Loading Pop-Up Camper on Truck
A video on how to properly load & unload your Four Wheel Camper (slide-in model) from your truck. We hope this helps all of the new owners of our campers. And we welcome you to the FWC Family
Video Transcription:
00:11
hello my name is Matt and I’m one of the
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lead service techs here at four wheel
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camper in Woodland California and today
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we are I’m gonna show you the steps that
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you take to load a camper into a basic
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eyebolt installation truck alright we’re
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going to start up by showing you the eye
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bolts in the truck and the plug the the
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way it gets plugged in it’s got an
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Atwood trolling motor plug basically a
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female on the truck a male on the camper
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the plug on the camper has about 24
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inches sometimes more cord and that’s
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just so you have enough room to maneuver
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the plug in and out of the of the camp
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truck as far as eyeball to eyeball it’s
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go a basic camper in our truck
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installation we’ll have four eye bolts
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two in the front two in the back and
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then basically what happens is that the
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Front’s pull six inches forward the
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backs pull six inches back and that
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basically locks the camper into place
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with the turnbuckles and we’ll go into
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more detail as far as turnbuckles go and
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how often to check them and stuff like
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that too
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but again I bought the there there and
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then the plug
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Atwood trolling motor plug is there and
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that’s the basic installation
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so measuring of the truck is important
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because you want to make sure you when
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you back it in you have enough clearance
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to get underneath the camper right so
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basically what you wanted measure is
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measure the truck height you know
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whatever it is this one’s like 36 inches
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and then you want to measure your camper
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and make sure it’s 2 inches above that
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so the camper needs to be at 38 2 inches
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above the truck that way when you back
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it in it’ll clear and they won’t hit
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anything on the camper the other thing
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you want to do is you want to check and
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make sure that the truck is lined up as
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straight as possible right so back the
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truck and get it as straight as possible
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and then just get to the back of the
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camper and look down the back of the
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camper and make sure it lines up with
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the truck every camp some can most
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campers are a little bit different this
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you know that as far as space goes this
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one’s gonna have about an inch and a
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half two inches of space on both sides
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so you want to make sure that this the
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space that you have on this side matches
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the space that you have on this side you
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know so you look down this side make
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sure the spacing is good look down that
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side make sure the spacing is good if
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you have to maneuver it a little bit if
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it’s a little bit crooked the truck to
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the campers a little bit crooked it’s
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easier to move the camper than it is the
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truck so if it’s off a little bit and it
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needs to come over you can kick the jack
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over a little bit that just moved the
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camper back and then he kicked this side
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right so now the camper has just been
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moved a little bit so it’s easier to
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fine-tune the placement of the camper to
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the truck instead of trying to maneuver
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the truck to the camper so once you know
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everything is lined up and nice and
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straight you know your clearance on the
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truck is below the camper you’re ready
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to back the truck up
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all right so now before you get ready to
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go you kind of want to go through a
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mental checklist make sure that you know
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your height is right on the camper it’s
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above the truck a cup by a couple of
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inches you’re lined up as straight as
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possible and then you’re going to want
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to you know I’m gonna get in the truck
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and back it up and make sure I’m gonna
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do it by myself too so I’m gonna come
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back as straight as possible and I’ll
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probably get out two or three times just
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to make sure that I’m lined up and
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coming in nice and straight but you know
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stop and do a mental checklist and go
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through everything make sure
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everything’s you know in the right place
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to save yourself some time at the end
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okay so now I’m ready to back the truck
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into the camper so I’m gonna go ahead
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and do that now okay so like I said
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earlier you’re gonna stop a few times
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just to make sure it’s coming back
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straight and then if it you have to
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maneuver it just maneuver the camper as
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you go so I started to come in and it
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looks pretty good maybe off just a
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little bit so I’ll just kick a jack over
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just to straighten it out and then I’ll
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come back another couple of feet and
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then see how it looks
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so I’m definitely coming in a little bit
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crooked so I got to kick the back over
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some more
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okay I’m gonna come back another couple
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of feet now
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the other thing I’d like to do is I like
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to stop it when you start to get to the
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back here to this wing because some of
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the other campers are a little bit wider
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so just stop at the wing before the wing
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is that at the back of the truck and
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just make sure that everything’s still
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lined up real good and it’s it’s perfect
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right now so I’m going to come back just
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a little bit more and then I’m going to
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plug the camper into the truck
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[Applause]
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okay this is basic my last stop and what
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I’m doing now is I’m going to plug the
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camper into the truck it’s a three prong
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atwood trolling motor plug and you just
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want to make sure you wiggle that plug
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and push real hard and make sure that
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plugs seated properly
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so wiggle the plug you know a little bit
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and make sure it’s nice and tight the
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other thing I’d like to do is on hawks
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and grin bees any any camper that has
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running lights is turn on the lights on
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the truck and the lights on the running
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light the lights the running lights on
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the camper will come on that means your
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plug is is good if it doesn’t have
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running lights it you won’t be able to
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check that but just make sure that the
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plug is seated into the as tight as
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possible basically I’m still about 12
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inches 18 inches from the from the kink
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from a camper bumpers to the truck so
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basically now what I’m going to do is
