theboondork's RV blog

I've been mostly relaxing today, I think that's what Father's Day is all about.

6/16/2019

A red Rose that in person looks like it's made out of velvet.

Since I've got the solar panels on the roof and they're now sending DC power through the solar controller to the batteries. And I've got the inverter hooked up to the batteries which is now producing AC power, that pretty much gives me everything I need to go camping in the little Bronco pop-up. There's still a few odds and ends that I would like to get done but for the most part the Bronco is shipshape and ready to travel.

One of the things I decided on was not to hook up the inverter to the whole camper. In other words when I'm boondocking the AC plugs in the camper won't be working, I will have to plug into the plugs provided on the inverter. But due to the centralized location of the inverter, the ease of using the plugs on the inverter, and my very limited use of the inverter, not having all the camper plugs hot does not appear to be a problem.

A decision I will have to make before I go camping with the Bronco is whether or not I want to take the tailgate off the truck. Right now the tailgate is on the truck but its causing a problem. The sewer drain on the camper hangs down from the back right hand corner and hits the tailgate before the camper is all the way forward. This is a problem because the plastic ABS pipes on the sewer drain could be easily broken.

So there appears to be two things I can do. One is, take the bronco off the truck, remove the tailgate from the truck, then put the bronco back on the truck sliding it all the way forward. This will solve the problem but will leave about 2 feet of camper hanging off the bed of the truck with no support. This kind of gives me the willies, but truck camper owners on the Internet are divided on the subject but tend to lean towards having the camper hanging over the bed not being a problem.

The other idea is. Jack up the camper Until it's no longer touching the truck bed, pull the truck forward a few inches until the sewer line is no longer touching the tailgate, put a block of wood between the front of the camper and the front wall of the truck bed so the camper can't slide forward any farther, lower the camper down in that position and leave the tailgate on the truck. I'll get it figured out soon but y'all know how much I dislike making decisions.

I'm still not sure where I would like to go for my shakedown cruise. I've got several big mini-vacations I would like to take when the high country warms up and all the passes are open, but right now I just need someplace I can spend two or three nights, fairly close by, at an altitude that's not too cold, and on ground not covered with snow.

theboondork

Pop-up camper on the back of a pickup truck

This shows the problem a lot better than me trying to describe it. right now the camper still needs to slide forward 4 or 5 inches to touch the front of the bed which It can't do with the dump valves hitting the tailgate. You can see there would be a lot of unsupported overhang if I take off the tailgate. And if I slide the camper back a couple of inches till the dump valves aren't touching, it will move more weight to the rear of the truck which might not be a good thing. I'm taking some measurements to see if my spare fuel tank will fit between the camper and the front of the bed, that might move the camper back a couple of inches if shifting the weight to the rear isn't a problem. But no matter which one I do I still won't be sleeping in a tent and anythings better than that.

A close-up of my problem.

6 Comments

Barney Ward link

6/16/2019 04:51:39 pm

Tom, In my years of being a mechanical designer for the petrochemical field, I have the opinion that not getting the center of gravity of the camper in the right spot COULD be an important error. At the same time I know your model truck very well and it could easily be that leaving the camper at that insert distance could be just fine. However it is critical to test it out well. I personally would block the camper at the farthermost forward position with the tail gate on the truck and give it a careful test drive in the terrain you plan to encounter. My other worry is easily handled by getting the truck weighed in camper readiness to make certain the slight overhang increase does not overload the tires. The truck you have and I used to have are tough not sensitive trucks. I think the weighing and then the test drive will make the correct and safe decision for you.

Tom Tom

6/16/2019 07:36:25 pm

Thanks for the advice Barney. I checked the owners manual for the little Bronco camper and it says the Center of Gravity for the camper is 40 inches from the front and as it sits right now the COG is on the rear axle. So if I move the bronco to the rear an inch, so we won't be hitting the dump valves, then I could fit my 20 gallon spare fuel tank in front of the camper, I love my spare fuel tank, I don't have to use it very often but it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling just knowing it's back there. And because the camper only weighs about 1500 pounds I'm thinking that should'nt make too much of a difference.

Now if I had a giant 5000 pound Arctic Fox slide in truck camper an inch here or there probably makes a substantial difference. But I'm hoping since this camper is designed for a 1/2 ton truck and mine is a three-quarter ton maybe I can get away with a lot more.

I'll look around and see if I can find a place to weigh the truck with the camper on it. I already know what the truck weighs so it should only take one trip. I don't think the tires will be a problem because the Arctic Fox puts substantially more weight in the bed, and the last time I had it Smart Weighed the tires were just fine for the load.

I'm sure my shakedown cruise will answer a lot of questions about such things, like you said a test drive is the best thing so I need to get it on some dirt roads because so far it hasn't been out of the burbs.

Tom

6/17/2019 06:17:54 am

It sounds to me like moving back one inch would be a no problem situation. I had the impression the COG was likely to be a foot or more back of the axle. On that truck one inch back of the axle will not cause any trouble. If the spare tank can fit in front of the camper then that is even better. When that truck was built fifth wheel hitches could be mounted +/- 2 inches from centered on the axle. With the clarification of the facts, I'd say if you can get the COG within 2 inches of the axle don't even bother with weighing it. But just get going on trying to have tooooo much fun.

Tom

6/17/2019 09:50:58 am

When I bought my Hallmark pop-up many many moons ago I put it on a Chevy half ton that had a 350 gas engine in it and the same spare gas tank that I have now in the back of this truck, except now it has diesel in it, and I carried it all over the country.

That camper was a couple hundred pounds lighter than the one I have now and I never had any problems with that combination of truck and camper.

I do drive around on a lot of dirt roads when I'm running around in the mountains but I don't go on roads that would be a challenge for my equipment, my frame of mind now days is more concerned with safety, and not tearing up my vehicle. I outgrew the attitude of enjoying challenging jeep trails figuring I would repair the damage when I got home. So I won't be putting this camper in any situations that might be bad for its or my health.

It's great to get your input Barney, I was taught as a kid to always respect your elders.

Tom

Linda

6/17/2019 02:57:07 pm

I see lots of truck campers hanging off the bed of a truck but I also see people doing lots of dumb things so I'd rather take Barney's input.

6/17/2019 04:08:41 pm

I'm usually one of those people doing a dumb thing, I didn't realize anyone was watching.

Barney always has good advice because he's been doing this stuff a long, looong time.

Tom

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I've been mostly relaxing today, I think that's what Father's Day is all about.

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