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Axiomx · 05-25-2021, 10:06 AM

I've been using my truck camper combo for several years now with no problems but this spring something changed. The camper started striking the cab roof every time the truck went over an expansion joint in the road. Long story short. Turns out the 2 forward cross frame rails rusted out & disintegrated under the weight of the camper. While the outside of my truck is clean of rust I hadn't realized salt & sand from winter roads gets thrown into the open end of the box rails and rusted them out. Since I was already on the road, and unable to stop for extensive repairs, I lifted the camper up a couple of inches & placed 2"x 8" boards between the bed and camper for the needed extra clearance & got back on the road. I'm now in the process of replacing all 5 rails on the 8' bed so I can get back to camping. Make sure you periodically check the condition of those rails. The most obvious indication that the rails are crushed will be the vertical miss alignment of the truck cab/box body lines.

Longshore · 05-26-2021, 04:30 PM

Welcome to the forum.

What year is the truck and camper? You must live where they salt the roads...

Axiomx · 05-27-2021, 05:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Longshore

Welcome to the forum.

What year is the truck and camper? You must live where they salt the roads...

2008 F350 Crew Cab Diesel 120K miles. I do use it to plow snow but the body is clean, no visible body rust. The truck is in perfect mechanical condition.

Diesel67 · 05-27-2021, 05:46 AM

Welcome to IRV2!

Salt will sure do the damage…

My other truck camper would hit the top of my truck if I didn’t put wood underneath the camper… I used three 2x4’s going across my bed… Front, middle and back.

Lucky my new camper that I just bought doesn’t hit the top of my cab.

freestyle_freddy · 05-31-2021, 06:12 AM

I think this might have been a common problem with the 2008 Super Duty Trucks. I had a 2008 F450 diesel dually, which I think was the very first one built that year. 2008 was the first year Ford offered the F450 with the truck bed as standard & the first year the King Ranch was offered in the F450. Mine was built in Dec./2006 & was driven by a Ford employee for the first year. After 9 years & 175K miles, I discovered, just as I was trading it in, that two of the under bed rails had cracked & separated, Thus weakening the bed structure. The last year I owned it, I had been hearing a cracking or popping sound when I accelerated forward & assumed it was just the play in the connection of the king pin area of the hitch. Now I realize it was the truck bed frame actually flexing from the broken under bed rails. The truck only spent 2 of it's 9 years in snowy winter conditions where salt would have been a problem. I had 4500lbs king pin weight & an extra 800lbs of gear in the truck bed including the hitch weight.

Bowtie Jim · 07-10-2021, 06:51 PM

I'm in Minnesota and I see a lot of early super dutys with the front of the bed dropped onto the frame from rust.

Hurricane-TX · 07-10-2021, 07:08 PM

It seems that if you live in a state with winter weather it would be advisable to get a new truck every 5 or 6 years. Youtube has a number of channels relating to auto mechanics in northern states and most of the late model stuff they work on is clapped out from corrosion.

Axiomx · 07-10-2021, 08:55 PM

Yep, foothills of the Catskill Mtns. upstate NY. They salt roads heavy round here and didn't help cause I use my truck camping truck as a plow truck as well.