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
00:14
lead service techs here at four wheel
00:15
camper in Woodland California and today
00:18
we are I’m gonna show you the steps that
00:20
you take to load a camper into a basic
00:24
eyebolt installation truck alright we’re
00:26
going to start up by showing you the eye
00:28
bolts in the truck and the plug the the
00:32
way it gets plugged in it’s got an
00:34
Atwood trolling motor plug basically a
00:36
female on the truck a male on the camper
00:39
the plug on the camper has about 24
00:42
inches sometimes more cord and that’s
00:45
just so you have enough room to maneuver
00:49
the plug in and out of the of the camp
00:52
truck as far as eyeball to eyeball it’s
00:56
go a basic camper in our truck
00:59
installation we’ll have four eye bolts
01:01
two in the front two in the back and
01:03
then basically what happens is that the
01:04
Front’s pull six inches forward the
01:07
backs pull six inches back and that
01:09
basically locks the camper into place
01:10
with the turnbuckles and we’ll go into
01:12
more detail as far as turnbuckles go and
01:15
how often to check them and stuff like
01:16
that too
01:18
but again I bought the there there and
01:20
then the plug
01:21
Atwood trolling motor plug is there and
01:24
that’s the basic installation
01:30
so measuring of the truck is important
01:34
because you want to make sure you when
01:35
you back it in you have enough clearance
01:37
to get underneath the camper right so
01:40
basically what you wanted measure is
01:42
measure the truck height you know
01:44
whatever it is this one’s like 36 inches
01:46
and then you want to measure your camper
01:47
and make sure it’s 2 inches above that
01:49
so the camper needs to be at 38 2 inches
01:52
above the truck that way when you back
01:53
it in it’ll clear and they won’t hit
01:55
anything on the camper the other thing
01:57
you want to do is you want to check and
01:59
make sure that the truck is lined up as
02:03
straight as possible right so back the
02:05
truck and get it as straight as possible
02:06
and then just get to the back of the
02:08
camper and look down the back of the
02:10
camper and make sure it lines up with
02:11
the truck every camp some can most
02:15
campers are a little bit different this
02:16
you know that as far as space goes this
02:19
one’s gonna have about an inch and a
02:21
half two inches of space on both sides
02:23
so you want to make sure that this the
02:25
space that you have on this side matches
02:27
the space that you have on this side you
02:29
know so you look down this side make
02:31
sure the spacing is good look down that
02:32
side make sure the spacing is good if
02:34
you have to maneuver it a little bit if
02:36
it’s a little bit crooked the truck to
02:38
the campers a little bit crooked it’s
02:41
easier to move the camper than it is the
02:43
truck so if it’s off a little bit and it
02:46
needs to come over you can kick the jack
02:48
over a little bit that just moved the
02:49
camper back and then he kicked this side
02:53
right so now the camper has just been
02:56
moved a little bit so it’s easier to
02:59
fine-tune the placement of the camper to
03:02
the truck instead of trying to maneuver
03:04
the truck to the camper so once you know
03:06
everything is lined up and nice and
03:08
straight you know your clearance on the
03:10
truck is below the camper you’re ready
03:13
to back the truck up
03:18
all right so now before you get ready to
03:21
go you kind of want to go through a
03:23
mental checklist make sure that you know
03:25
your height is right on the camper it’s
03:27
above the truck a cup by a couple of
03:29
inches you’re lined up as straight as
03:31
possible and then you’re going to want
03:34
to you know I’m gonna get in the truck
03:36
and back it up and make sure I’m gonna
03:39
do it by myself too so I’m gonna come
03:41
back as straight as possible and I’ll
03:42
probably get out two or three times just
03:45
to make sure that I’m lined up and
03:47
coming in nice and straight but you know
03:50
stop and do a mental checklist and go
03:52
through everything make sure
03:53
everything’s you know in the right place
03:56
to save yourself some time at the end
04:02
okay so now I’m ready to back the truck
04:05
into the camper so I’m gonna go ahead
04:07
and do that now okay so like I said
