Maybe Crazy Camper mount thought

[Chukar Hunter]

I had to replace my old truck and now thinking about other options for mounting my 07 Hawk on my 15 Chevy.
One idea running thru my brain is I have a B&W turn over ball gooseneck hitch in the truck. What if I mounted a pin to the bottom of the camper that lined up with the hitch. Kind of crazy sounding but I have to build up the bottom of the camper for the new truck anyway and thinking I can fabricate a pin to fit the B&W receiver.
Any thought or comments?

 

[longhorn1]

What is a B & W hitch? Is this a 5th wheel hitch? My old brain isn't tracking. What is the reasoning behind connecting to the bottom of the camper?

Do you have to raise the camper to clear the bed rails? A platform or strings secured to the bottom of your camper.

Can you post a picture of your truck bed?

I'm just not tracking what you are trying to do. I'm curious. Longhorn

Sent from my SM-G900V using Wander The West mobile app

 

[cdbrow1]

Interesting idea. Are you thinking one attachment point - or still tie down the corners. With only one point I think it would rotate around.

I am thinking about going with the Hippijac system myself. That might do a better job of getting the stress to the truck frame - where it belongs.

http://happijac.com/tie-downs.html

 

[ntsqd]

When a friend built a flatbed for his Fuso with the plan of a custom camper unit occupying the bed most of the time I suggested two tow balls at diagonal corners to locate it. Simple tubes in the camper's structure to fit down over the balls.
It is quite common in production tooling to use a round pin and a diamond pin at diagonal corners to locate things. The round pin does most of the work, the diamond pin is oriented with it's OD such to be facing/opposing rotation about the round pin. The diamond shape is just relief to allow easy R&R of whatever is located by the pins. This is a diamond pin, a very large one: http://www.mcmaster.com/#8472a49/=11icgyj

If you want to incorporate tie-down/hold-downs as well it gets a bit more complicated, but can work. Frankly I'd still use turn-buckles or bolts for their ease of use and employment, not to mention zero development time.

 

[Chukar Hunter]

The thought was just one single attach point on the bottom of the camper that would be pretty close to center of the camper, Back under the camper drop it down, engage the pin and your ready to go.
After more thought some of the negative things come to mind like:
Trying to line up a square pin with a square hole that you can't see.
Is just mounting to the floor stable enough rather than the higher up turn buckle mounts?
I have already set up 3 different trucks for this camper and maybe going through engineering and fabrication just not worth it?

 

[cdbrow1]

I think there is a better mousetrap to be built, but I am not sure I would want to be the guy to do it.

I like the idea of a "coupler" in the front of the bed that would lock into a receiver in the camper. You could even have a guidetrack to make sure the alignment is right. Think of two Y shapes on either side of the bed (attached to the frame) that guide the camper to the right spot and then let it drop into place. You could lock it down with a cotter pin under the truck. When you want it off - pull the pins, lift the camper and drive away. Of course the camper frame itself would need to be built for it - and it is not.

 

[hmt]

The 5th wheel prep group option on newer Ram trucks is at least universal to that brand for consistency to create a plug-in. Not sure if GM/Ford have this as an option yet or not; haven't researched them. (The gooseneck ball in the pic is easily removed.) The "plug" could maybe be made from the aluminum tubing already used for the camper walls I would think. No more drilling into the bed (yeah!!!). Direct to frame connection for the camper. Plus the trailer power connection in the truck bed sidewall could be used???

 

[vug]

I have done exactly what you describe. I built a load distribution plate with a round pin welded to the center of it. The pin is tapered at the nose and fits loose enough that it goes into the square receiver very easily when the front camper bumpers are against the front of the box. I also added side to side guide strips to center the camper. The pin has a cross hole for the lock pin to engage in. The plate is bolted through the camper floor.

I've had this setup on my FWC for five years now with no issues. At first I locked the camper down at the front tie down points with cables just in case, but only used them for a few times before ditching them. This set-up makes loading and unloading the camper very quick and easy.

I'll take some pictures and post them up when I get a chance.

Vug

 

[cdbrow1]

I have done exactly what you describe. I built a load distribution plate with a round pin welded to the center of it. The pin is tapered at the nose and fits loose enough that it goes into the square receiver very easily when the front camper bumpers are against the front of the box. I also added side to side guide strips to center the camper. The pin has a cross hole for the lock pin to engage in. The plate is bolted through the camper floor.

I've had this setup on my FWC for five years now with no issues. At first I locked the camper down at the front tie down points with cables just in case, but only used them for a few times before ditching them. This set-up makes loading and unloading the camper very quick and easy.

I'll take some pictures and post them up when I get a chance.

Vug

Very interesting. Look forward to pictures.

 

[vug]

This is what I added to the bottom of the camper to fit into the socket for the flip over ball. I added plastic to the sides of the camper to help center it for easy loading.

 

[billharr]

This is what I added to the bottom of the camper to fit into the socket for the flip over ball. I added plastic to the sides of the camper to help center it for easy loading.

How long is that pin? Looks like that has to be WAY UP in the air to load.

 

[vug]

It's too long. I should've made it about half as long but it works.

 

[Chukar Hunter]

OK so maybe I'm not crazy, just not the first guy to think of it.
That is exactly what I had thought it would look like!

 

[Chukar Hunter]

Does the pin come up into the floor or just welded to the plate?
Looks to me like you do this for a living or did you have the plate cut by a shop?
I really like it so now I am rethinking again about buying the eye bolts

 

[ntsqd]

Still need some method of holding the camper down in the bed. All the pin does is locate the camper fore/aft & side/side.

 

[vug]

I designed the plate and got it laser cut. The pin was turned by a coworker at our shop. I cross drilled it and welded it to the plate. Only bolts go through the floor. I've found this to be a more solid way of tying down the camper than the factory eyebolts through the sheet metal of the bed. I had some serious deformation of the sheet metal in my old truck at the eyebolts. When I got my new truck, it had the B&W hitch in it already and the idea of tying into that structure seemed like a good idea.

The pin does the locating fore/aft and side/side. Gravity and a cross pin in double shear keeps it in the bed. This is what the hitch structure looks like under the bed.

 

[AK Nomad]

How difficult is it to line up before dropping the camper pin into the hole? It's fairly easy to see a gooseneck when hitching up a trailer, but you can't see a thing when backing under a camper.

 

[vug]

It's not too difficult. I added some plastic strip to each side of the camper that keeps it aligned side-to-side in the truck bed. I back up until the front bumpers are against the front of the bed and I'm lined up. My wife generally helps me too. She can push the back of the camper around a little bit because it is hanging from cables for storage.