Custom/DIY Truck Camper Tie Downs

Kayteg1 wrote:
Home Depot carries square tubings.
Sound like you are talking about front tie-downs, when as I mention, rears are 1-2 hr job.
Here is picture what I did. 3" sill washer from HD on the end.


Click For Full-Size Image.

Did you up-size the tube with a couple sections/sleeves of larger dia. tube or ?

And any reason for not going w/ the larger tube that fit the receiver tubes for the whole thing? Did you have the off cuts laying around or was the larger tube 10x the price?

OH! If you want to save a few bucks, you could paint them yourself.
Paint isn't structural.....unless it's my neighbours fence...... LOL!

"Since it appears that this is a simple project, I am considering this for next time. I am fairly handy but not a trained welder so I have a few questions."


-"Appears" being the key word. :)


"Where do I get the 3/8" stock? What specs do I need for the steel and how much will it cost?"

- Much to hard to say as it depends on your local suppliers. 3/8" plate is the thickness. You'll need an appropriate length and width too

"It looks like there is a lot of bending involved. What do I need for that? Heat sources? Vise? HD pliers? Hammers?"

-Again, without knowing what you are doing or where/what it's going, one can't say. You can get from 'A to B' via bends, welded joints or straight lines. You can bend hot or cold. Under a truck tire, in a vise, hydraulic bender, kerf cuts. You could cut out the 4 parts from flat plate and build the section.
Torch, pliers, hammer, clamps, vice, angle grinder, chopsaw, vicegrips, rules, angle gauge, Plasma cutter, TIG or MIG or Flux core, or Brazing, welding table to clamp fixtures to, etc,etc,etc,etc......

"I have no idea about welding but I guess I can find a friend with the gear."

-Or better yet, talk to a local fabricator/weldor.

"Design and fitting in very tight spaces seems to be a big issue. I guess the solution would be to make a prototype from 3/8 plywood?"

-Prototypes are always handy for getting things figured out without wasting the expensive stuff. (though with the $$$ of wood these days.... LOL)

"With all that is involved, it would seem that this would be about a 40 hour project. Does that sound about right?"

-No way of knowing. Depends on who's building it. How it's being fabricated. Quality of the design and build.

I'd highly suggest figuring out what you need. Either take your rig down to the local fabber or at least bring pic's. Explain what the pieces do and where they mount. Bring some pic's to show them examples. They'll give you a ball park $ and will need the rig for a few to do proper measurements and come up with a quote. They may have the materials in their off-cut pile and have done these before so it $ could be quite reasonable. Or, it's way out of their wheel house, they might have to get the material in special and it's gonna take them extra time to really figure out whats appropriate.
They may tell you it's going to be $1000. That'll be the 'we don't have time and/or the inclination to do this' But if you're willing to toss a grand at me, I'll come in on the weekend' price.
And when a client ask for a price, then asks how much if I help? I tell them "That'll be $400. If you help, it'll be $800...." If they want to tell me how to do it, it'll be $1600 and I'll have a bunch of paper work for them to sign and full, non-refundable payment up front. :)

Home Depot carries square tubings.
Sound like you are talking about front tie-downs, when as I mention, rears are 1-2 hr job.
Here is picture what I did. 3" sill washer from HD on the end.


Click For Full-Size Image.

Since it appears that this is a simple project, I am considering this for next time. I am fairly handy but not a trained welder so I have a few questions.

Where do I get the 3/8" stock? What specs do I need for the steel and how much will it cost?

It looks like there is a lot of bending involved. What do I need for that? Heat sources? Vise? HD pliers? Hammers?

I have no idea about welding but I guess I can find a friend with the gear.

Design and fitting in very tight spaces seems to be a big issue. I guess the solution would be to make a prototype from 3/8 plywood?

With all that is involved, it would seem that this would be about a 40 hour project. Does that sound about right?

burningman wrote:

Bert the Welder wrote:

burningman wrote:
Are you guys for real?
These are extremely simple metal fab, not rocket science.
I made my own and they’re a better fit for what I needed than anything Torklift makes, and easily as strong.
I’m not knocking Torklift, they make great stuff.
I’m knocking the people who think no one can or should do anything themself.

Sure. If someone can build a dog house, then they must be able to build a full size house. Makes sense.
So yeah, just go grab any old Harbor Fright welder and start blazing away. Beside, there's always a grinder and paint to make it 'look' good. :S

That’s not the comment I’d expect from a guy who calls himself Bert the Welder!
I didn’t say “if someone can build a dog house they can build a house”, it’s easy to try to make someone sound crazy by quoting things they never said.
Camper brackets - as you should know judging by your user name - are extremely simple. Seriously anyone with a Harbor Freight welder and a chopsaw could build them.
And sure, you could do a horrible job and scree them up.
You can also be a horrible driver and wreck the truck.

OK. You obviously are one of those guys.

First, where did I indicate I was quoting you?

Second, you 'wouldn't' expect a comment from a weldor on someone suggesting with no welding experience or training being told to weld up a critical component? Really? Who would you expect a comment on welding from? The lady at the coffee shop? Santa Claus?

Third. By calling something that hold thousands of pounds for the purpose of safety to all directly and indirectly involved "extremely simple"(now I am, indeed, quoting what you said...) has proven their own ignorance.

And again, to quote what you said, "And sure, you could do a horrible job and scree them up" Yeah, no big deal. Failure could only result in killing someone. Hopefully only the builder. But as these things go, good chance it'll be someone else that had no say in the matter. Maybe a whole family. But why should you care, right?

Many seem to be very concerned with the strength of the tiedowns at the truck. Take a good look at how lightweight the connection is at the camper. Tiedowns are only as strong as the weakest points.

Good ratchet straps solves everything and are inexpensive..




Lol

Bert the Welder wrote:

mi.drew wrote:
Belly bar clamped to the frame for the front. Tubing run through the frame cross member at the wheel well for rear.

"C" clamps or "F" clamps?

Umm how about "U" like those that holds your springs on but square..lol..Frame clamps...

Bert the Welder wrote:

burningman wrote:
Are you guys for real?
These are extremely simple metal fab, not rocket science.
I made my own and they’re a better fit for what I needed than anything Torklift makes, and easily as strong.
I’m not knocking Torklift, they make great stuff.
I’m knocking the people who think no one can or should do anything themself.

Sure. If someone can build a dog house, then they must be able to build a full size house. Makes sense.
So yeah, just go grab any old Harbor Fright welder and start blazing away. Beside, there's always a grinder and paint to make it 'look' good. :S

That’s not the comment I’d expect from a guy who calls himself Bert the Welder!
I didn’t say “if someone can build a dog house they can build a house”, it’s easy to try to make someone sound crazy by quoting things they never said.
Camper brackets - as you should know judging by your user name - are extremely simple. Seriously anyone with a Harbor Freight welder and a chopsaw could build them.
And sure, you could do a horrible job and scree them up.
You can also be a horrible driver and wreck the truck.