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back it up nice and slow until the
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bumpers just touch the front or the back
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of the truck so just come back nice and
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slow two little touches and then stop
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the truck set the emergency brake and
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then we’ll set the camper down on the
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truck
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[Applause]
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okay so now the truck is backed up all
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the way to the bumpers on the camper
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I’ve touched the bumpers on the camper
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and it’s pretty square the next step is
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going to be to lower the camper into
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place make sure it’s centered as best as
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possible the best thing to do is just
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kind of get a tape measure and measure
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you know from one point of the camper to
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the side rail of the truck and then just
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make sure that matches on the other side
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so if this one in particular truck is I
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have four inches from the edge of the
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camper to the bedrail and then I’ll
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measure that side make sure I have four
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inches which I’ve already done and it’s
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centered perfectly I’ll do the same
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thing in the back I’ll just measure just
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to make sure I’m you know in a good
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position so I’ve got three inches here
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on this side and I’ve got three inches
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here on this side so I know I’m Square
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and ready to go so now
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okay I’ve got my cordless drill and my
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drill adapter to raise and lower the
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jacks when you buy jacks you also get a
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hand crank as well in case your battery
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on your drill dies so I’m gonna go ahead
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and do that now basically what I’m gonna
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do is I’m gonna start it I usually start
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at the front corner and then kind of
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work my way around and just come down
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you know at a slow pace a couple inches
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at a time and basically what it’s going
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to do is just going to slowly walk that
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camper down to the truck so I’m gonna go
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ahead and do that now so I’ve made one
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pass and then I’m gonna come back over
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here and do the same thing one more time
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okay so the weight of the camper is now
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strictly on the truck my jacks are all
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off the ground I’m gonna double-check my
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measurements just to make sure that the
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truck is centered it doesn’t have to be
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perfect but you kind of want it within a
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quarter of an inch or so so if you have
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four inches on this side you want you
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know close to four inches on the other
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side the same thing in the back three
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inches on the side both sides it’s great
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if you can get it within a quarter inch
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it’s that’s fine I’ve already measured
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it and I know it’s square and straight
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and where I needs to be so now I’m just
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going to run all the Jack’s all the way
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up to the top
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okay so now I’ve brought all my jacks
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all the way up to the top I’ve checked
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and mage makes you made sure it’s
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centered and the camper is where it
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needs to be we highly recommend that at
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this point to take your jacks off and
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store them in the garage and not to
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leave them on the truck or on the camper
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because you know they’re heavy and the
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damage can be done to these campers by
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somebody sideswiping these jacks
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they just don’t need to be there the
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best thing to do is take them off storm
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in a garage until you’re ready to take
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the camper back off the truck so at this
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point I would if this was going
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someplace I would take the jacks off if
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you know you’re going to take the camper
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off you know soon you can leave the
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jacks on it just be really careful about
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how you’re driving and where you’re at
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okay the next step is to attach your
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turn buckles from the camper to the
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truck and I’m ready to do that now you
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want to get them at about the this.what
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the turnbuckle looks like okay you want
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to get them adjusted to the proper
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height to reach the eye bolts on the
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truck so I’ve already done that so I’ll
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hook all four of them I’m going to show
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you here on a porthole on the rear how
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I’m gonna do that but I’ve already
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hooked the Front’s I like to tighten
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hook them all up and get them snug and
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then tighten the front ones first and
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then tighten my rears right so I’m gonna
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go ahead and show you real quickly on
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how to basically what you’re gonna do is
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make sure it’s as tight as you can get
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it by hand so you get them all hooked
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and in place and then tighten your front
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ones it’s twisting this as tight as you
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can get it by hand once it’s as tight as
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you can get it by hand you want to use a
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tool like a screwdriver or a wrench or
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some type of tool and and to make it
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more secure and get it rich tightened
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another half a turns maybe a full turn
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to make sure that that is plenty tight
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you know you don’t have to over tighten
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it but you want as tight you know hand
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tight and then another half turn to a
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full turn with a wrench or a screwdriver
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so that’s this is the tool that we use
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and that’s the turnbuckle I’m gonna go
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ahead and reach in and hook this rear
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I’m gonna hook it to the eye bolt on the
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truck first and then I’m going to hook
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this side up to the camper and then I’m
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going to turn this hand tight all right
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one hand it’s a hand tight as tight as I
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can get it by hand once I’ve got it hand
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tight I’ll take my tool put it in the
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turnbuckle and then it’s just going to
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be a matter of like a half a turn or so
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just till it’s nice and snug and tight
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and then make sure you periodically
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check those turn buckles put them on get
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them all nice and tight and then check
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them 50 to 100 miles stop what you’re
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doing get off the side of the road or
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you know do it at a gas station but
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reach in and check
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all four turnbuckles and make sure they
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stayed tight it’s really important that
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you check them 50 to 100 miles after you
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first put the camper on the truck and
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then after that just periodically check
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it if you hit a bumpy road full wheel
13:35
drive washboard roads have a tendency to
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loosen these turn buckles so if you have
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any kind of bumpy roads or like that
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pull off the side of the road check your
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turn buckles make sure they all stay
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tight it’s real important to maintain
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turnbuckle tightness on these campers
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[Music]
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you
