Sometimes in our truck camper journeys, something goes wrong. For this TC owner, with the truck camper half-on, half-off the rig, the unthinkable happened: The camper jack brackets on the front of his rig bent. As a result, the camper started a side-wise slide, which fortunately stopped when the edge of the camper met up against the side of the truck's bed rail. It could have been worse--if the bed rail hadn't been there to stop the slide, a real tragedy would have been had.What caused the issue? We don't have the specifics on hand, but one possibility is that in raising the camper on the jacks, the owner may not have kept everything on the level. When raising a TC, it's critical that the lift is applied evenly--not allowing any corner or end to get much higher than any other corner or end. With corner jacks like these, it means running back and forth, raising the jack just a bit, then going to the next jack, raising it, and so forth. Don't keep the pressure evenly distributed, and a weak link--in this case the jack brackets crumpled.
But what do you do with a problem like this? Here you are, with the rig in the air, and a real problem at hand. Happily this TC owner was home, where he could easily secure items to get himself out of the fix. Some carefully applied blocking and a couple of bottle jacks were able to take the weight off the damaged jack brackets. There's no doubt in our minds that this would have been a real adrenaline rush situation, and one we hope to never see for ourselves. It's also a good reminder to regularly inspect your jacks and jack brackets for damage or any signs of strain, and make repairs quickly.photos: Bob n Renee on flickr.com
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