Wolf Creek 850 roll over story
Well, Since I opened this can of worms here is the entire story. First let me say I have been a long time truck camper owner and I am no rookie. I have gone trough several truck campers. I recent...
Forum Discussion
I don't believe anyone is questioning the various attachment point on the trucks. Usually we are talking steel to steel and welded or bolted fix points.
The issue is the camper fixment. Steel to plywood and wood screws......Wood screws and plywood are going to lose everytime!
I have to believe that for all concerned, the camper should stay with the truck no matter the condition. I'd hate to have a camper fall out of a truck in front of me on the highway. Or worse, the truck going one out of control direction and the camper in another. Now I have two "targets" to avoid.
One other engineering point, once you lose one side of the campers tiedowns, the other side is trying to pull the camper over, especially if there is lots of tension on the tie-down on that side and the attachment points are some distance from the camper's moment arm.
Here is my synopsis....The truck hit a big bump, the rear turnbuckle detached as the camper shifted up and down. (I've seen this happen many times with tie down straps that have "open hooks" holding motorcycles down on a trailer)
Once the rear tie down was compromised, the front tie down took all the force and the camper failed.
But I would thing that these campers should be engineered for any one tie down to hold the entire camper secure.
If the rear tie down was a solid turnbuckle, without benefit of chain, when the truck flexed it would be very easy for the "hook" to unhook. A piece of chain in the system might have alleviated this. With motorcycle straps we always wire tie the hooks to the hold down points so they never dis-connect.
The issue is the camper fixment. Steel to plywood and wood screws......Wood screws and plywood are going to lose everytime!
I have to believe that for all concerned, the camper should stay with the truck no matter the condition. I'd hate to have a camper fall out of a truck in front of me on the highway. Or worse, the truck going one out of control direction and the camper in another. Now I have two "targets" to avoid.
One other engineering point, once you lose one side of the campers tiedowns, the other side is trying to pull the camper over, especially if there is lots of tension on the tie-down on that side and the attachment points are some distance from the camper's moment arm.
Here is my synopsis....The truck hit a big bump, the rear turnbuckle detached as the camper shifted up and down. (I've seen this happen many times with tie down straps that have "open hooks" holding motorcycles down on a trailer)
Once the rear tie down was compromised, the front tie down took all the force and the camper failed.
But I would thing that these campers should be engineered for any one tie down to hold the entire camper secure.
If the rear tie down was a solid turnbuckle, without benefit of chain, when the truck flexed it would be very easy for the "hook" to unhook. A piece of chain in the system might have alleviated this. With motorcycle straps we always wire tie the hooks to the hold down points so they never dis-connect.
