I have a Northstar 850SC with Happijacs mounted on an F-150. I leave it loaded because I have a hard time lining up right to reload. Does anybody know of an easy way to line up, or has anybody heard of mounting wheels to the jack plates so you can maneuver the camper instead of the truck?

Hmm. Welding caster wheels onto the jacks would be an interesting solution...

Practice! Body position is an utmost priority. Moving extremely slow in reverse even at a mere crawl, radical full left to right corrections are a must. Body position for me is I take my right knee and place it directly under me, this serves two purposes. First I can see the entire bed/camper for proper alignment while backing because I am sitting up at a much higher observation position, secondly it allows my left foot to remain on the foot brake so as to carefully control movement and fit of the camper.



If you were to mount wheels to the jacks as you stated how would you be able to counter any roll the camper would in many cases began as my camper only weighs 3400lbs unloaded. I seriously doubt my 234lbs of body blubber would be of much use moving, even stopping such a huge object unless you tried it on "perfectly" leveled concrete. As with my RV driveway, Mine is somewhat sloped for drainage...

As for a rack to set the camper down on yes, Lance makes one for its campers. It has very large wheels that the camper sits on, but when I saw them in action at my dealer they required two young strong backs to move even just a very short distance.

As far as loading....practice practice practice and do it slow...you will get the hang of it. There are all kinds of assists i.e. tape on the camper and or tape on the bed of the truck. You can hang a small chain from the center of the cab over and align it with the center of the truck bed. As far as the wheels I wouldnt do it. How would you control any front to back movement while the truck is starting and stoping with the camper in the bed? I dont think the wheels are a good idea. Good luck.

AS far as stands, When I unload my camper I have two sawhorses that I use to let my camper down on and it is very stable. I leave the jacks down just enough to help stablize it.
Gary

I have a Northstar 650 on a F-150. I'm sending an attachment that illustrates the wheels and feet I adapted to my camper. You'll find this wider based foot and the wheels in the Northern Tool catalog on the net or in others that carry the Bulldog brand. Northern, I believe, has the best selection. These are the Northern part numbers. The wheels are part #128476-2806 with a capacity of 1500 lbs. per wheel and are $24.95 each. The foot is part #128479-2806 with a capacity of 5,000 lbs. per foot and are $12.99 each. These are both the Bulldog brand. To adapt the weels and and feet to my camper I bought some 2 inch square steel tube with 1/8" thick walls from a salvage yard. (see picture 1) I cut them to 6 l/4" length. This was to accomodate the feet which go inside the tube and the wheels which fit on the outside of the tube. I cut the exisitng feet of the Happijac with my reciprocating saw. I drilled a hole in both the tube and the legg to hold a 1/2" hardened bolt that is also corrosion resistant in order to connect them together. I drilled another hole in the bottom of the tube so that either the foot or the wheel would fit. There are also rouond fittings that could possibly be used on other jacks in a similar way. To align my camper perfectly on my truck, I use a rubber mallet to help turn the wheels. In the open the wheels turn fairly well. They roll great even if they're not ball bearing wheels. Yesterday, when I took the camper off the truck, I lowered the wheels and turned them toward the back of the truck. I was able to easily pull the camper off the truck by myself while my wife watched to make sure I didn't turn into the truck with one of the jacks. The wheels quite easily.
Hope this helps you enjoy and keep camping.
Randy