Trim Bumpers?

[sameguy]

I've got about 2.5 inches of wasted space between the back of my Hawk and front of the pickup bed on my Tundra. I was hoping I could jam my Maxtrax in there but they are a little too thick. I can't think of anything that will fit in that space and wondering if I should trim 2 inches off the bumpers on the front of the camper to get a tighter fit. I don't know how much difference it will make in the center of gravity, but it would be nice to get it to hang out of the bed a little less.

 

[Bjammin]

You could cut about a half an inch off from the look of the picture, but there is no good way to get two inches without removing the front part of the bed. And note that travel on rough roads where the bed moves independently of the cab could result in damage.

 

[sameguy]

Just not sure how much space I should have between the front of the camper and bed, assume there should be some space, but as you mentioned, need a little room for play on rough roads.

 

[SunMan]

I trimmed mine for that same reason, purely aesthetic.

 

[JaSAn]

I use a 2 X 4 to space the front of the camper from the front of the box. Gives me ~ 3/4" gap. Since the camper is attached to the box it will move with the box.

jim

 

[Vic Harder]

I've been thinking the same thing as the OP.... I suppose a 4x4 lying down there would give more room, and if you want less of a gap, as long as there is 1/2 or so between the camper and the lip of the bed, it should be enough to stop contact/rubbing.

 

[PaulT]

Sure would be nice to hear from Marty or Stan on this question. Can't imagine they would not want the center of gravity a little farther forward uless there were some technical reason of which we remain ignorant.

Paul

 

[Taku]

I have no bumpers on my Ocelot. I have some foam padding that sits between the camper wall and the top edge of the box. Have had it that way for five years and the only issue is some markings from the foam pad, no visible denting. We drive lot's of FS roads, the Mohave Road, and two tracks and have not seen any issues with this setup. That being said, I drive slower and more carefully than most others I have seen with campers under these conditions. Once on the Mohave Road we were passed by several vehicles with three having pop up campers. About ten miles on, two of the campers had been damaged after hitting a rough spot in the road at excessive speed. I guess if you want to go fast, you need to have the setup to handle it.

 

[DavidGraves]

Hello Sameguy.

Many campers had the bumpers mounted on a plywood pad and then the camper.
If you have these, you might eliminate the plywood and then see what you think of the gap to front of bed.

David Graves

 

[klahanie]

I was hoping I could jam my Maxtrax in there but they are a little too thick. ... I don't know how much difference it will make in the center of gravity, but it would be nice to get it to hang out of the bed a little less.

Great idea. If you add a spacer like a 2x4 as mentioned that would give you more space for storage, but of course the camper would hang off the rear more. Anything off the bumpers would move the cog forward by the same amount.

Can't imagine they would not want the center of gravity a little farther forward uless there were some technical reason of which we remain ignorant.

Agree. Tho I don't be surprised if the bumpers were simply a "one size fits all" type of part.

I have no bumpers on my Ocelot. I have some foam padding that sits between the camper wall and the top edge of the box. Have had it that way for five years and the only issue is some markings from the foam pad, no visible denting.
...

Likewise. Used something similar to foam on the previous PU with the same slight marking results. Current truck has a flat front headboard and I just use a piece of plywood with the camper up against it.

...
About ten miles on, two of the campers had been damaged after hitting a rough spot in the road at excessive speed. I guess if you want to go fast, you need to have the setup to handle it.

Noted !

 

[Andy Douglass]

We put pieces of that interlocking EVA foam gym floor tile in that gap. We can fit a stack of two on either side of the truck. It's just a good place to stick these and in our truck, a stack of two foam tiles wedges in enough that they stayed there on a 3400 mile trip. Years ago, my wife found 20 or so of these tiles for sale on craigslist. I can't tell you how many things we use them for around the house, from gardening knee pads to protective padding for delicate items. When we are camping, they are nice to have if you need to get under the truck for something, to place at the bottom of our camper steps if it is muddy or dirty (we also bring a lightweight boot scrubbing station thing that we put on top of the foam tiles below the steps), or to place under the leveling blocks on hard surfaces so they don't skid around. Since we have a stack of these at home and paid next to nothing, we don't care if they get chewed up.

Just make sure to clean any dirt/grit off of them before sticking them in between the bed and camper. The tops of the tiles move around a bit when traveling at speed, and you wouldn't want to wear into any paint or window glass. They do make a little bit of muffled sound when driving fast, but not enough to bug me, someone who is obsessed with eliminating unnecessary noises.

And judging by you having 2" gap there and me only having enough to wedge two foam tiles, I'm guessing FWC uses the large bumpers to accommodate the various designs of different truck beds. I have a 2018 Ram and there is a significant difference in the location of the top of the front bed rail and the bottom of it. If I trimmed 3/4" off the bumpers, the camper woud probably be touching the top of the front bed rail. So keep that in mind when trimming if the camper might end up on a different truck in the future.

 

[River_Rat]

I cut mine in half, just up to the bolt heads. Now I've only got about 1/4 inch of gap and the rear is practically flush. YMMV as my application is 2012 Tundra DC

 

[Colorado Mark]

First thing I did when I got home with my new Grandby is unload it and cut 1" off the bumpers.

Little tricky cutting those bumpers. A combination of a box cutter and a sawzall. The last little bit was just twist the thing apart.

I was tempted to cut them shorter but, I have a Chevy short bed with the tail gate down. The water tank drain is right at the edge of the tail gate.

 

[deezlgeezr]

I chopped about 1.5 inches off of both of the front rubber bumpers on my Hawk; I used the cut-off segments to create two side blocks which fit tightly between the wheel wells and the camper side. After careful fitment, I flex-sealed the wood block then screwed both together. This along with four forged steel turnbuckles works to eliminate camper movement.