sleepy wrote:
Reddog1 wrote:
Is there anyone that think there would have been a better outcome if the TC would have stayed attached to the Truck? Think about it, the truck would have been on its side, kids and all.
I do offer a disclaimer, I have a stable lift. By design, the lower hoop sandwiches the truck bed and frame between the lower hoop and TC. Tie-downs other than the Stable-Lift are not used, although they could be. I do not have a Wolf Creek TC. I have owned numerous TCs, since about 1972. My point is, I have nothing to defend, gain or loose in this discussion.
Wayne
I agree with you completely about the camper seperation.
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And,
I'd like to say that I have repaired or helped repair severl Truck Camper tie down systems over the years.
In each case the problem was the attachment bracket attached to the camper wings.
The damage incured was what I call Speed Bump Damage.
If you hit a speed bump hard enough for your camper to start bouncing or porporsing it can tear the tiedown bracket off the wings of the camper.
IT makes no difference what kind of tiedowns that you use.
If it isn't immediately apparent and you have a stress related incident later like wind, rough roads, hard braking, etc you'llthink that the latest incident caused all of the problem.
If I remember correctly... the OP's campers attachment bracket probably failed first... possibly starting the chain of events that we see in the pictures upside down in the road.
It had nothing to do with the tie downs them selves... no matter what type tie downs the failure started in the campers attachment bracket tear out.
My thoughts run along the same lines as the above quotes . It must have been some kind of special sheer wind to just catch the top of the camper and hardly feel it in the truck . With that kind of leverage it might have taken the truck with it if the mounts didn't fail . Keep in mind the tiedowns are only rated for about 300# each , not a lot for a 4000# load . It seems like you experienced the " Perfect Storm " . Glad to hear all are OK .