Havent had my camper on for over a year and were going camping tomorrow and I havent put it on the truck yet. Scared shitless but I'm going to balls up and do the dirty deed and hope I don't screw up.
I sold and loaded these T/C's for years. A simple way to load them is one make sure it's high enough to clear the truck bed, And two as you back it in use your side mirrors and keep an equal clearance of the front camper jacks from the outside of your side truck bed . And once they clear the rear wheel wells still using your side view mirrors keep the rear of your truck aligned with the underside of your camper so it is equal distance left to right as you back in. I hope I explained it clearly enough, I never missed and it worked especially will with duel wheel trucks where sometimes clearance is less then an inch from the jacks
Thanks a lot for this. Really helps. The other thing is that steering one way or another to realign while backing up makes a huge difference when the truck is partially under the camper. No real need to pull right out and start over unless things really get out of hand. As far as a truck for a triple slide - nothing less that a dually will do. I have an Arctic Fox 990 with one slider (about 1500 kg) and my Chevy dually 3500 HD with Duramax and Allison transmission handles it just fine and delivers reasonable mileage.
Mark off the width of the camper on the bedmat. Use some painters tape when you are sure you are centered and create a 1 in wide stripe to be painted on the mat, both sides. A couple coats of white spray paint and you have a sure fire exact alignment every time.
i bought a couple of old light weight leaf springs at the junk yard. I sawed the ends off about 12 inches long. I mounted wide chair casters to one end and screwed the other end to the stake pockets, two in front and two in back. I measured the distance between roller so there is 1/2 inch more than the width of the camper. When I back under, the unit centers itself.
Well, it was a nice presentation but in all fairness, your truck was already lined up, and most important this was on flat land. I have a lance 992 with a Ford Dually. With the quad cab Ford at any one time your actually are blinded going backwards , you're not able to see down the sides, at least not the full time, so it always takes two to load my camper. Plus I don't have a level spot in our yard yet. So loading any truck camper is easy and not as easy as presented. You did an excellent job explaining things though with your set up. Thanks for sharing,
a great way ,i think the BEST WAY is to measure the exact center of camper, line it up perfect with truck, go back slowly then mark with tape (PAINT IT FLUORESCENT AFTER, & STICK A SECOND PIECE OF TAPE ONTO THE CENTER OF CAMPER & PAINT THAT FLUORESCENT, YOU THEN MATCH THOSE PIECES OF TAPE EACH TIME, YEP WORKS GREAT & i HAVE A 2000 ALPINELITE CASCADE 11DX GOING INTO A 2016 FORD F450 & THE JACK SWING OUTS ARE SO CLOSE i HAVE 2 HAVE A PERSON ON EACH SIDE DIRECT ME BUT WITH THE TAPE MARKS (GLOW IN THE DARK IS EVEN BETTER) I CAN GET ER DONE ALONE.
I'm getting ready to purchase a palomino 1251 so that is a great help doesn't look like there's much room between the tail lights of the back of your pickup in the camper
Find myself debating on trading in my 6'5'' bed truck, for an 8' bed once again. Watched both videos of loading the unit, well done. Now to decide what i'm doing.
Hi I was just wondering if you could tell me what your bed height is . I have a 04 f 250 4x4 . I have yet to try to load my snowriver truck camper. my issue is my truck bed rail is 58.5 inches from the ground.I don't really want to carry bricks with me so I take it off at a camp site. know what I meen.oh my electric jacks are hapijac and max extended is 34 inch .
You have probably have it fixed by now? I made extensions with out of 1 1/4" EMT, light gauge electrical pipe. A schedule 40 or 80 pipe would work well/better. I used the two holes that were in the end of the legs but I now would make it so that it clamps to the end of the jack legs??? My truck bed height is going to be 47 1/4" plus the 8" I think is needed to add to go over the cab. so adding legs to that will be fun?????
i have no more than 3/4 “ to play with per side and find this very stressful. if i didn’t have a spotter i would have to get out of the truck dozens of times. worst possible scenario is getting wedged without realizing it and bending the camper jacks. they are built for up and down and not sideways! and very expensive. anyways, thanks for vid.
