Removal of Camper on a Slope?

[canfindtom]

Any advice out there about the risk of removing my Grandby 4 wheel camper when my truck is on a slope. I have never tried. When the truck/camper is on my sloped driveway the front of the camper is about 6-8" lower that the back of the camper.

My thought is that I would rise the lower end fist level with the hight end move the truck, and lower the camper down to the ground - and do the opposite to load it. I just do not know if that would be too risky at the points that the camper is not level.

Anyone knowledgeable about this, anyone any experience doing this?

Thank you so very much in advance for your expertise, advice.

 

[longhorn1]

Any advice out there about the risk of removing my Grandby 4 wheel camper when my truck is on a slope. I have never tried. When the truck/camper is on my sloped driveway the front of the camper is about 6-8" lower that the back of the camper.

My thought is that I would rise the lower end fist level with the hight end move the truck, and lower the camper down to the ground - and do the opposite to load it. I just do not know if that would be too risky at the points that the camper is not level.

Anyone knowledgeable about this, anyone any experience doing this?

Thank you so very much in advance for your expertise, advice.

High risk, low reward. You will be putting a lot of weight on the the Jack's, not evenly distributed weight. Some say they can do it or have done it but I think the risks are too great. My 2 cents. jd

 

[klahanie]

High risk, low reward. You will be putting a lot of weight on the the Jack's, not evenly distributed weight. Some say they can do it or have done it but I think the risks are too great. My 2 cents. jd

Surely the reward, if the process is successful would be the removal/loading of the camper, which is the objective, yes ? or are you reading a different goal ?

Tom, I load/unload on a side sloped lawn ...with cable jacks ... and lift from the bottom of the camper using two narrow beams ... that's different but similarly not ideal. But, alas, we deal with what we have...

Agree you'll want to keep the camper as level as comfortable when raising/lowering. To reduce the starting angle I'd take air out of the rear tires and maybe have the front wheels on blocks or pavers that you could drive off of.

For the jack feet I'd look at making some wedge shaped platforms with good grip on the grade side and so the feet sit dead level on the up side. Prob would secure the feet to each platform too.

To hep prevent the camper jacks from "walking" down the driveway, I'd look at bracing or tying the legs together and if a second vehicle is avail, anchoring the camper to it with a ratchet strap or similar.

Expect loading to be harder. You can do a lot when you you take your time. Worth it ? only you can say.

 

[longhorn1]

Surely the reward, if the process is successful would be the removal/loading of the camper, which is the objective, yes ? or are you reading a different goal ?

Tom, I load/unload on a side sloped lawn ...with cable jacks ... and lift from the bottom of the camper using two narrow beams ... that's different but similarly not ideal. But, alas, we deal with what we have...

Agree you'll want to keep the camper as level as comfortable when raising/lowering. To reduce the starting angle I'd take air out of the rear tires and maybe have the front wheels on blocks or pavers that you could drive off of.

For the jack feet I'd look at making some wedge shaped platforms with good grip on the grade side and so the feet sit dead level on the up side. Prob would secure the feet to each platform too.

To hep prevent the camper jacks from "walking" down the driveway, I'd look at bracing or tying the legs together and if a second vehicle is avail, anchoring the camper to it with a ratchet strap or similar.

Expect loading to be harder. You can do a lot when you you take your time. Worth it ? only you can say.

I'm lucky to have a storage place that is level. I have a pretty steep driveway. Since we can't store in the driveway (homeowners rules) and no room in the garage so I don't have to even try. As I said others have done it. I think it is a risk, but that was my 2 cents[emoji846] jd

 

[craig333]

I've done it twice on a mildly sloped driveway. Not ideal but it wasn't scary either. Take your time.

 

[canfindtom]

All your replies are great - very helpful. I think I have found a solution. I ordered some good heavy duty steel truck ramps that I can drive one end of my truck up onto and it will add 10" to that end. That will bring my truck/camper to almost level. I have air bags for I can adjust the rear high by a few inches in addition. Then I lift up the camper, drive off the ramps, and lower the camper to the ground. I think I just need to be sure I made some levelers for the feet of the camper jacks (not a big deal at all) so they will not move.

Comments?

 

[Andy Douglass]

I'm only an amateur physicist, but I don't think there is any more stress placed on the jacks as long as the feet have leveling blocks custom cut for the pitch of your driveway. If you don't use leveling blocks (wedges?), it would put more stress on the feet of the jacks since only part of the round foot will be contacting the ground.

I have unloaded our camper once on our sloped driveway, but I would estimate the slope as a 2"-3" difference front to back, so a lot less than yours.

