Your love of the outdoors and need for adventuring off-grid has led you to buy a truck camper. Once your truck is equipped with the proper equipment – including the Torklift TRUE Frame-mounted tie downs – it is important to know how to safely load your truck camper. It is common for folks to leave their truck camper loaded on their vehicle during their camping trips. Keep in mind, unloading your truck camper at the campsite gives you an added layer of flexibility by letting you take your truck places where it is not necessarily convenient to bring your camper along.
If you are worried about the safety of your camper when it is off-loaded, check out the FastGun Wobble Stopper camper stabilizer. These will stabilize your camper when it is not loaded and secure it while you are away.
Since you need to reverse your truck into your camper, it will take some additional knowledge and attention to detail to be sure that your camper gets loaded with no damage to the truck camper or your vehicle. Follow these 3 simple steps to get your truck camper loaded up and on the road!
Step #1: Get prepped!
Before you get to loading your truck camper, you are going to want to make sure you have the appropriate preparation done so that loading goes as smoothly and as safely as possible! Follow these easy tips to make sure you are well-prepared to load your truck camper.
Make sure your bed is properly prepped and your parts are inspected.
We highly recommend adding a rubber bed mat to minimize the movement of the truck camper in the bed of the truck. Never install your truck camper on top of a plastic bed liner or hard surface spray-in bed liners. Installing your truck camper on top of a plastic liner can result in excessive vertical truck camper movement that can result in truck bed damage and/or camper damage.
- Make sure your bed is properly prepped and your parts are inspected. We highly recommend adding a rubber bed mat to minimize the movement of the truck camper in the bed of the truck. Never install your truck camper on top of a plastic bed liner or hard surface spray-in bed liners. Installing your truck camper on top of a plastic liner can result in excessive vertical truck camper movement that can result in truck bed damage and/or camper damage.
- Proper maintenance of your tie downs and turnbuckles is required to guarantee the life of your products. Before installing your truck camper, be sure your Torklift camper tie down inserts are pinned in place and your spring-loaded turnbuckles are properly tensioned.
- Phone a friend. Ask a buddy to keep an eye on the truck and camper from the rear. This will ensure that you have a second pair of eyes to guide you in loading your truck camper and deplete the risk of damage to your truck and camper set up.
- Use camper jacks to set camper to appropriate height. This may take some trial and error but setting your camper jacks to the right height will help you avoid scraping or scratching your truck camper set up.
- Engage your Torklift StableLoad Suspension. One of the great perks of being equipped with StableLoads is that you can engage or disengage them depending on if you have a load in the truck or not. Before loading your truck camper, be sure to engage the StableLoads to prepare for the additional load being added to the truck bed.
Step #2: Get loaded up!
Now we’re ready for the fun part – loading your truck camper! Now that your truck and camper are all prepped, it’s time to back your truck in and get your camper loaded. Here are some quick tips to help with getting the camper loaded in one shot!
- Store your camper on level ground. One of the most important tips to loading up your camper is to be conscious of storing your truck camper on level ground so that it is easier to load the camper back in once the time comes.
- Center your truck camper. Position yourself so that your truck is centered with the truck camper. Then all you have to do is back up in a straight line. This is the perfect time to utilize your spotter so you can make adjustments to your path as needed.
- Install the Torklift International Camper Bumper Kit. The Camper Bumper Kit fits all campers and is designed to establish a rubber barrier between your truck camper and the cab of your truck. This protects both your truck and camper from damage.
Step #3: Get going!
Once you have successfully loaded your truck camper into the bed of your truck, be sure to attach your truck camper anchor points to your Torklift TRUE Frame-mounted tie downs using a spring-loaded turnbuckle. We recommend our best-selling Original FastGuns that are equipped with a quick disconnect handle for ease of use.
Now that your truck camper is loaded and tied down, you are ready to hit the road!
If you have further questions about your Torklift tie down and turnbuckle set up or how to install, please contact us by phone at 800-246-8132 or by email at support@torklift.com. Our customer service team is available Monday – Friday from 8:30 am to 5 pm PST.
*For more details, call us at 800-246-8132.