Jfet wrote:
3) I was thinking plastic caps on the inside, but maybe on the outside as well when the jacks are not on the camper. A bit more trouble to have to keep track of the caps on the outside when you want to install/remove the jacks, but it would keep dirt/wasps from nesting in the holes.
Bedlam wrote:
Jfet -
A couple of questions (mostly because camera angles are deceiving):
3. With what are you going to seal the inside of your jack mount tubes to prevent it being access inside to infestation?
Jfet -
A couple of questions (mostly because camera angles are deceiving):
3. With what are you going to seal the inside of your jack mount tubes to prevent it being access inside to infestation?
3) I was thinking plastic caps on the inside, but maybe on the outside as well when the jacks are not on the camper. A bit more trouble to have to keep track of the caps on the outside when you want to install/remove the jacks, but it would keep dirt/wasps from nesting in the holes.
A flat plate with three tubes welded straight from the face would create an outside "dummy plug" that could be pinned in place. You can spray aerosol foam in the the other ends to seal them.
Chevy Sonic 1.8-Honda Passport C70B-Host Mammoth 11.5-Interstate Car Carrier 20-Joyner SandViper 250-Kawasaki Concours ZG1000-Paros 8' flatbed-Pelican Decker DLX 8.75-Ram 5500 HD
What do typical 4000lb truck campers use in terms of tiedown beefiness? I was thinking of just welding some 1/4" steel plate with a hole in it to the underside of the outer frame 2x1 beams (those are 1/8" wall thickness) near the corners. Should I go crazy with reinforcement here, or possibly that would be enough?
Bedlam wrote:
What about using L-shaped plates for tie downs that hook the frame from above? This will put more of the load on the plate than on your weld plus distribute it across the upper fold of the plate area.
What about using L-shaped plates for tie downs that hook the frame from above? This will put more of the load on the plate than on your weld plus distribute it across the upper fold of the plate area.
That might be a good way to do it. Since the camper hangs off the flatbed by 2 inches on each side, I could possibly put the l-shaped bracket on the inside of the 2x1 outer base frame and have it come out a slot in the bellywrap on the bottom of the camper. This would be a cleaner look than having a plate exposed on the outside of the camper. But that would only give me 3/4" clearance between the inside of the plate and the frame of my flatbed...could be tight fitting a happijack turnbuckle in there.
All these little things you have to think about....a wiser person would have just bought a camper :-p
My 20 foot flatbed is made up of a heavy steel frame (I think about 1/4 inch thick 4 x 2 inch box tube, will have to double check). The camper will sit directly on the flatbed, so there isn't a lot of distance between the bottom of the camper and the bottom of the flatbed frame (really it would be just the 4 inches thickness of the bed tubes.
These spring loaded turnbuckles like the torklift seem to be made really long to reach around a normal truck body, which I don't have. I would need to have them stretch far foward or rear of the tiedown points to get enough length between the camper and flatbed for the length of the tiedown turnbuckle.
Perhaps I should try to find anchor points on the c channel frame of the Isuzu under the flatbed. This would give me 20 inches or so of lenght to fit in a turnbuckle tiedown. The downside of that is I have these ugly long turnbuckles under my truck right where I want to mount storage boxes.
Anyone have pictures of a flatbed camper mounted to a flatbed?
You could go with an unconventional mounting system and look at how shipping containers are fastened for truck transport. They have pockets in their corners and the bed has guide pins and cam locks that insert into the pockets.
wnjj wrote:
Have you considered installing the anchor points higher up along the wall of the camper (if possible) so you gain back some distance?
Have you considered installing the anchor points higher up along the wall of the camper (if possible) so you gain back some distance?
Hmmm...any downside to that idea other than appearance? Could work...
Brandon Reed
Albany, OR
