Anyone ever seen this? Went to put the camper on yesterday and found my rear tie-down missing!!??!It would appear that the bracket that holds the tie-down in broke off at some point. It has a little rust on it BUT I had the camper on 3-ish weeks ago and didnt notice anything. That being said the bracket could have been broken at that point and the tie-down securely in the hitch still.I'm going to call Torklift on Monday. I dont expect them to do anything for me as I've had them for 8? years but I'm just curious if they have seen this before.I cant imagine how the bracket could have broken...bent yes, broken, clean off??? It would have been a 1 in a million hit!

I'm too lazy to go out in the garage and roll under my truck to look, but I'll run my mouth about it. Isn't it welded at the plate that bolts to the frame? Did it fail at the weld?

TxGearhead wrote:I'm too lazy to go out in the garage and roll under my truck to look, but I'll run my mouth about it. Isn't it welded at the plate that bolts to the frame? Did it fail at the weld?LOL! Thats all I'm doing too!Honestly it was pouring out yesterday and I didnt feel like rolling under the truck to check the one that is still there on the other side but it looks just like its bent not welded

I manufactured my rear tie-downs as could not justify $300 for something I can manufacture in less than 2 hr from the stuff I have in my garage. In my case I had enough of that hitch tubing sticking out to drill 1/4" hole for sliding pin. Since my tubing was 3" and I could not factory pins in this size, I bought couple of very long SS bolts, cut off the thread and drill small holes on the ends of cut bolts for cotter pins.

I had to get up to get my 2nd cup of coffee so I went to the garage and looked. Yes, it's welded to the "mounting plate", but only on one side! C'mon Torklift you have a great idea but need to improve the execution. Now to the important things in life...monitoring the lawn sprinklers for correct operation, and then watching the grass grow.edit add: Torklift will likely be sending both of us a private message or email Monday morning.

My house has cactus landscaping. Water is turned off at the meter when I travel.Now thinking how that bracket on OP could break - I assume the TL ties have some play in the hole and when you drive without the camper - they move up and down. Over the time the bracket gets metal fatigue.

Torklift tie-down have you seen this?? | Good Sam Community

Reddog1
Explorer II
Aug 06, 2017
Am I the only one that cannot see the photos?

Wayne
Powerdude
Explorer
Aug 06, 2017
If the frame mounted tie down bracket was installed correctly, there should be no play in it at all.

There is a little bit of play in the tie-down if it's not tensioned by the Fastguns. This usually occurs with the camper being off and the tie-down's left in.

I suppose long term they could rust and eventually break, but anything can anyway. Check for rust at the beginning of every season.
covered_wagon
Explorer
Aug 06, 2017
I gave my rears away because if you look at your receiver hitch it's a three way receiver. I went got square tubing to insert the left/ right receiver and it all done. No bolting.
av8rds
Explorer
Aug 06, 2017
A google/youtube check of part #3503 looks like they did that bracket several ways over the years. Mine appears to be the only one that is not welded to the tie-down. From what I saw yesterday its a separate piece(again from memory and quick glimpse) whereas pretty much everything I can find this morning online has it shaped different and welded to the tie-down.
av8rds
Explorer
Aug 06, 2017
TxGearhead wrote:
I had to get up to get my 2nd cup of coffee so I went to the garage and looked. Yes, it's welded to the "mounting plate", but only on one side! C'mon Torklift you have a great idea but need to improve the execution.
Now to the important things in life...monitoring the lawn sprinklers for correct operation, and then watching the grass grow.
edit add: Torklift will likely be sending both of us a private message or email Monday morning.

HA! they can email me! ;) I didnt say they did anything wrong and I'm not expecting them to help me(although I did see the tie-down has a 'lifetime' warranty).

I'm more just trying to figure out how it could have happened since I've been TC'ing since 2003 and never imagined this happening.
av8rds
Explorer
Aug 06, 2017
Kayteg1 wrote:
My house has cactus landscaping. Water is turned off at the meter when I travel.
Now thinking how that bracket on OP could break - I assume the TL ties have some play in the hole and when you drive without the camper - they move up and down. Over the time the bracket gets metal fatigue.

I couldnt find a good picture of that bracket to explain but I'm going to say 'probably not'.

The bracket really just hold the tie-down 'in' not 'down'.

My pic from yesterday is dark but you can kind of see how the only way it could break from being pressed by the tie-down would be if it went forward.
TxGearhead
Explorer II
Aug 06, 2017
congratulations I guess
Kayteg1
Explorer II
Aug 06, 2017
My house has cactus landscaping. Water is turned off at the meter when I travel.
Now thinking how that bracket on OP could break - I assume the TL ties have some play in the hole and when you drive without the camper - they move up and down. Over the time the bracket gets metal fatigue.
TxGearhead
Explorer II
Aug 06, 2017
I had to get up to get my 2nd cup of coffee so I went to the garage and looked. Yes, it's welded to the "mounting plate", but only on one side! C'mon Torklift you have a great idea but need to improve the execution.
Now to the important things in life...monitoring the lawn sprinklers for correct operation, and then watching the grass grow.
edit add: Torklift will likely be sending both of us a private message or email Monday morning.
Kayteg1
Explorer II
Aug 06, 2017
I manufactured my rear tie-downs as could not justify $300 for something I can manufacture in less than 2 hr from the stuff I have in my garage.
In my case I had enough of that hitch tubing sticking out to drill 1/4" hole for sliding pin. Since my tubing was 3" and I could not factory pins in this size, I bought couple of very long SS bolts, cut off the thread and drill small holes on the ends of cut bolts for cotter pins.

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Torklift tie-down have you seen this??

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