Camper cabover shocks

[HavinFun]

Does anyone have any experience with the stabilizing shocks that go from the camper cabover to the cowl area in front of the windshield? I just returned from a dune trip and noticed a lot of movement when looking out of the drivers window. I feel that some is normal flex and it does not bother me. What bothers me is looking down the side of the truck and the movement looks like the camper is rocking front to rear. I have Happi-Jac tie downs. Would frame mounted tiedowns eliminate this movement? Would cabover shocks eliminate it?



Also, I scaled out at 4040 front, 7500 rear and 1300 trailer. That is with the Reese extension in the longest hole, (it's almost not enough). I plan on adding another overload spring to the rear as discussed in another recent topic. Would anyone have any idea as to how much weight will be transferred back to the front if the rear was to be lifted about 2 inches? And yes, I know we are not all engineers, just looking for an approximate idea.



Thanks

 

[JWhitcomb]

My first suspect for the movement you are seeing would be the Happy Jac tie downs. I see some movement with Tork Lift system but I really don't think you can eliminate it all.

 

[Bill Stockard]

I have the cabover stabilizers and the TorkLift tiedowns. The movement is there which I think is mainly frame flex. The cabover stabilizers act as shock absorbers which only soften the movement and you get much less cab shake on rough concrete highways. The cab over stabilizers aren't designed to and will not stop the camper/truck bed to cab flex.



Do you have your Happijac tiedowns hooked up properly? The spring type(long turnbuckles) on the front and the rubber type(short turnbuckles) on the rear? I had them reversed once and there was a lot of up and down rear camper movement on uneven highways.



Bill

 

[Utah Willie]

Here's a test... . take the vendor's shocks and depress and extend them... . as hard and fast as you can... . that's the resistance you will get. Then... . look to where "they" want to attach them on the cowl. If it is sheet metal and with sheet metal screws... .



The movement of the camper you see out your windshield is indicative of the flexing of the bed/cab. It is not harmful and is not easily reduced and only if you travel with your kids in the overhead. the original camper shocks where developed after a trip over I-10 from San Bernardino to Ontario, CA as the concrete highway was waved at just the right sequence to cause a camper-carrying pickup to bounce violently. It still does to this day. Many a shock installation has been ripped out on that road.



Invest in good tie-downs... . ignore the BS in the shock ads.

 

[Cummins Corvette]

I have had experience with camper shocks. Well, the ones that I made anyway. I had a 69 gmc with a 10 foot camper. The frame flex with that baby on was horrible. It drove me nuts. I watched the front of the camper go up and down as I drove down the road and got an idea. I didn't know that anyone made shocks for this application. I took some shocks that I had laying around, and welded some extensions onto them, and made some brackets to hold them between the front of the camper and a fender bolt.



I couldn't believe the difference that those made! No more bouncy ride going down the freeway. That thing was like a cadilac. It was quite humerous too to see that thing with these red shocks and rusty angle-iron extensions bolted to the front of the truck. It worked perfectly though.

 

[Deezul1]

I have had cab over campers for years and the camper shocks are great help for smoothing out the porpoise effect and I believe takes some of the strain off of the cabover part of the camper. Do not use the cowl mount that fastens on top of the cowl like a flat plate with a tab sticking up as these will tear out on a rough road. There is mount that is a flat plate that slips in the crack between the hood and the cowl and fastens to the flat part of the cowl under the hood and has only the little mounting ear/tab sticking out. These are very strong when mounted right. I had a 4x4 with a 11 foot camper on it and took it off road on some really bad stuff I shouldnt have even tried and never had any trouble with those mounts.

 

[DocStressor]

I think the stabilizers should be mandatory for short-be trucks with extended cabovers for the reasons stated above. The only problem I have had with mine are the mounting screws attaching the shocks to the camper. They tend to back out and need to be re-tightened on a daily basis. I've had the dealer try to fix this problem without success. They used 2 screws per mount. If I had done the install myself, I would have used 4 screws per side to spread out the load.