Need experianced slide in camper users, please.

[NIsaacs]

My ex just bought a used '94, KZ Sportsman 10' overhead camper and asked for some help. When she picked it up the owner just attached the hold downs with loose chain. She said it was moving with the bad wind that day so she picked up a rachet strap and tied down the front to get it home.



I bought some turn buckles and tightened the mounting but I am unsure how tight this must be. I drove it on a short off highway road to get the camper to "set" and noticed the pickup bed seemed to flex more then the camper. Is this normal? The chain loosened up some so I snugged it back up but am unsure how tight to keep them.



The electric fixtures all seem to be 12 volt with a converter from 110. I can't see where it ever had any type of battery or wiring to the vehicle battery. Is this normal? Maybe just get a small generater? The two way refrigerator seems to only want to work with LPG not elec.



Any and all tips with operation, do's and dont's are welcome, thanks!



Nick

 

[HBarlow]

If you've attached turn buckles to simple hardware store hooks mounted on the pickup bed sides that is good enough. The goal is simply to snug the camper down and prevent moving around. The hooks wouldn't hold the camper in place in the event of a collision or roll over but you're not expecting it to. A better design uses brackets mounted under the truck and long chains and turnbuckles attached. You may be describing those.

It's normal for the sheet metal pickup bed to flex more than the wood structure of the camper.

Every slide-in camper I've owned or seen had a 12 volt power wire as well as tail/stop/turn signal wires in a harness exiting the front of the camper somewhere in a lower front corner of the camper. The camper needs 12 volt power from the truck for lighting and for refrigerator operation.

Older slide-in truck campers were equipped with three way refrigerators that could run on 120vac (when plugged into shore power or a generator), LPG from the camper's own bottles, or 12 vdc from the truck's electrical system. In later years most of them have been two way with 120 vac or LPG source because 12volt refrigerators, being high-current heat devices, use too much power and will discharge truck batteries.

 

[Grizzly]

The best camper tie down are considered to the Torklift, click here. Having said, I alway had very good success with the HappiJak Tiedowns, click here



In addition I find it very helpful to keep a thick rubber mat between the truck bed and the camper. The camper will not slide on a rubber mat.

 

[DonTX]

Oh gosh Grizzly, I thought my Happijac tiedowns were the best :-( Mine use a rubber snubber in the turnbuckle to allow the bed to twist some without destroying the camper. I suppose others do the same, but I think it is important to have this feature. My bed has that tough rough Rhino coating, the camper does not slide around on it.

I am so proud of mine, you can click on the Photo Gallery link under the photo on the left and look it over!

 

[Grizzly]

Don, I agree with you on the Happijac tiedown, however they only tie down a heavy camper to the sheet metal of the bed. The Torklift tie down the camper to the truck frame, which is why it's considered the best.



On the other hand, my 11' 3" Lance camper went on an 11K mile round trip to Alaska and back through some pretty rough roads with Happijacs and a rubber mat and didn't move one iota.



george

 

[Regcabguy]

I think the question remains,is a srw truck able to safely(I'm talking high winds,emergency evasive manuevers)carry a large hardwall camper? Not from what I've seen on I-15 near Las Vegas. BTW,the Happijacs mount to the frame crossmember,thus the term framemount. I've had two of them now on both of my 4wd trucks on Baja roads. I'm very comfortable with my popup with this setup. If I had a dually w/a heavy slide-in a Torklift might be a better way to go. The centering guides on the HJ setup really keep the camper anchored though. The instability of a high,heavy cog load on a narrow track srw is the result of the law of physics,not driver error.

 

[HBarlow]

Hmmm. I didn't pick up the detail that the woman owner and camper hauler is using a SRW truck.

I've hauled slide in campers many miles with SRW class II trucks years ago when the camper weighed no more than 1500 lbs.

The legitimate criticism of SRW trucks hauling heavy slide-ins or fifth wheels always provokes an angry defense or two from SRW owners but I think it is clearly unsafe with modern extremely heavy slide in campers.

 

[DonTX]

You are correct there Harvey, I have hauled the heavy ones with single and dial rear wheels, no amount of chassis upgrade will even start to compare a single with a dually.