Hello, About your A.F 811/truck combo, i couldnt see if your truck bed was a short or long bed, which? I have a gmc 2500 HD, upgraded tires 285's (E), air bags. Could i handle that same camper? There really isnt much difference in 350 and a 2500hd, i have 8" frame and 4 +1 springs, have an opportunity yo get a really, really nice and clean hardly used with lits of extras 2007 811 but worried about being able to handle it and if course all the "weight police" on forums rule against it but i see my truck handleing yhese bugger style campers all the time, please advise. Trading truck for other is NOT an option fir me. Thanks.
You dont state the year of your 2500HD but the limiting factor for payload is a lot of the time tire capacity. I strongly recommend weighing your truck full of fuel on a highway scale (like the big rigs use) and also do just your rear axle. Keep in mind that the AF811 ready to camp is going to be between 3800-4200lbs or more and 98% of that weight is on your rear axle. Add your trucks rear axle weight you got from the scale + 4000lbs and see if your tires can take it. If you are over weight on tires then i wouldnt personally risk it. Regardless you will be over weight according to what the truck can legally handle and it will be harder on your truck components like drivetrain, rear axle, suspension and brakes. I was overloaded by about 500lbs according to what my Superduty was rated to handle but with my upgraded tires i still had another 800lbs of capacity on those. Airbags can help you level it if its sagging bad in the back but doesnt add capacity. Hope that helps.
Hi I was just wondering if you could tell me what your bed height is . I have a 04 f 250 4x4 . I have yet to try to load my snowriver truck camper. my issue is my truck bed rail is 58.5 inches from the ground.I don't really want to carry bricks with me so I take it off at a camp site. know what I meen.oh my electric jacks are hapijac and max extended is 34 inch .
Havent had my camper on for over a year and were going camping tomorrow and I havent put it on the truck yet. Scared shitless but I'm going to balls up and do the dirty deed and hope I don't screw up.
I sold and loaded these T/C's for years. A simple way to load them is one make sure it's high enough to clear the truck bed, And two as you back it in use your side mirrors and keep an equal clearance of the front camper jacks from the outside of your side truck bed . And once they clear the rear wheel wells still using your side view mirrors keep the rear of your truck aligned with the underside of your camper so it is equal distance left to right as you back in. I hope I explained it clearly enough, I never missed and it worked especially will with duel wheel trucks where sometimes clearance is less then an inch from the jacks
Thanks a lot for this. Really helps. The other thing is that steering one way or another to realign while backing up makes a huge difference when the truck is partially under the camper. No real need to pull right out and start over unless things really get out of hand.
As far as a truck for a triple slide - nothing less that a dually will do. I have an Arctic Fox 990 with one slider (about 1500 kg) and my Chevy dually 3500 HD with Duramax and Allison transmission handles it just fine and delivers reasonable mileage.
Mark off the width of the camper on the bedmat. Use some painters tape when you are sure you are centered and create a 1 in wide stripe to be painted on the mat, both sides. A couple coats of white spray paint and you have a sure fire exact alignment every time.
i bought a couple of old light weight leaf springs at the junk yard. I sawed the ends off about 12 inches long. I mounted wide chair casters to one end and screwed the other end to the stake pockets, two in front and two in back. I measured the distance between roller so there is 1/2 inch more than the width of the camper. When I back under, the unit centers itself.
I am new to all of this and found your video quite helpful. Thanks for posting!
PS: like your helper's comments too.
Well, it was a nice presentation but in all fairness, your truck was already lined up, and most important this was on flat land. I have a lance 992 with a Ford Dually. With the quad cab Ford at any one time your actually are blinded going backwards , you're not able to see down the sides, at least not the full time, so it always takes two to load my camper. Plus I don't have a level spot in our yard yet. So loading any truck camper is easy and not as easy as presented. You did an excellent job explaining things though with your set up. Thanks for sharing,
good vid. always take your time. look more than once. dont have people behind you waving their arms and yelling and pointing which way to go
a great way ,i think the BEST WAY is to measure the exact center of camper, line it up perfect with truck, go back slowly then mark with tape (PAINT IT FLUORESCENT AFTER, & STICK A SECOND PIECE OF TAPE ONTO THE CENTER OF CAMPER & PAINT THAT FLUORESCENT, YOU THEN MATCH THOSE PIECES OF TAPE EACH TIME, YEP WORKS GREAT & i HAVE A 2000 ALPINELITE CASCADE 11DX GOING INTO A 2016 FORD F450 & THE JACK SWING OUTS ARE SO CLOSE i HAVE 2 HAVE A PERSON ON EACH SIDE DIRECT ME BUT WITH THE TAPE MARKS (GLOW IN THE DARK IS EVEN BETTER) I CAN GET ER DONE ALONE.
