit.

I will ask the owner to take the following measurements
1) width of the camper's in bed portion at front
2) width of the camper's in bed portion behind wheel well opening
3) height from camper base up to underside of cab over
4) height of camper base up to side walls

If you can think of anything else, please let me know.

Thanks for everybody's input. It's greatly appreciated!

 

[EDR]

Vento was spot on.

The width of the in bed portion of the camper is 59-3/4" along it's length (My tailgate opening is 60.6")
camper side wall height is 19'-20" (my bed sides are 20.5")
camper height from base to underside of cab over is 45" (my cab height is 43.5").

I plan to measure the opening at the front of my bed, but I don't think it will really matter. It's very tight.

Glad I was able to get it figured out before driving out to see it.

Thanks again for everyone's input.

 

[DrJ]

I can't tell you how frustrating this same problem was to me when I tried to buy a used camper. The older cheaper ones wouldn't ever fit the newer style truck beds.
I have a Chevy and you haven't even had to worry about the "notch" in the back of the bed.
My brother remodeled a camper and built a lift (which is becoming very cool now) just to make his fit. 70's style siesta camper in 2008 Ford F-350. Took some serious creativity to make that work.
It's why I own a 2013 Chevy with a 2013 Hawk - they actually fit.

 

[Vento]

EDR - I drove 12 hours round trip to find out. The guy who had it was a little off on his measurements, I'm happy you didn't have the same problem.

I think the year swing is probably more like 2000 to get a decent fit.

 

[EDR]

Thanks again for the input gentlemen.

Your knowledge and unfortunate experiences saved me a day and probably a tank or more of diesel!

My quest for a FWC (that fits) continues!

 

[Vento]

I have been thinking of just buying one of these and re-building the lower box to fit. I can't imagine it costing too much as long as the price of the camper is fair.

 

[EDR]

I had a similar thought.

I was thinking I could remove a portion of the outer skin that rests inside the truck bed and cover it with thin sheet metal (like tin). If the plywood along the sides is 3/8" or a 1/2" thick, that would give you close to an additional 3/4" to 1" of total clearance.

Since the sides would be covered when inside the truck bed it shouldn't need to be substantial, just weather and bug proof.

Not sure if that would be enough additional clearance. Just a thought.

 

[Stalking Light]

The 'skin' of the camper is structural, like the plywood on a framed house. Without it the camper might rack out of shape.

 

[Vento]

The box is made out of 3/4. It would need to be narrowed a bit which pretty much means taking it all apart and rebuilding it.

 

[Dusty Roads]

I did it to mine, and I got the ideas from good ole WTW. Look back in the older posts for some pix. Sorry, I can't seem to get the hang of posting pix. I believe if you search for Sheefdog you will find some posts about what he did to his. Also, there is a beautiful rebuild under the name of Resto 4, I think. If not here look on Expedition Portal. Long and the short of it is that the older ones are cheap for this reason. My '78 Grandby was $100.00 because the guy couldn't sell it to anyone else. I borrowed a friends old body style Ford and brought it home. Built a new floor pack (without the extra step) and started using it.

They are out there.

Dusty.