Mystery Damage to my truck. From the camper??
I originally thought this was from my camper. I have absolutely no clue. I made a video in hopes someone would know what caused this. https://youtu.be/djhJfPwoNlA MNBen
Forum Discussion
I prefer to block the camper from lateral movement at the bottom of it's frame where it sits on the bed and allow some vertical movement through spring loaded tie downs.
My F-350 is a bit of a flexi frame compared to my Dodge 3500 so I like to have the camper not ferociously tied down at the corners so when the truck frame racks a bit crossing ditches and such during light off roading the vertical force is not applied to the caamper which is trying to be a stiff box and maintain it's shape. I have actually released the rear two tie downs on a section of little wash crossings on the diagonal to get to a camp spot. The bed actually seperated from the bottom of the camper momentarily as the truck flexed through the spots.
My side box blocking holds the camper side to side but it can float away from the bed a bit if it has to.
If you never articulate your truck over anything more severe than a gas station approach then horsing down on all 4 corners of the camper is probably ok and triangles are better. I'm always wanting to drive across a forest road drain ditch or a wash or something to see what's over there...
In a pickup I'm still in the camp that says the camper needs to be blocked at the bottom to keep it from moving side to side or forward.
My F-350 is a bit of a flexi frame compared to my Dodge 3500 so I like to have the camper not ferociously tied down at the corners so when the truck frame racks a bit crossing ditches and such during light off roading the vertical force is not applied to the caamper which is trying to be a stiff box and maintain it's shape. I have actually released the rear two tie downs on a section of little wash crossings on the diagonal to get to a camp spot. The bed actually seperated from the bottom of the camper momentarily as the truck flexed through the spots.
My side box blocking holds the camper side to side but it can float away from the bed a bit if it has to.
If you never articulate your truck over anything more severe than a gas station approach then horsing down on all 4 corners of the camper is probably ok and triangles are better. I'm always wanting to drive across a forest road drain ditch or a wash or something to see what's over there...
In a pickup I'm still in the camp that says the camper needs to be blocked at the bottom to keep it from moving side to side or forward.
