Welcome to the seventh entry in July’s Mini-Mod Contest. One Mini-Mod will be published in every Email Alert in July. At the end of the month we’ll hold a reader vote to determine July’s winner. Click here for information about the 2020 Mod Contest, including how to enter.
Dennis Chemnitz, Ronkonkoma, New York
Magnetic Wand For Easy Camper Loading
2019 Ford F-350
2019 Host Cascade
This modification is to aid with loading my camper and to make it a faster task.
I took three magnetic wands and cut them to 2-inches. Then I glued a 4-inch long spring to the wand. I inserted and glued a tube in the spring.
I used double-sided tape on a 2-inch mending plate. The plates are attached on the underside of the camper 8-inches out from the front, middle and rear of the camper.
The location of the red wands centers the camper on the truck. I took the width of bed rails minus the width of the base of the camper. Then, I divided that by two. That number gave me the location to mount wands.
Finally, I stuck the wand to the mending plate. Then I was ready to load camper. It took 15-minutes to load the camper with no stress.
I can see the first wand in the side view mirror. The spring is flexible, so it’s no big deal if I hit it on the bed rail of the truck. As I backup, my goal is to align all springs with the bed’s rail.
I can do it myself, but I do have to get out of the truck a few times. Normally I have my wife back the truck under the camper. I instruct her which way to turn. If we align all the wands to just touching the bed rail, the camper is straight and centered.
It took me 30-minutes to complete this modification and cost me $15 because I had some of the parts already. In my opinion, the skill level of this modification is easy.
Disclaimer: The modifications above are submitted by Truck Camper Magazine readers. It is your responsibility to make sure that any do-it-yourself modification project you undertake is safe, effective, and legal for your situation.
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If you’d like to enter a modification you’ve done on your truck camper, click here. You can enter as many mods as you want, at any time. Good luck mod makers!
