Loading a camper by yourself without kissing the bed rails, what actually works

Jun 13, 2025 · 7:05 PM#1

2007 Arctic Fox 990 on a 2012 Silverado 2500HD Duramax, 8 foot bed. electric jacks.

for nine years my wife stood behind the truck and waved me in. she has a new job with a schedule that does not line up with mine, so now i am loading alone, and twice this spring i have scraped the bed rail cap on the driver side backing under it. the driveway is gravel with a slight slope toward the street, and it is Laramie, so add wind.

what are people doing to get it square without a spotter? i have seen pool noodles, i have seen guys with a mirror on a stick. i want whatever actually works.

Jun 14, 2025 · 10:20 AM#2

tape. put the camper on the truck once when it is perfectly centered, with your wife there one last time. then put a strip of colored tape on the camper's back wall straight above the center of the tailgate opening, and a matching strip on the truck's bumper. after that you back up looking at your mirror until the two line up, and you stop when the camper's front edge is about a foot from the cab.

Lance has a loading video on lancecamper.com that is worth ten minutes even if you own an Arctic Fox. the part about jack height before you back in is the useful bit.

Jun 17, 2025 · 7:55 AM#3

if you have airbags, let them down all the way before you back under. that drops the bed an inch or two and gives you more room under the camper. once it is centered, air them back up and the truck lifts the camper off the jacks a bit before you have even touched the jack buttons. then lower the jacks the rest of the way and retract them. i have not scraped a rail since i started doing it that way.

and level the camper side to side on the jacks before you start. if it leans toward the slope it will want to land on that rail every time.

Jun 24, 2025 · 10:30 PM#4

i went one step further. 30 dollar wireless backup camera from the auto parts store, the kind with a magnet base, stuck on top of the bumper pointing up at the front of the camper's underbelly. painted a white line on the camper's floor right in the middle. back up watching the little screen on the dash until the line sits in the middle of the picture. took two tries to figure out the angle and now it is easy.

Jul 6, 2025 · 8:15 PM#5

did the airbag trick and the tape on the back wall and bumper. first try, square, about 12 minutes from pulling the truck around to retracting the jacks, with 25 mph gusts coming off the Snowy Range. so thank you.

new problem. the front passenger jack makes a grinding noise for the first two inches when it goes down, then it smooths out. the other three are quiet.

Jul 22, 2025 · 6:00 PM#6

that grind is usually a dry gear set at the top of the jack, or rust inside the outer tube from water getting in through the cap. on most electric camper jacks the motor housing comes off with a few screws and you can get some grease on the gears. if you see rust flakes in there, run the jack all the way down and clean the inner tube with a scotch pad, then a light coat of dry lube, not grease, on the tube itself. grease plus dust equals the grinding noise you already have.