Rules for Raising and Lowering Your
Northern Lite Truck Camper
One of the benefits of owning a Northern Lite truck camper is the ability to quickly and easily load and unload your camper in just about any location. In order to help raise and lower your camper, every Northern Lite truck camper comes equipped with 4 electric HappiJacs. Even though HappiJacs make the loading and unloading of a camper a fairly easy process, care is needed to ensure that everything is done safely to avoid personal injury or damaging equipment.
When loading and unloading your camper, you are moving a dynamic load weighing over 2000 lbs. No one jack has the ability to support the shifting weight of the camper exclusively if a disproportionate load is shifted onto it, as such it’s critical to always keep the load evenly distributed throughout the process.
The following are HappiJac’s “Golden Rules” that everyone should know when loading or unloading your Northern Lite truck camper.
Always:
- Always keep the front of the camper slightly higher than the back… approximately 2 to 3 inches.
- Always lower the camper to the ground, never support weight on fixed platforms when not on the truck unless sitting on a full 4’ x 8’ platform.
- Always ensure that the camper is clear of the truck bed when backing or pulling out.
- Always keep the camper level side to side. Special attention should be paid to rate of travel on each jack as this rate will vary with the difference in load on each corner.
- Always operate camper jacks within specified range of extension as defined by the manufacturer. Extended distance can be readily observed at all times by the imprinted ruler on the leg of all HappiJac camper jacks. Never go past the danger mark!
Never:
- Never allow the front of the camper to become lower than the back. Weight from the overhang can cause the camper to tip, shifting its weight exclusively to the front jacks.
- Never leave the camper in an elevated position supported by jacks.
- Never back into or turn into jacks.
- Never allow one side or corner of the camper to become more than 4" higher or lower than the other side. This can cause the weight of the camper to shift exclusively to the jacks on the lower side.
- Never extend a jack beyond its maximum height, as indicated by the red stop line on all Happijac camper jacks.
When loading and unloading your Northern Lite truck camper using the HappyJac lift system, following the Golden Rules listed above will keep you and your camper safe and sound allowing you and your family many years of happy adventures with your Northern Lite!
If you ever have any questions related to your Northern Lite truck camper or the HappyJac lift system, please contact us at info@northern-lite.com.