I expected the necessity of buying some camper jack extenders for the front jacks. But I was "sucker-punched" or blind sided today when it dawned on me that the cab over portion of my older 1996 S&S 8 ft. self contained slide in camper looks like it's going to hit the taller cab of my new (used) F-350 SuperCab. This cab appears to be approx four or five inches taller than my old 1989 F-250 cab.

I was wondering if others have ran into this and how much clearance they were able to obtain by the addition of a frame of 4x4 and plywood. Or multiple layers of plywood attached to the bottom of the camper?

I'm thinking approx three inches minimum for clearance between the camper and cab should be enough to allow for flexing or dip? I had plenty of clearance with my old truck as can be seen here.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/a...pictureid=1441

Thoughts ideas? All contributions appreciated.

 

There were a lot of people that ran into this problem when for came out of the Superduty in '99. Not only the cab height problem, but the narrowing of the tailgate area. Older canopies and some campers would not fit in the new beds.

Most were able to make a platform out of 2x4/s and plywood to solve the problem. Measure the bed to top of cab on your old truck and then your new truck. This should give you a good idea about how high your platform needs to be.

Good luck

 

I recently purchased a '96 Lance camper and discovered that when I loaded it, the overhang sat on the top of my cab. I took 4 2x6's and screwed them to the base of the camper, running front to rear. Solved the problem nicely. You do have to be careful that you're not putting screws into anything important. I guess some newer campers have the holding tanks under the floor, making the floor higher than the bed. Putting screws into a holding tank would be bad.

 

I hope that would work for me. A simple solution. Does the 1 1/2 inch or so clearance of the 2x6's give the needed room for the flex you get when driving off one of those steep sloping driveways like out of a service station? The cab and the bed flex independently. Have you ever clipped the cab with the overhang when flexing?

 

So far, no I haven't had any problems. Without the boards, the overhang was just barely resting on the top of the cab when parked. I put some padding in there to get home, and as I was driving I could see the top of the interior cab moving a little bit. With the boards, there is about an inch of clearance and I've never seen any evidence that it has come down and touched the cab.

If the 2x6's hadn't been enough, I would probably have added a piece of 3/4 inch plywood under them to get a little more lift.

The problem with lift though is it raises the center of balance. It doesn't take much lift to introduce a lot more sway.

 

Thanks Dave, Truck's warming up in the drive way as I type. I'm leaving to drive from The Dalles over to Wilsonville to meet a guy from Salem selling his dually jack extenders. After I have that issue resolved then I will tackle this. Thanks for your help!

 

I found an RV forum where this issue had been dealt with successfully by laying a 4x8 sheet of the closed cell (not beaded) foam with a min of 25 PSI rating. They reported it was light weight, Strong, didn't absorb water and the bottom side of the foam slightly deformed to fit the bed grooves and so helped prevent sliding.

They recommended three inch thickness. I found two inch (Home Depot) with both sides foil coated so purchased for
$ 28.00. I'm planning to top it off with a 4x8 sheet of 3/4 plywood that I have on hand.

I've installed the dually extenders, rewired the camper plug and now have a spacer pad. Now when the weather cooperates I'll see how my new truck handles my old 8 ft. SC S&S slide in camper! Thanks for all your help and suggestions.

Now I'm wondering if it will look "dorky" because my old truck was a standard cab. The cab over jutted approx six inches past the cab. Now I'm figuring the cab over will end somewhere mid ships of the cab?

If it does look odd, I'll get used to it and live with it just fine.

 

I had a lot of sway with my 9 foot Fleetwood slide in, I found that airbags helped alot, but if you are running a dually you shouldn't worry as much. What are you running for tie downs, I really like the Torqlifts on my truck.

 

Hi Sam, I really think sway with my 8 ft.. and new F-350 dually will really be much less than it was with my old 1989 F-250 SWR 4x4. One of my boys put the air bags on his 2500 HD SWR Duramax and swore by the difference they made.

Someday I too will probably sport the Torqlifts. But for now I'm just running the "standard" chrome twist turnbuckle style front and back.

 

Not really dealing with getting campers to fit, but I was originally going to by a slide in and wanted to have battery power independant of the trucks main batteries. I built a bracket that holds two smaller deep cell batteries off the passenger side frame rail under the bed. I have a few pics in my gallery if interested. I have a battery isolator from sure power that I use to keep them isolated.

 

I checked out your pic's, and the under bed battery mount is slick! My 1996 S&S self contained comes standard with a dedicated battery for the camper. It has it's own dedicated and ventilated compartment on the passenger side forward of the dinette and fridge. It has one of those outside access doors like the propane, outside shower or any other lockable access door.

Nice Gallery of pic's. It's obvious how much you think of your truck.

 

Check this site out. Many here have discussed and provided solutions. I have an 04 Lance and the clearances are very tight. All I was all rubber bumpers on the front to prevent the taillights from touching the rear and a rubber mat. I have seen others build frames and attached them to the TC.

rv.net

 

Thank you MeyerzF350, I actually found that forum and posted there. It's under "Truck Campers" and "Help Camper Doesn't Fit". I just finished it up today. It's a three page post with allot of ideas. I posted pictures (pg, #3) how mine turned out. I'm really pleased with the result.

RV.Net Open Roads Forum: Truck Campers: Help Camper Doesn't fit.


I'd be interested in anyones comments after reading it. It probably wouldn't interest anyone not having to deal with it. I was debating if I should double post my results here in case others might experience the same issue?

If you read it let me know if you think I should post my results and picyures here also?Of course I guess it's redundant if I've posted the link?