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truck camper jacks

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Rear Air Lift Bags For Trailer Pulling

I recently bought a used capri rodeo camper and need some jacks. I don't want to spend much money (at least not the 400-1500 that I am seeing) and was wondering if anyone has any idas. I have heard of people with some really neat ideas, but have never seen any. Anybody got any ideas?



Thanks!
 
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The old hand crank style jacks just used lite cable boat winches and pipe. I think a guy could use a trailer tongue jack on each corner with extension legs(pipes). Cummins and Walmart sells some lighter trailer jack fairly cheap. But your a wyoming cowboy. Just redneck it!
 
I don't have any good ideas, but I do have some suggestion for safety.



When we had a truck camper (before kids... ), I had the fluid jack type and these were darn scary to me. You are lifting quite a bit of weight above your truck and they seem to sway very easily and they can easily get away from you when lowering because you can only control them with a thumb screw to release the fluid. IE- dont get the fluid type.



The hand crank ones seem more secure for raising and lowering.



Of course, the electric ones are the best because you raise them all together, front or rear only or one at time. They are the most expensive...



Good luck.
 
When it comes to camper jacks, you may need to spend money because you want some that are strong enough to fully support the weight of the camper. You don't need for a cheap jack to fail the have the camper roll over on you. I'm not familiar with that brand also. What's the weight and length of camper?
 
The main problem I see is whether the camper has structural reinforcements built in for adding jacks... or if the camper is designed for three jacks or four.

That would be the first thing I'd look at... then I'd look at eBay for a set of manual hand-crank versions.

steved
 
I've wore three Capri's out, over the last 15 years, and used a set of jacks that I built specifically to remove the campers from my trucks. I always run duallys, so the jacks needed to be able to stand wide enough for the fenders to clear, but still catch the underside of the camper. My last Capri was a Rodeo Delux with a large overhang. I had to place the jacks way forward on the camper to balance it. It's a pretty precarious job doing this, and always have at least one helper. Oh... . Never unload in the wind. Don't ask me why I know.....



I used 2 X 2 X 3/16 square tubing for the upright, 3 X 3 X 1/4 angle iron for the feet. I used a worm drive hand crank winch that I welded to a 2 1/4 X 2/14 slip sleave over the 2 X 2 upright. I ran the cable from the winch over the top through a pulley, and then back down to the sleeve. The worm drive insured that when you quit crankin' the thing wouldn't fall down or free-wheel.



I probably haven't done a good job describing my design, but cowboys all over would borrow them to remove their campers. They did a great job.



I could probably draw them up, if you want.



I loved all my Capris. I actually miss them sometimes. Now I've got a big living quarters gooseneck, and at times, I wish I still had the camper and bumper-pull instead; especially when it comes to paying for it. The Camper/bumper-pull set up is the cheapest way to get down the road.
 
Wyoming Cowboy,



I'm just a bystander here with no experience with Capri campers but I notice a jacks option on their website for only $495. Why not consider their jack option?



Harvey
 
The $495 is the reason. I only paid $400 for the camper and don't anticipate keeping if forever. I am buying a LQ horse trailer at the end of next year.
 
I understand. Then the best solution is probably to try to find an old used set of three or four of the old standard tripod- base crank up slide-in camper jacks, possibly off an old camper that has rotted and is no longer useful. You might find a set on e-bay or at an old RV dealer.



Harvey
 
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