Camper mounted with Belly Bars or old hooks

[Roodaddy]

Hey guys,
It's been ages since I have had to consult the wisdom of the forum (good sign I guess). The question I face now is I am about to buy a vintage slide in camper. The guy I'm buying from had belly bars to secure to his early 2000's F350. On my '72 Crew there are camper hooks mounted at the front and rear of the box. There must be hundreds of other bumps with the same (my '69 F250 had them too). So are there experienced camper owners who can pass on some guidance on if these hooks are sufficient?

My truck is here:
http://www.fordification.com/galleries/ ... 0173&pos=3

The camper is a 9.5ft unit seen here:
http://www.fordification.com/galleries/ ... 1258&pos=1

Cheers,
Bill

[Whateverman]

The hooks will work but you're better off using a belly bar ,if only because the hooks end up stretching the boxside around where they are mounted.
I had an 8ft camper for awhile and found that when using a bellybar (i got an old homemade looking one at a garage sale) at the front and the hooks which were mounted on the sides of the rear bumper the truck had a little bit less swaying around going on

[Roodaddy]

Hey thanks.
I picked up the camper last night from Shawnigan Lake. We made it home with it connected to the rear hooks on the fenders and some ratcheting straps on the front to the frame. The hooks up front were at a least than optimal angle so we did what we could to get home. The camper is a snug fit so the set up worked quite well coming over the Malahat. I'll take your advice on the belly bar up front, but we'll keep the rear mounts until we find that we are traveling farther than just around the lower island.

Thanks!

(Sorry to you non-islanders for all the local references)

Cheers.
Bill

[SecondCamperSpecial]

First off I am jealous of your truck. I have owned 4 truck campers . My first was a 12 footer and I had it on my 69 Camper special. It was heavy. I would pull my bed liner out when hauling it. It kinda acted like a spring and made it bouncy. I took a 8 foot length of I think 1.5 square tubing and 2 pieces of I channel to lower it for clearance. I used chain and turn buckles. I later installed another bar inside to stiffen it up. I had holes drilled in rear step bumper to secure the rear. I never likes this setup but used it for four years. My second camper was a HEAVY Amerigo 11.5 and used the same setup. My third camper was a 10.5 Viking pop up and used the bed mounts that slide in stake pockets. My first trip from Chicago to West Virginia in the pouring rain the four nuts that held it tight fell off at some point. The last 15 miles were switch backs up hill. Camper did not move a bit. ( I did replace them with nylon locking nuts that day) My last trip, this weekend I putt 500 miles on my last set up an 8 foot Sells from 1970 with just the bed hooks. I actually only used the two front and closed the tailgate. I am going to just use the bed hooks from now on. I just need to find shorter turn buckles.

[MaxKlinger]

Can someone please clarify what a Belly Bar is? I did a search of the interwebs and apparently it's some kind of nutritional vitamin supplement for pregnant ladies.

http://www.bellybarproducts.com/

[Whateverman]

a belly bar is a camper tie down bar ,heres one laying in a driveway ,they look even less impressive when bolted to a truck frame but they do the job

[MaxKlinger]

So are they the outriggers that go around the outside of the bed? Is there a tie bar that goes under the bed as well?

[Whateverman]

theyre basically a piece of box tube that spans the under side of the truck they usually have inserts with an eyelet of some fashion on em that are adjustable in and out so you can vary the width and either bolt to or are clamped onto the frame...i've seen em welded on too...

[colnago]

So, what are they REALLY called, just so I don't end up with buying vitamin supplements for pregnant women? And where are they sold? RV suppliers?

Joseph