I don't know how you plan on using the truck ramps in a manner that you will be able to drive off of them safely from under the camper. I normally unload our camper on a gravel section of our driveway, and if I don't rake out any moderate irregularities first, it makes it difficult because there is so little clearance between my rear fenders and the jacks (less than an inch on either side). I don't have bracket extensions, but they would alleviate the problem. I just can't see how you would have the truck on ramps, disconnect the camper, then drive off the ramps and out of the camper at the same time without that major movement of the truck bed being a problem. I also don't understand why you need them. The jacks will level the camper. Park truck, disconnect, lower jacks proportionally to level the camper while the truck is under it, then drive out slowly. I would probably want some decent clearance between the bottom of the camper and the truck bed because the rear of the bed behind the rear axle might not just go down parallel with the pitch of the driveway, and it might end up rubbing the rear of the camper as you pull forward (assuming truck nose is pointed down hill).

I think one issue you might have is running out of jack. Not sure how tall your rig is, but my stock Ram 2500 is tall enough that I get close to running out of jack on level ground. So if your front jacks are needing to be 8' higher than the rears, you might not have enough.

My diagnosis: Based on minimal information, it's theoretically possible to do it, but if you haven't loaded/unloaded a camper multiple times on optimal level ground, I wouldn't recommend it. There is a lot that can go wrong and you really need to understand all the variables in the process before coming up with a system to safely do it on the slope. Having to use special feet on the jacks adds another variable that you need to think about before doing. I wouldn't want the wedges shooting out from under the jacks because there isn't enough friction to hold them in place. And when you put feet on your jacks, then you have to make sure your rear wheels won't roll over them. If I were to put blocks under my jacks, they would have to be no larger than the stock jack feet because my rear tires actually kiss the front jack feet when I load/unload.

 

[DavidGraves]

Comments ?

You are trying to damage your camper, truck, jacks or yourself.

Is there any level place to off load it ? Are you removing it just to access the bed ?

An FWC up on jacks high enough to remove your truck is a VERY slippery slope.....

Try to imagine how you will retrieve it and repair it if the whole process goes haywire....or FUBAR.

Have you off loaded the camper before ?

David Graves

 

[CougarCouple]

Morning canfindtom
I have a sloped drive and do remove from time to time. Higher in back lower in front close to your six inch, I think I'm closer to four. You must raise camper higher than on flat surface removal. I put flat pavers under all legs, one in rear two in front. It is high, but not bad,I think it is important to be super careful and continually check for clearance as you pull in or out don't take any guessing. I won't do it when it is windy. I made cubes from 12 inch 2x4's they are all same height about a foot. There is a 2x4 which goes across the rear stands, and a 4x4 across the front two stands. I do shim the leading edge of the 4x4. I try to distribute the weight between the floor stands and lifting legs, definitely more weight to the floor though. The most time consuming is lifting, I don't go crazy on any one corner, alternate lifting between front and rear. Also removal of almost everything from camper, holding tank, try to get weight to how it was when empty.
Good luck

Russ


Edit) rear of my truck raises as I drive out. (Don't understand their ramp thing either)when done make the measurements of front and rear so when you go to reinstall it's easier.

 

[Old Crow]

(For some reason I'm sometimes losing the quote border after an edit-OC)

--- canfindtom said-

All your replies are great - very helpful. I think I have found a solution. I ordered some good heavy duty steel truck ramps that I can drive one end of my truck up onto and it will add 10" to that end. That will bring my truck/camper to almost level. I have air bags for I can adjust the rear high by a few inches in addition. Then I lift up the camper, drive off the ramps, and lower the camper to the ground. I think I just need to be sure I made some levelers for the feet of the camper jacks (not a big deal at all) so they will not move.

Comments?
---


Assuming you'd be backing up the ramps, I started a reply to say you'd want to be sure the ramps fit under the truck right where you need them. But then thought I'd check mine. And of course once I do that I may as well back up onto them and take a photo...



My ramps are 9" ones and fit easily. As you can see I didn't go to the top (for my driveway angle). The bottom of the tire went up about six inches. I had my door open to watch the tire back up the ramp but couldn't see anything because of the flaps.

My driveway slopes but levels off enough at the top to let me unload there on the rare occasions I need to take the camper off temporarily.

You may want to note where the ramps are in relation to the camper when you unload. I don't believe it's a critical enough issue to need precise placement but I know my first thought at reload-time would be 'where do I put the ramps?'.

Other thoughts-

- Some members have reported their local Home Owners Association doesn't allow them to keep their camper in the driveway.