I'm getting ready to purchase a palomino 1251 so that is a great help doesn't look like there's much room between the tail lights of the back of your pickup in the camper
Find myself debating on trading in my 6'5'' bed truck, for an 8' bed once again. Watched both videos of loading the unit, well done. Now to decide what i'm doing.
What did you end up doing? Because I'm looking right now, and that's my dilemma.
Good job, well done . Thank you for your help and time.
Nicely done.
you say its pretty strait forward, after you take all the paint off the camper, thats good, we can do that , omg
Hi I was just wondering if you could tell me what your bed height is . I have a 04 f 250 4x4 . I have yet to try to load my snowriver truck camper. my issue is my truck bed rail is 58.5 inches from the ground.I don't really want to carry bricks with me so I take it off at a camp site. know what I meen.oh my electric jacks are hapijac and max extended is 34 inch .
You have probably have it fixed by now? I made extensions with out of 1 1/4" EMT, light gauge electrical pipe. A schedule 40 or 80 pipe would work well/better. I used the two holes that were in the end of the legs but I now would make it so that it clamps to the end of the jack legs??? My truck bed height is going to be 47 1/4" plus the 8" I think is needed to add to go over the cab. so adding legs to that will be fun?????
i have no more than 3/4 “ to play with per side and find this very stressful. if i didn’t have a spotter i would have to get out of the truck dozens of times. worst possible scenario is getting wedged without realizing it and bending the camper jacks. they are built for up and down and not sideways! and very expensive. anyways, thanks for vid.
Yeah, well...anything is easier when you're sober. Try doing this at night with tinted windows, 10 deep into a 12 pack.
Good stuff - thanks!
Do u still camp with the family in this thing or did u go another route
I purchased a Nash 25c travel trailer but I am wanting to get back into a truck camper again once the kids are older.
@@amped79 When you gonna start uploading again? I retired, grew a beard and started collecting social security waiting for you.
what kind of truck would you recommend for a triple slide truck camper?
BIG... VERY, VERY, BIG.
it scares me when little kid(s) are around a vehicle backing up
Hello,
About your A.F 811/truck combo, i couldnt see if your truck bed was a short or long bed, which? I have a gmc 2500 HD, upgraded tires 285's (E), air bags. Could i handle that same camper? There really isnt much difference in 350 and a 2500hd, i have 8" frame and 4 +1 springs, have an opportunity yo get a really, really nice and clean hardly used with lits of extras 2007 811 but worried about being able to handle it and if course all the "weight police" on forums rule against it but i see my truck handleing yhese bugger style campers all the time, please advise.
Trading truck for other is NOT an option fir me. Thanks.
You dont state the year of your 2500HD but the limiting factor for payload is a lot of the time tire capacity. I strongly recommend weighing your truck full of fuel on a highway scale (like the big rigs use) and also do just your rear axle. Keep in mind that the AF811 ready to camp is going to be between 3800-4200lbs or more and 98% of that weight is on your rear axle. Add your trucks rear axle weight you got from the scale + 4000lbs and see if your tires can take it. If you are over weight on tires then i wouldnt personally risk it. Regardless you will be over weight according to what the truck can legally handle and it will be harder on your truck components like drivetrain, rear axle, suspension and brakes. I was overloaded by about 500lbs according to what my Superduty was rated to handle but with my upgraded tires i still had another 800lbs of capacity on those. Airbags can help you level it if its sagging bad in the back but doesnt add capacity. Hope that helps.
Shortbed, have a look at my other videos, one is on the suspension modifications i have done to the truck.
Your voice sounds like Nikki Sixx.
Hi I was just wondering if you could tell me what your bed height is . I have a 04 f 250 4x4 . I have yet to try to load my snowriver truck camper. my issue is my truck bed rail is 58.5 inches from the ground.I don't really want to carry bricks with me so I take it off at a camp site. know what I meen.oh my electric jacks are hapijac and max extended is 34 inch .