Grizzly we must be speaking about two different HappiJac tiedowns, mine are tied to the frame, not the sheetmetal of the bed.

Hmmm. I didn't pick up the detail that the woman owner and camper hauler is using a SRW truck.



I've hauled slide in campers many miles with SRW class II trucks years ago when the camper weighed no more than 1500 lbs.



The legitimate criticism of SRW trucks hauling heavy slide-ins or fifth wheels always provokes an angry defense or two from SRW owners but I think it is clearly unsafe with modern extremely heavy slide in campers.

 

[NIsaacs]

Thank you for the info guys. The tie downs are just the type that slide in the stake pockets thats why I was hesitant to over tighten the turn buckles so I just have them snug. The floor of the bed has a full size rubber mat so maybe I have that covered. The truck is the 91 D250 in my sig, she has it now. When I drove it, it felt decent but nothing to write home about. I did some gentle whips with the steering to get a feel for the weight. A dually would be way better. She does have new 10 ply stock size tires on it, 60 lbs in front and 70 lbs rear. I have the air bags set at 50 lbs. the truck sets level. I have no clue what the camper weighs, I went to KZ's web site but it seems they don't make side ins anymore? For it's age it seems like it has not been hardly used. The owner she bought it from had it for about 6 years but didn't use it because their 1/2 ton wouldn't pack it.



I think she will be okay with it, she has driven pickups her whole life with a ton of hay on them or horse trailers. I would guess the weight to be around 2,000 lbs. It has three Titan 1,000 lbs jacks on it that lift it easy.



After working on it for two full days I think I have just about every thing working on it. I do need to order the complicated water valve on the toilet, it leaks.



Nick

 

[Road Dog]

I tighten the chains hand tight plus one turns. With a rubber mat it stays put. (My tie downs bolt to the frame. )

If your toilet is like all the others then any RV shop will have the valve assembly for $20. It looks complicated because it has a vacuum break.

 

[bheiting]

If the camper weighs 2000 lbs, you are over loading a SRW truck. The high center of gravity makes duals a necessity, not to mention you will be over taxing the brakes. The factory should have an owners manual available with info on all of the campers systems.

 

[wcoomes]

Whatever you do, don't use a plastic bedliner.

 

[HBarlow]

Nick,

As another member stated, the toilet valve is probably a Thetford and can be purchased at any RV dealer. The valves look challenging but when you remove the toilet from the camper, two bolts at base, it is very simple to change.

I would inflate the truck tires to 80 psi assuming they are LT235-85R16 LRE tires.

 

[NIsaacs]

Thanks Harvey, I will air the tires to 80 psi, and yes that is the exact tire size. The toilet is a Thetford Aqua-Magic IV. I took the valve apart to see if I could fix it but too many pieces and parts, gonna get a new one.



I do still need to figure out why the Refrigerator won't work on 110, however it works good on LPG. The furnace and hot water heater work good. I also need to run a hot wire to the trailer plug. Like you said, it has a power cord that runs from it to the left front corner or the camper (six way). The exterior lights all work fine.



As far as pure weight goes, 2000 lbs is well within the GVW of the truck including front and rear axle weights also tire capacity. The brakes should be up to the task. However I agree with everyone, the high center of gravity does create some drivability issues. Kind of like a load of hay on a 2 ton farm truck loaded seven bales high... ... maybe I can talk her into a small travel trailer in the area of 20-24 foot. That would give her twice the room of the camper. It is 9' 6" not counting the overhead part. The trouble with that is, she wants to be able to tow a small horse trailer so... .



Nick

 

[GOTSOOT]

one little trick for the fridg. take a claw hammer and hold the hammer end and start tapping the lines,that are exposed on the outside in the access hole. steady tapping at the tight bends,no set number on how many times to hit it,butthese ref. use amonia instead of what ever a std. ref. uses and over time from no use, the amonia will crystalize in these bends and the flow will be greatly reduced and possibly cut off. give it a try!don`t be to impatient,give it a few hours to start to cool off. worked for me

 

[HBarlow]

Nick,

You didn't mention the age of the camper but it is sounding like it's an old one.