- You don't want to just leave the camper on its legs so you'll also want to think through what it will sit on once off the truck. Making something out of wood is easy enough but does it need to be stored when the camper's on the truck? Does it need treatment for weather protection? Would the neighbors consider unsightly enough you should consider draping it? How will you level your ladder or stool beside the camper for snow removal, applying UV protectant to exterior softsides, etc?

- Whenever I hear the words "sloping driveway", I'm reminded of this wheeled-dolly-on tracks blog post. But the point there is to move the camper off the sloped driveway to a place which can't be reached with the camper on the truck. I assume that's not an option for you.

.

 

[canfindtom]

Thank you again all. I have come to the conclusion that it is too risky - too many things that could go wrong. So, while I think it is possible, I think it is not worth the risk.

Glad I posted and got your feedback. It may have saved me a big headache.

 

[Murdog]

I realize this is an old post, but IMO the two biggest risks are: extra strain on the front jacks as they will be taking not only a greater amount of load but the load will not be directly vertical, but will instead be leveraging against the attachment point. I've learned from experience that it takes very little lateral load to break a camper jack off it's mount....they aren't designed to be strong laterally. Second, you risk tipping camper forward onto it's front, it doesn't take much downhill slope to cause a camper to tip forward. Depending on how slopped your driveway is I would be extremely careful. And like someone else said, consider how you'll put things back together if it all goes south on you.

 

[PaulT]

Check this product.
https://www.truckcampermagazine.com/camper-gear-guide/accessories/stablecamper-accessories/

Paul

 

[57Pan]

I have to take my camper on and off in my sloped driveway. There is probably 4-5 inches difference in heights. I jack the camper up level, meaning that the back has to go up higher in relation to the ground. I don't understand how you would think that there is any more weight on the rear legs, the jacks don't know that they are higher. It is nerve racking for me only because my camper is so high, but part of that is because my truck is slightly lifted.
In a perfect world I would like to take it off on level ground, but it isn't an option where I live.

 

[Vic Harder]

I have to take my camper on and off in my sloped driveway. There is probably 4-5 inches difference in heights. I jack the camper up level, meaning that the back has to go up higher in relation to the ground. I don't understand how you would think that there is any more weight on the rear legs, the jacks don't know that they are higher. It is nerve racking for me only because my camper is so high, but part of that is because my truck is slightly lifted.
In a perfect world I would like to take it off on level ground, but it isn't an option where I live.

Same here. I put blocks under the lower jack points, effectively "raising" the ground level so that the jacks really don't know that there is a difference in height.

 

[BBZ]

I do it all the time with my Grandby, but.. I have 4 very solid cable jacks, the kind that are used when you only really need 2 and find the balance point.. I put the more stout ones in the front where more of the weight theoretically will be and the others in the back (also pretty stout but not as stout as the others)..

I would guess my slope is 6 inches.. I certainly don't leave it up long, but it feels really solid..

 

[Donner99]

I didn't have any problems and the camper sat like this for a week while i got my work done. Granted the truck was trapped but it sat nicely. As i drove out from under it the bed kept rising, once i let the airbags out I was able to get far enough out to get my work done.

 

[PackRat]

My driveway is half-sloped...meaning the camper and the jacks for it are more or less on a flat section. The rear tires are, of course on the flat section, but the front tires are on the sloped section. I drive in backwards and then put my small leveling ramps I use out in the boonies behind the front tires and then carefully back up on them. My "ramps" are made from 3/4" plywood with one 2" x 6" full length with a 45 degree cut on the front end to drive up on. I have a second 2" x 6" with a 45 degree end that is attached to the other 2" x 6" which lets me back up even further to get the FRONT of the truck up the total height of the ramps (3/4" ply plus two 2" x 6"s).

That levels the camper to where the jacks are located and it is simple enough now to raise the camper and drive forward out from under the camper on the jacks.

HOWEVER: I have to raise the camper enough to allow for the truck bed to clear the front of the camper as I start down the sloped section as it is now lighter and will sit higher at the rear of the truck bed.

NOTE: It is never a good idea to leave your camper on the jacks for the winter or even for any length of time. Lower it onto a framework of cribbing that distributes the weigh on many cross members! You can choose to leave a LITTLE upward force on the jacks but for any length of time, why not get them indoors for the winter also.

 

[camper rich]

I too have a sloping driveway and have experienced the jacks "walking" a few inches. I think that one solution would be to tether the camper in some fashion so that it can't move downhill on you, perhaps some nylon webbing wrapped around it tied to your garage or a car parked behind, or just some stout stakes. I could tie mine to the trailer hitch on my Vanagon which is parked in my garage.