Upgrade to corner jacks?

[Seth]

Finally got the 97 Eagle onto the truck, all is good now.

My wife was quite concerned about the camper waving around in the wind, high up on two Brophy cable jacks. Nervous as I backed and filed to line things up. It ended well, but, I'm thinking marital bliss is a good thing in general, and especially if I'm asking her help with the on and off. The more secure it is, the more likely I'll be able to frequently use the truck as a pickup, not just as a camper.

Approach #1 - just put a farm jack (aka hi-lift, 4x4, tractor) on the tail of the camper. One more leg makes a tripod... Steady enough?
Approach #2 - install brackets and corner screw-jacks. More screwing around, but seems much more stable.

Any thoughts / experiences on these approaches to upgrading?

Would a third wiggly leg in back steady that see-saw motion of the camper up in the air?

Is it gonna' be expensive to get attachments going for corner brackets?

Simple and cheap has been the approach so far, but dropping the camper would be, um, well, you get the idea.

I've manage to do all the work myself so far, but, how would I install brackets for corner jacks?
(Probably not with self-tapping metal screws.)


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[mitch h]

Four corner jacks are stable. I bought my jacks from sportsman.com. I think that is the name of the place. I paid 650 dollars. We already had brackets on camper. I do think self tapping screws are used. Call ATC or FWC , they will let you know. Mitch

 

[bb5qyt]

I, too, use the tripod cable jacks to load/unload a 1985 fleet. One thing I've done to make it safer ( or at least FEEL safer) is to store it on saw horses that are very close to the bed height of my truck. When loading, I only have to lift the camper a few inches. Then, I leave the saw horses under it until they must be moved. Doing it in this manner, the camper is always no more than a couple inches above something (whether the saw horses or the truck). If you have a helper, they can stand to the side of the camper and pull the saw horses out one at a time for you and the process is fast. I do the same when unloading (a helper slides the saw horses under one at a time as the truck moves forward). Then because the camper is stored fairly high, I leave the jacks in place for additional support once it's on the saw horses. I like that the process is fast, I don't have do deal with attaching and removing corner jacks, and I feel the process is pretty safe.

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[bb5qyt]

Picture to go with previous post...

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[Seth]

Mitch and BB, thanks for those posts!

While corner post jacks may be the ultimate solution, a couple sawhorses that I already have may get me past the wobbly feeling.

It's an old camper... In all honesty, $650 for shiny new jacks is a bit outside my approach with this project. Maybe if I locate some 20th-century used post jacks...

Thanks!


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[resto]

In the post "loading and unloading without corner jacks" I mentioned a simple adaptation to the tripod cable lift that came with my camper. While it does not help with pitch, my camper feels much more secure than without it as it stops the lift from sliding out sideways from under the camper.

If you look at the picture bb5qyt used it looks like the front edge of the lift is tight against the camper while the back edge is not. The adaptation keeps the bottom edging of the camper in its channel and thus both front and back edges stay tight against the camper.


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I use these pieces from the cable lift as adaptors for my lift.

 

[kmcintyre]

I, too, use the tripod cable jacks to load/unload a 1985 fleet. One thing I've done to make it safer ( or at least FEEL safer) is to store it on saw horses that are very close to the bed height of my truck. When loading, I only have to lift the camper a few inches. Then, I leave the saw horses under it until they must be moved. Doing it in this manner, the camper is always no more than a couple inches above something (whether the saw horses or the truck). If you have a helper, they can stand to the side of the camper and pull the saw horses out one at a time for you and the process is fast. I do the same when unloading (a helper slides the saw horses under one at a time as the truck moves forward). Then because the camper is stored fairly high, I leave the jacks in place for additional support once it's on the saw horses. I like that the process is fast, I don't have do deal with attaching and removing corner jacks, and I feel the process is pretty safe.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Wander The West mobile app

That's what I do too. I use 4 cable jacks (found them on craigslist) and built a platform too. I think I have to raise the camper about 6" to get it to height, slide the "dolly" out and back in. It's a bit more complicated as I only have about 1" between the camper and truck wheel wells so it takes me some maneuvering to get the truck straight.