Sometimes, with an old ammonia evaporation refrig you can get lucky by removing it from the camper and turning it upside down for 24 hours. Then right it and reinstall. Sometimes that will fix it. The refrigerators are pretty simple. They use heat applied either by an LPG flame or electric heater element to heat the ammonia, perhaps boil it, then allow it to cool as it passes through the coils. A coil leak or failure of the heat element is what occurs with age. If an ammonia leak occurs get away from it. The leak can be toxic.

Sometimes tiny spiders crawl up the vents and nest in the control valve of the furnace and water heater. A knowledgeable and skilled tech can disassemble and clean. Those appliances are also very simple.

 

[Grizzly]

Harvey, Nick said on the original post that the camper is a used '94 KZ Sportsman 10' overhead camper. It's not super old. Nick also said that the two way refrigerator worked well on LP gas. That means that the ammonia is circulating through the system. If that's the case, it should work on electric, provided that the mother board and all electrical connections are in working order. As you said a good knowledgeable RV technician should be able to diagnose the problem, If it's a Domatic, it's most likely the mother board since Domatic had a massive recall due to bad mother boards.



PS, Most truck campers of that ventage came with 3 way refrigerators.



george

 

[NIsaacs]

Yes, the refrigerator works great on gas just not 110. I did not spend much time with the 110 part. When it didn't work I just lit the gas to try that and it works good. It is just a two way unit. I did have to take the burner and pilot light assembly all apart on the hot water heater it was plugged up with something (spider maybe, lol). It works good now. Furnace and range fan works good, also all the lights. Water system works good other than that valve on the toilet. I do need to do something about mirrors on the truck tho, it does not have the tow mirrors and the camper is 7' 10" wide. I also still need to hook to 12v on the pickup somehow. Without some 12v the camper will be kinda useless.



Nick

 

[SRath]

I wouldn't worry about needing a dually unless the camper weighs over 3000 lbs empty. Every guy that owns a dually needs to justify it by trying to tell everyone who doesn't have one just how superior it is for hauling. Funny how they never mention that the front wheeltrack on a dually is actually narrower than a SRW.

I drive real trucks for a living, and have for 27 years, and I, too, have hauled many campers and trailers with both duallies and SRW pickups and I'll never own another dually. Don't let anyone scare you. I'll haul anything with my SRW that these guys can haul with their dually. You have to remember what you are doing at all times regardles of SRW or duals. There is no fix for stupid.

Here is what NOT to do: truck and camping trailer crash into bank roof - Free Movie Vidoes, Movie Trailers, Film Trailers, Interviews and Gossip - NME. COM Please note that a dually would not have helped this idiot at all... :-laf :-laf :-laf

For further entertainment, google "duallies at drive ups" and see if you really want to live with the day-in day-out hassle of driving a dually.

 

[HBarlow]

Right! Dually owners always need to justify the laws of physics and common sense to prove to themselves that a dually can carry heavier loads than the guys with the SRW trucks. Funny, even Dodge is trying to prove something because Dodge engineers rate dually trucks at GCWR of 12,500 lbs. while rating SRW trucks at 9,500 lbs. down to about 8,800 lbs. for earlier years.

An experienced driver can easily overrule the laws of physics and haul any load with a SRW truck that the dually owner can.

Let's consider the numbers to determine if Scott's claim is true. SRW trucks have a pair of tires with carrying capacity of 3,042 lbs. for 235/85 tires or slightly more for the newer larger tires . . . about 3,400 lbs. per tire for a total rear axle weight capacity of no more than 7,000 lbs. I think SRW trucks usually have a rear GAWR of 6,500 lbs.

An ordinary Ram dually has four rear tires with carrying capacity of 3,042 lbs. each when used as singles but the carrying capacity rating is reduced slightly when the tires are used in pairs on a dually. I don't remember the exact number off the top of my head but the four tires can carry at least 11,000 lbs. I think Dodge provides a rear GAWR of 9,000 lbs. on duallies.

So clearly, as Scott wrote above, anyone with 27 years of driving experience can carry 9,000 lbs. of weight on the rear axle of a SRW 2500 just like my dually.

It seems to me that it is the SRW truck owners who try so hard here to defend their choices every time a weight carrying capacity question comes up. Who are they trying to convince . . . themselves?