Torqlift Quick Release pins bent

Question

After my last trip from Grand Rapids back home thru a mess of snow and road crud from semi's passing I noticed by fast guns on opposite corners where tighter than usual. I thought is odd but felt the camper was secure.

Next day I removed the fast guns, and torqlift QP's and inserts. To my surprise two of the quick release pins where bent! :E

The Camper, a wolfcreek 850, had apparently had a pretty good shift at some point in the journey!!! I'm guessing by the time I found the "tight" fast guns the damage was done.

The camper rides on a rubber mat on a Linex sprayed bed. The rubber mat is not that thick, 3/4" maybe and not really that "grippy" in my opinion.

So my questions for ya'll are:

1) Would you make an adjust meant to the fast guns as soon as you find them tighter than usual?

2) Would you raise the camper and reposition immediately?

3) Would you re-use the bent pins? (I do have a couple from an old set.

4) How thick a bed mat are you using. I think I read on here somewhere that some were using a 1" horse stall mat and thought that might help to reduce movement.

Thanks for your time and input as I'm still a newbie in the hard side world and got this rig late fall and am trying hard to everything ready to roll for Spring!!!!

bb_94401 · Answer

During summer my TC didn't move much, but during wet or snowy weather it moved around a lot. At stops I'd readjust my Fastguns. My ultimate fix to stopping the TC moving was to make the frame below (insulation not shown). Frame also made loading the TC much easier. The TC university shows other frames you could make.

Prior to making the frame I tried an easy fix. I made foam blocks that filled up the space between the TC and the sides of the truck. They were 6" x 8" x 12" made from Owens Corning 2" thick, rigid extruded polystyrene foam insulation, Foamular 250. You can find the extruded polysytrene sheets at Home Depot, Lowes or some other builders supply companies. I used low volatile organic content (Low VOC) contact cement to make the blocks. I used two blocks on each side of the TC. They stopped the movement.

The only problem was that I had to have the TC loaded just right, or wait until it shifted to the side with the blocks, before I could install the last two blocks.

The lock pins (below) for the TL tie down receivers can be found at most hardware stores. I carry extras in the TC.

anev942 · Answer

My pins are bent-they haven't bent any more, have been like this for years. Just the slight rotation of extension in the receiver bends them. Doesn't take much to bend the 1/4"? pins.

When I originally installed the T/Ls the rear extension and receivers used considerably larger pins, not 1/2" but standard hitch bar pins. The fronts came with the 1/4"-never had a problem. The replacement rear arms & mounts (when I swapped out factory hitch) came with the smaller pins, 1st trip out they bent. But as (not paying attention) the pins get swapped around so they are all now bent.

Unless you orient them differently when installing, causing them to bend in opposite directions shouldn't be a problem IMO and more than likly new ones will bend. If I ever get the urge to lay on my back and want to drill sideways match drillin I would redrill for larger pins, but I dont think an issue. All they really do is hold the arms in reciever, no real in/out loads, rotational is contained by tubes and the pins just yield to how much.

yes If I note tiedowns too tight on one side I readjust all, Ive never repositioned camper though. Our mat maybe 3/8"-

Oh thats a K not Q :)

ramblin__ralph · Answer

AnEv942 wrote:My pins are bent-they haven't bent any more, have been like this for years.Ditto.  Got almost 80K miles on mine so far.

mello_mike · Answer

Exlporer wrote:After my last trip from Grand Rapids back home thru a mess of snow and road crud from semi's passing I noticed by fast guns on opposite corners where tighter than usual.  I thought is odd but felt the camper was secure.Next day I removed the fast guns, and torqlift QP's and inserts. To my surprise two of the quick release pins where bent!  :EThe Camper, a wolfcreek 850, had apparently had a pretty good shift at some point in the journey!!!  I'm guessing by the time I found the "tight" fast guns the damage was done.The camper rides on a rubber mat on a Linex sprayed bed.  The rubber mat is not that thick, 3/4" maybe and not really that "grippy" in my opinion.So my questions for ya'll are:1)  Would you make an adjust meant to the fast guns as soon as you find them tighter than usual?2)  Would you raise the camper and reposition immediately?3)  Would you re-use the bent pins?  (I do have a couple from an old set.4)  How thick a bed mat are you using.  I think I read on here somewhere that some were using a 1" horse stall mat and thought that might help to reduce movement.Thanks for your time and input as I'm still a newbie in the hard side world and got this rig late fall and am trying hard to everything ready to roll for Spring!!!!You may want to get a bed mat that grips better. I was using a set of Home Depot rubber anti-fatigue mats for a while but they didn't grip enough (especially when wet) so I recently went with a thicker, somewhat softer bed mat made especially for my truck. The camper now stays put much better when going off-road. As for the amount of movement by the TC, it depends on how much. A shift of an inch probably isn't enough to worry about, but more than that may require that you reposition it.

msiminoff · Answer

1) Would you make an adjust meant to the fast guns as soon as you find them tighter than usual?
Yes, FastGuns are so easy to adjust that I would readjust mine as soon as I noticed that they were excessively loose or tight.

2) Would you raise the camper and reposition immediately?
The answer would depend upon how much my TC had moved. If it were a small shift to the right or left then I wouldn't bother, but if the TC was not parallel to (and in contact with) the front rail of the truck bed then I would correct it immediately.

3) Would you re-use the bent pins? (I do have a couple from an old set.
My pins were bent after their first use. This is because the inner square tube can rotate slightly inside the outer tube. I have never straightened mine (I do carry spares). Honestly, a better solution to the bending issue would be to slot the holes of the inner tube so that the pins are not stressed when the tube rotates.

4) How thick a bed mat are you using. I think I read on here somewhere that some were using a 1" horse stall mat and thought that might help to reduce movement.
I have a regular truck bed mat over Line-X. With everything adjusted correctly I don't notice any movement (of course there must be some due to flexing of the truck bed & frame). I have only had significant movement of my camper move once… and at the time I was using Happijack turnbuckles which were not as easy to adjust (note: I blame this on operator error, not on the turnbuckles).

Cheers,
-Mark

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Torqlift Quick Release pins bent

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