Wolf Creek 850 roll over story

Because the bent rear bumper (i.e. disconnected rear tie down) likely contributed to the front failing.

Despite our friends at Happijac's comments, this is a weak point with their system and a very strong point with TorkLift. The rear bumper of so many new trucks is weak and easily bends. TorkLift would not bend as easily. I have had both systems and the little HJ buttons on the bumper are not a tie down worth wasting time with. Lance, in a recent brochure had a pic of one of their campers using a system that was not HJ.


What needs to be seen here is the condition of the other tie down on the same side of the camper. In one of the pics that tie down can be viewed and from the distance of the picutre appears to not have been pulled out of the bottom of the camper. If that is the case, then the tie down tension probably came loose on a bump and the entire wind gust load was absorbed by the remaining tie down and that failed. While Absolute Northwood can do better, the failure might not have occured if what contributed to it was a loose or no longer connected same side tie down. If the second tie down also pulled out of the bottom of the camper (it appears that it did not) then the design is flawed as there was tension on that tie down throughout the episode. If that was the case both most likely would have pulled out of the camper bottom. A 60 mph gust hitting a truck going 25 mph could easily be a relative wind gust of 70 or more miles per hour. That would get the attention of any cabover camper driver. It would be interesting to learn of the wind direction, constant wind speed, and estimated wind speed in gusts. In one pic the real estate is blowing and where I live that indicates a wind speed of around 45-50 mph or better. It is amazing the truck escaped with so little damage. It appears that it can be driven home.