8 foot hallmark ute in a 6.5 foot bed

[Wyocrawler]

I have resently become the proud owner of a new 2011 power wagon and we are planning on useing it for family adventures with our good old 8' ute slide in. We used this camper in my old dodge 2500 long box for years, but as the power wagon only comes short I had to sacrifice on bed length. I have seen 8' campers in short beds before and want to know if there is anything special I need to do to make it work for us or can I just drop the tailgate and load up? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[mkish]

Hallmark currently sells the Ute for shortbeds so there's a good chance it won't be a problem--why not call them and ask if your particular vintage Ute will be okay?

 

[goodtimes]

When you say 'drop' your tailgate - do you mean open it, or remove it?

If you mean 'open it' , be sure you can lower your spare tire with it open before loading the camper. Many times the tailgate will block access when lowered.

Also, be aware that putting a long bed camper on a short bed truck will move the campers center of gravity 2' closer to the rear axle than it was on the long bed. This puts more of the load on the rear suspension, and less on the front. Not a problem if the suspension is rated for the weight, but it does have an impact on the ride and handling.

Another thing that may need a bit of work is the rear tie-downs.

In the big picture, it's not the best, but it works. I do it, many others do too.

 

[Wyocrawler]

Thanks for the replies. I ment open not remove, but you make a good point about the spare tire and will check it out. Thanks.

 

[1stDeuce]

I'm running a 94 Hallmark Ute 8.5 in my 2500 GMC. The truck handled it very well stock, but airbags (and new shocks) helped the ride considerably. Even with all the camper hanging out over the back, the front of the truck settles about 1/2" when I load the camper, so the CG is still well ahead of the axle.
I would suggest that with only an 8' camper, you may want to toss a section of 4x4 against the front of the bed so the camper just hangs off the tailgate. On my truck, I have about 2" of camper off the gate, and it makes it easy to use the steps. If I had 4" of tailgate sticking out instead, I don't think my steps would work. Or you could just pull the gate to get rid of some weight back there. Probably the better idea, and the camper shouldn't care too much.
Have fun!!
C
<edit> Hmm. Looking at the pics, perhaps the steps would work with some gate sticking out still. Don't know until you try I guess! No worries on the length though, unless you plan to run the rubicon!

 

[1stDeuce]

Another thought... The tailgate on my GMC sits about 3/8" above the bed floor. I use a rubber mat to make up the difference, but you can still tell that the gate cables on my truck are TIGHT with the camper in the bed. You might check to see if your truck is similar before you just toss it in. Might be hard on the tailgate to have the whole back of the camper resting on it...

I also moved the rear tie-down points forward on the camper some since the pictures were taken. (Well, I just use the forward hole in the jack mount bracket actually...) With all the angle, they would push the camper forward and bow the front of the box. Now they're closer to vertical and it stays put better. Ideally they should be angled opposite the fronts, but that isn't really possible without moving them forward several feet, or moving the front tie-downs in the truck bed back, and I'm not that ambitious. I just use eye bolts under the rear bumper, and in the front corners of the box, and it's all working fine without having camper bracket sticking out all over.

 

[herm]

i have an 8 foot camper in a 6.5 bed also. i have about 3 inches of gate past the end of the camper. I use a piece of 1/2 in ply under the camper to take a little stress off of the gate. I like keeping the gate so i have an area to store things and set things on the back of the truck. I added new tie down points also.