Hunting Washington Forum

Equipment & Gear => Power Equipment & RV => Topic started by: sisu on April 12, 2011, 06:06:16 PM

Title: Slide in camper and tapered bed solution
Post by: sisu on April 12, 2011, 06:06:16 PM: I don't know how many of you have the older slide in campers and fight the modern tapered truck bed, but I got fed up with immediately. Today we got the camper out of the bed and cut the very rear column or stake area out of the way by 1/2+ inches on both sides. I wish I had taken pictures but alas I forgot to in the heat of the moment.
We own a 2006 Dodge 2500 8 ft bed truck. The bed taper from the cab to the tail gate and I found out when loading and unloading the camper it also tapered vertically RIGHT at the very end where the columns at the end meet the tailgate. Hard to describe but those two little upright column were a pain in the ***** and now they got trimmed, to the last 1/3 of the camper where it flares right at the very end can enter the bed with NO FRICTION and a ton of relief from us. IF you look at the photo below(I stole it from the net) you can see the white label off the guy's left well if that were my truck it's gone to the garbage bin. We cut out a pie slice from bottom to top then pushed in the material left over and welded it into position giving us additional room to load and unload the rig.
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F0.tqn.com%2Fd%2Ftrucks%2F1%2F0%2Fx%2Fq%2Fram_open_tailgate.jpg&hash=ddf6ec306ca043bbc3d16e2506ef62884705228f)
Title: Re: Slide in camper and tapered bed solution
Post by: gasman on April 12, 2011, 06:58:14 PM: I feel your pain :bash:

Both my truck and camper are 2003, and the back end of the camper is much wider then the front, and I have about 3" of manoverability on either side. It is a pain to load and unlad, and requires a spotter to kep an eye on both sides to make sure it is lined up correctly. It drives me nuts some time >:(
Title: Re: Slide in camper and tapered bed solution
Post by: jeepasaurusrex on April 12, 2011, 07:06:52 PM: I never had a side to side issue with my F350 as they have a full size box, but I did have to space the camper up the width of a 2x4. I ended up fastening them to the bottom of the camper. If I didn't use the spacer, the overhang of the camper would of crushed my clearance lights on top of the cab. Apparently the boxes on the older trucks were not as deep or the cab as high.
Title: Re: Slide in camper and tapered bed solution
Post by: gasman on April 12, 2011, 07:23:47 PM: Quote from: jeepasaurusrex on April 12, 2011, 07:06:52 PM
I never had a side to side issue with my F350 as they have a full size box, but I did have to space the camper up the width of a 2x4. I ended up fastening them to the bottom of the camper. If I didn't use the spacer, the overhang of the camper would of crushed my clearance lights on top of the cab. Apparently the boxes on the older trucks were not as deep or the cab as high.

I have friends with the same problem and did the same thing as you. One guy even crushed his roof in and had to pop it out :bash:
Title: Re: Slide in camper and tapered bed solution
Post by: CAMPMEAT on April 12, 2011, 08:15:41 PM: That's a first. Never heard of that before.
Title: Re: Slide in camper and tapered bed solution
Post by: sisu on April 12, 2011, 08:35:42 PM: Quote from: CAMPMEAT on April 12, 2011, 08:15:41 PM
That's a first. Never heard of that before.
Very common problem with new pick-ups & older campers. Chev started tapering beds in 89, Dodge 94, Ford from what I am told is still changing yearly. If you check out slide-in camper sites you'll hear lots of grousing.
Title: Re: Slide in camper and tapered bed solution
Post by: CAMPMEAT on April 13, 2011, 11:37:56 AM: Ok, why would they do that ? Doesn't make sense.
Title: Re: Slide in camper and tapered bed solution
Post by: 6x6in6 on April 13, 2011, 11:42:32 AM: Aerodynamics.
Every 1/10th of a mpg gain is a marketing tool. :rolleyes:
Title: Re: Slide in camper and tapered bed solution
Post by: CAMPMEAT on April 13, 2011, 06:55:39 PM: Quote from: 6x6in6 on April 13, 2011, 11:42:32 AM
Aerodynamics.
Every 1/10th of a mpg gain is a marketing tool. :rolleyes:

Ya, then you put an 11 ft camper on it..... :rolleyes: