How centered is your camper?

[northshorehenry]

So today, while, putting on my camper, I lowered one side a little further than the other, which caused my camper to shift a little to one side. So now my camper is on 1/2 inch off center. Basically it's tight on one side and not so much on the other.

My wife won't notice it. I doubt most fellow campers will notice it. So really it's just me and it's bugging me. I'll straighten it out the next time. My question is, how straight is your camper and would you have fixed a half inch off set?

Cheers


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[Atlin]

If it really bugs you, jack it up a bit and put a couple pieces of spacer wood on either side and lower it again. I would probably do something like this, keep the pieces of wood to use each time I wanted to put the camper on.

my two cents

 

[LookyLou]

I'd center it.

 

[Bill D]

If it's in between the wheel wells it's centered enough for me.

I wouldn't worry about it. You mentioned you are going to take it off soon.
The more times you do it the better you will get at getting it centered.
Next time don't do so many cranks on one side while lowering it.

Another thing you can do is try getting the rear lightly centered first while lowering the camper. It's easy to see if it's centered. Then when lowering the front you can lightly push on the jacks while it is being seated to center it.

 

[MarkBC]

For me, being off by ½ inch would be insignificant...but it's a personal preference thing.

 

[northshorehenry]

I was in a hurry using a power drill on the manual jacks, so it lowered quick. Made it to work just on time.

Next time I will probably use the drill to get it close and hand crank it down the last inch because it was lined up perfectly in the box only to shift out when I lowered the last tiny bit too quick on one side.

Was just curious to see how many other are OCD like me.

 

[Taku]

Not worth worrying about for me. But our Ocelot fits so tight in our 05 Tundra that I don't think it could be more than 1/2" off.

 

[Ace!]

Wow. Mine's as off center as it can be (all the way to one side) and although I thought I might get some ribbing from other camper owners, I haven't. Doesn't bother me.

 

[BFH4N]

Having the camper intentionally a bit off center might be a way to improve the center-of-gravity.

 

[JaSAn]

If it bothers you, recenter it. Just jack it up a little, get a couple of friends to push it over, and drop it back down.

If you can live with it until you take it back off, it shouldn't hurt anything.

jim

 

[Wallowa]

Question: Several have mentioned "pushing it over". Are you folks aligning the camper by push it laterally when it is still on the jacks?

Any lateral load on the jacks would make me nervous! How does it work out?

Thanks,

Phil

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Phil, one technique that my installer used was to kick the foot of the jacks. Candidly, I don't know if that's a good long term strategy, but that's how FWC centered the camper on my truck.

 

[MarkBC]

Question: Several have mentioned "pushing it over". Are you folks aligning the camper by push it laterally when it is still on the jacks?

Any lateral load on the jacks would make me nervous! How does it work out?

Phil, one technique that my installer used was to kick the foot of the jacks. Candidly, I don't know if that's a good long term strategy, but that's how FWC centered the camper on my truck.

I was wondering about this, too -- how does it work to try to shove the camper when it's standing on the jacks? Seems like with about 300 lbs on each jack it wouldn't slide that easily. I've never tried it myself.
I guess it depends on what surface it's standing on. Like, smooth concrete would be different than dirt/gravel.

 

[Riverrunner]

FIrst, not being exactly centered doesn't bother me. Even when it's centered when I load it, the camper will move a little to the drivers side even with a thick rubber mat. My guess it's because mine sits on 2x4's screwed to the underside so it clears my cab. Camper was built for GM and I got a SD Ford.

Question: Several have mentioned "pushing it over". Are you folks aligning the camper by push it laterally when it is still on the jacks?

Any lateral load on the jacks would make me nervous! How does it work out?

Thanks,

Phil

Phil, one technique that my installer used was to kick the foot of the jacks. Candidly, I don't know if that's a good long term strategy, but that's how FWC centered the camper on my truck.

This is what I do also. Kick one base then the opposite side and work it over. Pretty easy and I don't think it will hurt anything as long as you do it a little at a time on concrete or AC.

 

[Basin Deranged]

I figure keeping my camper exactly centered allows me to be a little eccentric myself!

 

[LookyLou]

FIrst, not being exactly centered doesn't bother me. Even when it's centered when I load it, the camper will move a little to the drivers side even with a thick rubber mat. My guess it's because mine sits on 2x4's screwed to the underside so it clears my cab. Camper was built for GM and I got a SD Ford.




This is what I do also. Kick one base then the opposite side and work it over. Pretty easy and I don't think it will hurt anything as long as you do it a little at a time on concrete or AC.

The installer at FWC told me to raise the jack you to move. Reduce the pressure on it and then give it a shove or kick the base.

 

[ski3pin]

I gently push, never kick. The back end of the camper, because of limited space centers itself. Our approach is to lower the back jacks until the weight is just transferring to the trucks suspension. For the front I have my tape measure out, the camper is within an inch of the truck bed. We push the camper to a centered position and lower the jacks. I back the truck up our steep road, stop, and push the camper forward to seat against the front of the bed. My tolerance is within 3/8" of being centered and I call it good and go camping.

 

[craig333]

I'm another between the wheel wells guy but the last time, just to have it centered once, I used the winch on the Jeep to move it around. Was it worth it? Not to me.

 

[northshorehenry]

So it appears I'm not the only OCD guy here.


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[snuffy]

i like to use a 2x4 about 5ft. long and just jack the camper up just a bit off the mat and push it over and let it down.. i cant stand seeing it not center.. OCD..