My camper keeps shifting in my P/U Bed

[KD4UPL]

I agree, get rid of the plastic liner. It's either sliding, flexing, bouncing, or something. Only a thick rubber mat will keep a camper from sliding around. I've got a 3/4" thick horse stall mat under mine.

[gcsprayjr]

The directions from Tork Lift for their tie downs states that a TC should not be placed on top of a plastic bed liner. My truck has a Bedrug in it, because we keep a fiberglass lid on it when the TC is not on it. It makes a nice lockable storage space for stuff. When we haul the TC I place a rubber bed mat on top of the Bedrug and set the camper on that. It does not move. There weight of the camper creates a lot of traction created between the TC, the mat, the Bedrug, and the truck bed. A nice side benefit is that my truck bed still looks brand new.

[wyorancher]

My first TC sat directly on the bed. Moisture does collect on the PU bed when it rains. Especially if parked where not perfectly level. I had some water damage on the bottom of TC. After that I put a treated sheet of 3/4 plywood under TC plus rubber mat. In addition made sure I had a couple of holes drilled in front bottom of PU bed so water would drain when parked pointing down hill. I suspect the newer TCs are protected better on the bottom.

[garbonz]

I have the bigfoot 8.2 and a LineX spray on bed liner and the camper does not move an inch EVER. The bottom of a Bigfoot is fiberglass and pretty slippery, but the LineX is really rough. I tow all over the rocky's with no movement at all.

[tdium]

The solution is to apply a little science...

I may have already posted here or somewhere previously...apologize if this is a duplicate on this forum. I think this is the 4th time on various forums.

The smooth and shiny bottom of most campers results in the load being dispersed over an infinite number of contact points when the camper simply sits on a smooth truck bed. Using sheets of plywood, large rubber mats, styrofoam etc does not change this fact.

To increase the lbs/ft sq contact between the bottom of the camper and the truck bed simply requires reducing the number of contact points.

I use an 8 point contact method using 12x12' rubber fatigue tiles available from any hardware store. They are about a half inch thick with holes and quite robust. I place 2 in the front corners, 3 just forward of the center of gravity and 3 at the back.

The additional weight of the tiles is minimal. Air is allowed to circulate under the camper. Provides a slight shock absorbent effect. Simple to store etc etc. I have replaced them once. They may leave a slight tattoo on the bottom of the camper which is proof the system is working. No damage to the truck bed either.

My 2004 Bigfoot 2500 has traveled over 50k over the past 8 years and has always stayed put on my 1999 2500 Silverado truck bed.

Good luck

[bobinyelm]

You're correct that reducing the contact area increases the lb/sq-in pressure.

A few weeks ago I used my rubber bed mat as an exact "pattern" to cut a piece of 3/4" plywood to cover the front 4ft of the bed, placing a 1.5" spacer under the front (so my truck doors will clear the camper bed area), and 3/4" spacer under the rear, and a 1X6 across the front, vertically across the topside (to keep the camper from striking my P/U tail lights).

I fitted short 2X4s to the 3/4" plywood to center the camper, and screwed short 2X4s perpendicular to the longitudinal 2X4s, to reinforce the side longitudinal boards, and forming a storage box outside the camper's outside access door on the left side to restrain goods stored there.

The return 2600 mile trip "home," from where I installed the device, was uneventful, and the camper stayed perfectly centered and didn't budge fore-and-aft either, despite the elevated forward section.

In reality, my 2WD 1-ton dually sits tail-high, especially with Stable-Loads and air bags to keep the suspension from bottoming, so even with the 1.5" differential front-to-rear slope caused by the tapered spacer, the camper is just a tad higher in the back than the front.