Slide in Camper

[JebNY]

I put my 1998 Palomino popup slide in camper (about 1400lbs) on the new truck the other day, after installing front TorkLifts and a custom hitch mounted rear camper mount. I use solid tie downs, no springs. The clearance between the top of the cab and bottom of the overhang is about an inch in the closest spot. I loaded the wife in to the overhead bed all the way to the front of the cab over and pulled down from the outside while watching for a clearance change. Nothing seem to move. Is an inch enough clearance on a rough road? I had about 2 inches on my F150 with similar tie downs.

I asked this question on the RV.net board and the consensus is I need 2 or more inches of clearance. The only ones that actually had a contact problem had bigger campers and spring loaded tie downs. The only way I can see that more space would be required is if the frame flexed that much. I only have a 4 foot overhang on the camper. I can't believe the F250 frame will flex enough for the overhang to touch the top of the cab.

So what do the SD guys think? I would like to keep the camper as low as possible but would rather not have it hit the roof.

Jeb