Quick removal camper jacks?

[UglyScout]

Anyone fab anything to just 'pop' your camper jacks off. I know they are only held on with 2 bolts each.. But I need to do some work to my jacks anyway, so I figured I could make any changes to them at the same time. Quick release pins, etc.

Also - anyone fab up super wide camper jacks? I would like to store my camper on top of my car trailer and the fenders ont he trailer I really wide - wider than a dually.

Cutting and welding are options and encouraged around my house.

Thanks!

 

[ntsqd]

A while back I proposed that a guy with a Bigfoot who had bent one of the jacks in Baja make them removable. My thought was to make angle plates that bolted to the corners of the camper that had a plate sticking out at some agreeable angle. In that plate would be 'key-hole' slots. The jacks would have bolts jam-nutted such that they would just barely fit that plate between the bolt head and the jam-nut. The lower, large end of the key-holes would clear the bolt head while the smaller, upper end would only fit the bolt shoulder. I made a CAD model and generated a jpg of the idea, but have since deleted it. Can do so again if my description could benefit from a picture.

 

[UglyScout]

I think I get it. I had to read it twice though.

As long as there was weight on the jacks they would stay tight and in place, the key hole would prevent any side to side movement, yet they 'should' slip up and down without tools. Release the tension and pop the jacks off....

 

[HERR42]

A while back I proposed that a guy with a Bigfoot who had bent one of the jacks in Baja make them removable. My thought was to make angle plates that bolted to the corners of the camper that had a plate sticking out at some agreeable angle. In that plate would be 'key-hole' slots. The jacks would have bolts jam-nutted such that they would just barely fit that plate between the bolt head and the jam-nut. The lower, large end of the key-holes would clear the bolt head while the smaller, upper end would only fit the bolt shoulder. I made a CAD model and generated a jpg of the idea, but have since deleted it. Can do so again if my description could benefit from a picture.



rather than bolts....what about some creative creative cutting that would allow the two "brackets" to "mesh" together?

 

[Darryla]

A small thing I did was to replace the lock nuts with wing nuts. It cuts the time down quite a lot.


Darryl

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

I would love to see someone come up with a quick release bracket for the jacks.

We have looked at a few ideas over the year but have not seen anything that worked well enough to use on new campers.

Be careful making those extra wide camper jack extension plates.

The farther out you make the extension plates, the more twist you will have on the jack bracket and the camper frame.

It can be done, but you shoud make it strong, and be ever so delicate & carful when loading / unloading the camper off the truck or trailer.

I have seem too many people tweak their jack brackets (best case), and usually the camper frame too (worst case).


.


.

 

[Steve Scearce]

I too have wondered about some quick-release option. Haven't come up with anything, however.

We have a Phoenix Coyote popup that is meant for a Tacoma and we have a Tundra. I initially had 6" wide, 1/4" thick aluminum extension plates made, but as Stan said, it was pretty unstable. I have since added 1/8 steel extension plates to match, and that has made the jacks much more stable.

 

[ntsqd]

The reason that I was thinking in terms of bolts and jam nuts rather than interlocking features is that it saves making 4 parts and from what I've seen the jacks already have some sort of bolt-on tab arrangement. Something like this could be made at home, or could be a product. I would heed Stan's concerns about the connection not being rigid. Keep those sloted bolt holes close to the camper body. The best way would be to use socket head shoulder bolts and no jam nuts, but some investigation of the jack tabs would need to be made to determine if they will support that or not.

 

[pods8]

What is the XPcamper using for an attachment system? From the pictures they don't have the bracket like these rigs (actually just looks like a little square slot on the side of the camper. Is it an easy install/removal, something that could be applied by use tinkering end users to the FWC/ATC rigs?

 

[UglyScout]

I think I have settled on a design for my new jack brackets. i am only going to mess with the front jack as the rears are fine and clear the truck and trailer fine.

The old ones stuck out way too far all the time - the new ones will be easily removable and leave the camper flush on the front.

See attached PDF....

The removable section will be bolted to the jack and the pieces will all be welded together. The botl will be welded to the plate so it can be removed with the wing nut and no tools.

I'll snap some pics if I ever finish it...

 

[chnlisle]

I use wing nuts on all my jacks. I never travel with them.

 

[knobbytracks]

Off the subject a bit, but after removing the jacks, how do you lift the truck in the event you need to change a tire on the road? Thankfully I have not had to do this but if I do, I would use the camper jacks along with the OEM bottle jack to change a tire. I have not tried the OEM bottle jack for my Tundra but am assuming it won't have the "oomph" needed to lift the back end with the camper loaded. Thoughts?

 

[SunMan]

Off the subject a bit, but after removing the jacks, how do you lift the truck in the event you need to change a tire on the road? Thankfully I have not had to do this but if I do, I would use the camper jacks along with the OEM bottle jack to change a tire. I have not tried the OEM bottle jack for my Tundra but am assuming it won't have the "oomph" needed to lift the back end with the camper loaded. Thoughts?


I've often wondered that too but haven't ever needed to change a tire. I carry a Hi Lift too so I figure I'm covered either way.

 

[Barko1]

I can't imagine using the camper jacks, bring a big bottle jack or hi-lift.

 

[Lighthawk]

I got a Makita LXT impact driver and it makes very short work of bolting & unbolting the jacks. I use an adapter for the socket driver and a box wrench on the other end. Pretty quick.

Now if I could get away from using turnbuckles!

 

[pvstoy]

Off the subject a bit, but after removing the jacks, how do you lift the truck in the event you need to change a tire on the road? Thankfully I have not had to do this but if I do, I would use the camper jacks along with the OEM bottle jack to change a tire. I have not tried the OEM bottle jack for my Tundra but am assuming it won't have the "oomph" needed to lift the back end with the camper loaded. Thoughts?


Some one years ago posted that they were lifting while removing camper and forgot to remove the turnbuckle. Thier eyebolt on the camper pulled through the wood siding.

I would not take that chance and get a bottle jack or highlift to raise the truck.

 

[leadsled9]

I can't imagine using the camper jacks, bring a big bottle jack or hi-lift.

Barko1,

Where do you have that high lift jack placed on the front of your truck? Is it just put through one of the eye hooks? I often wondered if that would be a stout enough mount point for my high lift jack.

 

[Alex]

Off the subject a bit, but after removing the jacks, how do you lift the truck in the event you need to change a tire on the road? Thankfully I have not had to do this but if I do, I would use the camper jacks along with the OEM bottle jack to change a tire. I have not tried the OEM bottle jack for my Tundra but am assuming it won't have the "oomph" needed to lift the back end with the camper loaded. Thoughts?


I had a flat in the passenger side rear tire and lift the rear with OEM bottle jack to change the tire with no problem. Here is my measurement of weight at each tire on my tacoma with ATC loaded.
front driver: 1280lbs
front passanger:1320lbs
rear driver: 1660lbs
rear passenger: 1380lbs

Only the drive side rear is much heavier then the front. I think if the truck is not lifted to much OEM bottle jack should be fine.

 

[knobbytracks]

Thanks for the replies.

"Thankfully I have not had to do this but if I do, I would use the camper jacks along with the OEM bottle jack to change a tire." I just wanted reinstate from my previous post that I would use, if needed, the camper jacks ALONG WITH the OEM bottle jack, not the camper jacks only.

 

[UglyScout]

I've jacked up 1/2 of my loaded car trailer (+/- 8000 pounds) with my OEM truck jack to change a flat. I would have no problems jacking up one tire on my truck with the camper on it. I'd wager most stock truck jacks could do the same.

I wouldn't want to chance hurting the camper using the camper jacks to help support the truck.