I teased this in another thread but thought I would start a new one completely. My Bigfoot Camper is not tall enough to clear the roof of my cab and needs to be lifted about 3". For several years, I ran high density foam sandwiched between pressure treated plywood. While this worked well enough, it was clear the foam was beginning to compress under the load. I also think it added some bounce / movement to the camper more than necessary.
I've had it on my mind to build a cradle for the camper for some time now. I finally got the chance to execute it. I used 3"x5"x0.25" Box tubing for the frame and the sides are 0.25"x6"x12". The box tubing used was way overkill but I didn't notice it until after I had it loaded at the supply depot. Also, we had initially planned to go with 3"x4"x0.25" tubing but they didn't have any so the 3"x5" was forced on us. If I where to do this again, I would go with 3"x3" by 3/16" thickness which I think would provide ample strength where it is needed but not be way overkill.
All of this was fully welded up. Foam was cut to go in the center to support the center of the camper. A rubber mat when on the floor of the bed, the cradle on top and then another rubber mat on top. I also added rubber padding to the sides that support the camper from moving around. There is about 0.25" to 0.5" between the cradle and the base of the camper. Later on I will be adding additional rubber on the support arms to close this gap so camper will stay completely centered (ran out of time and rubber material adhesive).
Prior to all of this work, I opened up the belly of the camper and re-supported all of my holding tanks, making sure they all were tilted and support correctly (both fresh and grey tank were sagging in the wrong direction leaving only 75% usable capacity available.
Overall, very happy with the project. I have my friend Jay to thank for helping with the welding and fabrication plus his yard to do the work. Heck of a great guy. I didn't take a ton of pics but hopefully these will suffice for the curious.
My next project will be to service all of my very tired jacks. They just barely lift the camper these days, I think the motors are just about shot. At least I won't be needing them for a while now and can likely remove them indefinitely to work on them!
I've had it on my mind to build a cradle for the camper for some time now. I finally got the chance to execute it. I used 3"x5"x0.25" Box tubing for the frame and the sides are 0.25"x6"x12". The box tubing used was way overkill but I didn't notice it until after I had it loaded at the supply depot. Also, we had initially planned to go with 3"x4"x0.25" tubing but they didn't have any so the 3"x5" was forced on us. If I where to do this again, I would go with 3"x3" by 3/16" thickness which I think would provide ample strength where it is needed but not be way overkill.
All of this was fully welded up. Foam was cut to go in the center to support the center of the camper. A rubber mat when on the floor of the bed, the cradle on top and then another rubber mat on top. I also added rubber padding to the sides that support the camper from moving around. There is about 0.25" to 0.5" between the cradle and the base of the camper. Later on I will be adding additional rubber on the support arms to close this gap so camper will stay completely centered (ran out of time and rubber material adhesive).
Prior to all of this work, I opened up the belly of the camper and re-supported all of my holding tanks, making sure they all were tilted and support correctly (both fresh and grey tank were sagging in the wrong direction leaving only 75% usable capacity available.
Overall, very happy with the project. I have my friend Jay to thank for helping with the welding and fabrication plus his yard to do the work. Heck of a great guy. I didn't take a ton of pics but hopefully these will suffice for the curious.
My next project will be to service all of my very tired jacks. They just barely lift the camper these days, I think the motors are just about shot. At least I won't be needing them for a while now and can likely remove them indefinitely to work on them!