04:18
earlier you’re gonna stop a few times
04:20
just to make sure it’s coming back
04:22
straight and then if it you have to
04:23
maneuver it just maneuver the camper as
04:25
you go so I started to come in and it
04:29
looks pretty good maybe off just a
04:35
little bit so I’ll just kick a jack over
04:37
just to straighten it out and then I’ll
04:38
come back another couple of feet and
04:40
then see how it looks
04:56
so I’m definitely coming in a little bit
04:58
crooked so I got to kick the back over
05:03
some more
05:20
okay I’m gonna come back another couple
05:22
of feet now
05:40
the other thing I’d like to do is I like
05:42
to stop it when you start to get to the
05:45
back here to this wing because some of
05:48
the other campers are a little bit wider
05:49
so just stop at the wing before the wing
05:53
is that at the back of the truck and
05:54
just make sure that everything’s still
05:57
lined up real good and it’s it’s perfect
06:01
right now so I’m going to come back just
06:05
a little bit more and then I’m going to
06:08
plug the camper into the truck
06:12
[Applause]
06:16
okay this is basic my last stop and what
06:20
I’m doing now is I’m going to plug the
06:22
camper into the truck it’s a three prong
06:26
atwood trolling motor plug and you just
06:29
want to make sure you wiggle that plug
06:31
and push real hard and make sure that
06:32
plugs seated properly
06:41
so wiggle the plug you know a little bit
06:43
and make sure it’s nice and tight the
06:47
other thing I’d like to do is on hawks
06:49
and grin bees any any camper that has
06:51
running lights is turn on the lights on
06:54
the truck and the lights on the running
06:56
light the lights the running lights on
06:58
the camper will come on that means your
06:59
plug is is good if it doesn’t have
07:02
running lights it you won’t be able to
07:05
check that but just make sure that the
07:07
plug is seated into the as tight as
07:10
possible basically I’m still about 12
07:14
inches 18 inches from the from the kink
07:17
from a camper bumpers to the truck so
07:19
basically now what I’m going to do is
07:21
back it up nice and slow until the
07:25
bumpers just touch the front or the back
07:27
of the truck so just come back nice and
07:30
slow two little touches and then stop
07:33
the truck set the emergency brake and
07:35
then we’ll set the camper down on the
07:38
truck
07:42
[Applause]
07:45
okay so now the truck is backed up all
07:49
the way to the bumpers on the camper
07:50
I’ve touched the bumpers on the camper
07:52
and it’s pretty square the next step is
07:56
going to be to lower the camper into
07:57
place make sure it’s centered as best as
07:59
possible the best thing to do is just
08:02
kind of get a tape measure and measure
08:03
you know from one point of the camper to
08:06
the side rail of the truck and then just
08:08
make sure that matches on the other side
08:09
so if this one in particular truck is I
08:12
have four inches from the edge of the
08:14
camper to the bedrail and then I’ll
08:16
measure that side make sure I have four
08:17
inches which I’ve already done and it’s
08:19
centered perfectly I’ll do the same
08:21
thing in the back I’ll just measure just
08:24
to make sure I’m you know in a good
08:26
position so I’ve got three inches here
08:27
on this side and I’ve got three inches
08:29
here on this side so I know I’m Square
08:31
and ready to go so now
08:35
okay I’ve got my cordless drill and my
08:37
drill adapter to raise and lower the
08:39
jacks when you buy jacks you also get a
08:43
hand crank as well in case your battery
08:45
on your drill dies so I’m gonna go ahead
08:48
and do that now basically what I’m gonna
08:50
do is I’m gonna start it I usually start
08:52
at the front corner and then kind of
08:53
work my way around and just come down
08:55
you know at a slow pace a couple inches
08:57
at a time and basically what it’s going
08:59
to do is just going to slowly walk that
09:01
camper down to the truck so I’m gonna go
09:04
ahead and do that now so I’ve made one
09:16
pass and then I’m gonna come back over
09:18
here and do the same thing one more time
09:29
okay so the weight of the camper is now
09:32
strictly on the truck my jacks are all
09:34
off the ground I’m gonna double-check my
09:37
measurements just to make sure that the
09:39
truck is centered it doesn’t have to be
