Our First attempt to unload our camper failed (see First Time Unloading Truck Camper) but we still needed to get an oil change. We got up early Saturday morning and tried again. This time all four jacks were working so we lifted the camper up and moved the truck out from under it.
Steps:
- Assemble tools. Phillip’s head screw driver, Standard screw driver and crescent wrench.
- Back truck with loaded camper straight into level storage area leaving the truck engine running.
- Loosen all four of the truck tie-downs and remove them (including the chains). Don’t hang them in place as they won’t clear the fenders!
- The two front jacks need to be able to clear the dually fenders. Move the front jacks into their extended outboard position.
- Extend (lower) all four jacks together until at least one jack is barely touching the ground.
- Walk around the truck and look at the jacks.
- For each jack not touching the ground, extend the jack until it is touching the ground.
- Extend the two front jacks (only the two front jacks) an additional 4 inches so that the front of the camper is higher than the back.
- Extend all four jacks simultaneously until one or all of them reach their maximum extension.
- With a spotter watching every move from outside the truck, slowly and carefully inch the truck forward away from the truck camper one foot.
- Reach into the bed on the driver’s side and unplug the camper’s umbilical cord from the plug in the truck bed.
- Drape the umbilical cord across the jack so it doesn’t get hung up as the truck moves out or back in.
- While the spotter is watching, slowly drive the truck straight forward out from underneath the camper.
- Remove the license plate from the camper leaving the fasteners on the campers license plate bracket.
- Attach the license plate to the truck using the fasteners already in place on the truck license plate bracket.
Mistakes on the first time
- Left the tie down hanging from the camper. Front tie downs didn’t clear the truck fenders as we moved the truck forward. Needed crescent wrench to get chains off of truck.
- Linda had to remind me to swing the front jacks out so they would clear the fenders.
- One of the jacks was slow to extend and needed to be extended to catch up with its 3 siblings. Now we check all jacks touching the ground before continuing.
- Almost forgot to move the license plate from the camper to the truck. Needed to find Phillip’s head screw driver for the camper and a flat blade screw driver for the truck.
All done in a half hour.
Got the oil changed at Jordan Ford my all time favorite Ford dealer.
Mission accomplished.