Loosening tie downs for off road TC'ing
In recent thread, a neat video was posted showing our truck camper members leaving their camping area and routing back out to the main roads. Gotta say I just love these "action" videos the members po...
Forum Discussion
I'm baaack. The last time I looked on here was before Christmas. Bro John and I with spouses are meeting in Death Valley on Monday for 8 days of frame twisting, tie down loosening fun. So, I thought I'd look on Roads and Routes for any info on the Trona-Wildrose road closure. Alex called me last hour and said it is definitely closed.
Here are a few facts about the physics of truck campers and their attendant trucks.
1. All truck frames flex. Fords flex more than Dodges. I don't know about Chevy. Long beds flex more than short beds. That longer arc and attendant leverage.
2. All truck beds, be they all metal standard pick up , or flat bed with boards or aluminum with cross members WILL flex, pulled right along with the FOUR bolts that tie the bed to the frame of the truck. Before i discovered the frame flexing/too tight tie down situation I actually pulled one of the four bolts right thru the anchor point,(pass side front) which points out where the stress is.
3. If the Truck Camper box is tied to the bed or frame of the truck too tightly it WILL eventually be pulled apart, little by little, only on undulating roads. Ifl you never get your axles twisted up, you are home free in this regard. This is painfully more true with older wooden frame campers. I have seen this with my own eyes on my Camper and on two Campers (on this forum) I've watched over time, one of which is owned by someone (who shall go nameless) who responded to this thread. Having spring loaded tie downs that have the spring load squeezed out of them do no good in this situation. Mine are spring loaded in front and for highway travel I keep them just snugged up to about 20 pound feet of torque (just a guess). Snug is the key. The rears, per Lance's engineers, and maybe bean counters, use the rear bumper as part of the increasing load tie down spring. I have gotten used to 'working' the tie downs to fit the road surface. If you never get your axles twisted up, you are home free in this regard. Go to another great thread on pivoting frames. Scroll to the bottom:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/25494-pivoting-frames-and-mounting-campers/page36?highlight=pivot
Do have a look at the entire thread. It's like nothing you have ever seen on here.
Your job is to mitigate the stress. How does that work? If I know the frame is going to be twisted up mightily, I'll jump out with my handy pair of 3/4" open end wrenches and loosen the rears. Again why the rears? There is much less weight on the rear jacks (at least on my puny little Lance) so it is easier for one end or the other of the rear of the camper box to 'lift' slightly, staying square and NOT follow the advice of the truck bed, the truck frame and those tinky, FOUR, 3/8" bolts holding the bed on, and NOT try to rack the camper box frame.
I have no qualms with those of you that have found other solutions.
I had a little saying in College. It went like this:
1. We know what we know.
2. We don't know what we don't know.
3. But, we don't know that we don't know what we don't know.
This also works when I look in the mirror.
regards, as always, jefe
Here are a few facts about the physics of truck campers and their attendant trucks.
1. All truck frames flex. Fords flex more than Dodges. I don't know about Chevy. Long beds flex more than short beds. That longer arc and attendant leverage.
2. All truck beds, be they all metal standard pick up , or flat bed with boards or aluminum with cross members WILL flex, pulled right along with the FOUR bolts that tie the bed to the frame of the truck. Before i discovered the frame flexing/too tight tie down situation I actually pulled one of the four bolts right thru the anchor point,(pass side front) which points out where the stress is.
3. If the Truck Camper box is tied to the bed or frame of the truck too tightly it WILL eventually be pulled apart, little by little, only on undulating roads. Ifl you never get your axles twisted up, you are home free in this regard. This is painfully more true with older wooden frame campers. I have seen this with my own eyes on my Camper and on two Campers (on this forum) I've watched over time, one of which is owned by someone (who shall go nameless) who responded to this thread. Having spring loaded tie downs that have the spring load squeezed out of them do no good in this situation. Mine are spring loaded in front and for highway travel I keep them just snugged up to about 20 pound feet of torque (just a guess). Snug is the key. The rears, per Lance's engineers, and maybe bean counters, use the rear bumper as part of the increasing load tie down spring. I have gotten used to 'working' the tie downs to fit the road surface. If you never get your axles twisted up, you are home free in this regard. Go to another great thread on pivoting frames. Scroll to the bottom:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/25494-pivoting-frames-and-mounting-campers/page36?highlight=pivot
Do have a look at the entire thread. It's like nothing you have ever seen on here.
Your job is to mitigate the stress. How does that work? If I know the frame is going to be twisted up mightily, I'll jump out with my handy pair of 3/4" open end wrenches and loosen the rears. Again why the rears? There is much less weight on the rear jacks (at least on my puny little Lance) so it is easier for one end or the other of the rear of the camper box to 'lift' slightly, staying square and NOT follow the advice of the truck bed, the truck frame and those tinky, FOUR, 3/8" bolts holding the bed on, and NOT try to rack the camper box frame.
I have no qualms with those of you that have found other solutions.
I had a little saying in College. It went like this:
1. We know what we know.
2. We don't know what we don't know.
3. But, we don't know that we don't know what we don't know.
This also works when I look in the mirror.
regards, as always, jefe