09:41
perfect but you kind of want it within a
09:43
quarter of an inch or so so if you have
09:44
four inches on this side you want you
09:46
know close to four inches on the other
09:47
side the same thing in the back three
09:49
inches on the side both sides it’s great
09:51
if you can get it within a quarter inch
09:53
it’s that’s fine I’ve already measured
09:56
it and I know it’s square and straight
09:58
and where I needs to be so now I’m just
10:00
going to run all the Jack’s all the way
10:02
up to the top
10:15
okay so now I’ve brought all my jacks
10:18
all the way up to the top I’ve checked
10:21
and mage makes you made sure it’s
10:23
centered and the camper is where it
10:25
needs to be we highly recommend that at
10:29
this point to take your jacks off and
10:32
store them in the garage and not to
10:34
leave them on the truck or on the camper
10:36
because you know they’re heavy and the
10:38
damage can be done to these campers by
10:41
somebody sideswiping these jacks
10:44
they just don’t need to be there the
10:46
best thing to do is take them off storm
10:48
in a garage until you’re ready to take
10:50
the camper back off the truck so at this
10:53
point I would if this was going
10:56
someplace I would take the jacks off if
10:59
you know you’re going to take the camper
11:00
off you know soon you can leave the
11:02
jacks on it just be really careful about
11:04
how you’re driving and where you’re at
11:10
okay the next step is to attach your
11:14
turn buckles from the camper to the
11:16
truck and I’m ready to do that now you
11:19
want to get them at about the this.what
11:21
the turnbuckle looks like okay you want
11:24
to get them adjusted to the proper
11:26
height to reach the eye bolts on the
11:29
truck so I’ve already done that so I’ll
11:31
hook all four of them I’m going to show
11:34
you here on a porthole on the rear how
11:37
I’m gonna do that but I’ve already
11:38
hooked the Front’s I like to tighten
11:40
hook them all up and get them snug and
11:43
then tighten the front ones first and
11:46
then tighten my rears right so I’m gonna
11:49
go ahead and show you real quickly on
11:51
how to basically what you’re gonna do is
11:53
make sure it’s as tight as you can get
11:55
it by hand so you get them all hooked
11:56
and in place and then tighten your front
11:58
ones it’s twisting this as tight as you
12:00
can get it by hand once it’s as tight as
12:02
you can get it by hand you want to use a
12:04
tool like a screwdriver or a wrench or
12:07
some type of tool and and to make it
12:08
more secure and get it rich tightened
12:11
another half a turns maybe a full turn
12:13
to make sure that that is plenty tight
12:16
you know you don’t have to over tighten
12:18
it but you want as tight you know hand
12:20
tight and then another half turn to a
12:22
full turn with a wrench or a screwdriver
12:24
so that’s this is the tool that we use
12:26
and that’s the turnbuckle I’m gonna go
12:29
ahead and reach in and hook this rear
12:31
I’m gonna hook it to the eye bolt on the
12:34
truck first and then I’m going to hook
12:37
this side up to the camper and then I’m
12:43
going to turn this hand tight all right
12:51
one hand it’s a hand tight as tight as I
12:56
can get it by hand once I’ve got it hand
12:58
tight I’ll take my tool put it in the
13:01
turnbuckle and then it’s just going to
13:02
be a matter of like a half a turn or so
13:06
just till it’s nice and snug and tight
13:08
and then make sure you periodically
13:10
check those turn buckles put them on get
13:13
them all nice and tight and then check
13:15
them 50 to 100 miles stop what you’re
13:18
doing get off the side of the road or
13:19
you know do it at a gas station but
13:21
reach in and check
13:22
all four turnbuckles and make sure they
13:24
stayed tight it’s really important that
13:27
you check them 50 to 100 miles after you
13:30
first put the camper on the truck and
13:31
then after that just periodically check
13:33
it if you hit a bumpy road full wheel
13:35
drive washboard roads have a tendency to
13:38
loosen these turn buckles so if you have
13:41
any kind of bumpy roads or like that
13:43
pull off the side of the road check your
13:45
turn buckles make sure they all stay
13:46
tight it’s real important to maintain
13:49
turnbuckle tightness on these campers
13:57
[Music]
14:09
you