Forum Discussion

pjay9's avatar
pjay9
Explorer
May 15, 2015

Arctic Fox Torklift ISSUE! But it could happen to you!!

While my TC is being rebuilt I get to see other TC coming in with ISSUES!!!

This one has a strange metal bracket system that appears to be made by TorkLift!



It appears to be a steel contraption designed to strengthen tie down systems and to be ugly at the same time.





What has happened is that this after-market bracket has helped in the failure of the corner where the tie down is...I have to say it is not the primary cause as Arctic Fox contributed considerable due to poor design.



Note that there appears to be a thin layer of plywood with fibergalss skin and then backed by a 3/4" block for the tie down to be bolted in.



I can't believe it...wait seeing some of the S@#T that Lance did in building mine...maybe I am not that surprised!

What is the design engineer thinking...NOT THINKING!
Truck Campers
  • billtex's avatar
    billtex
    Explorer II
    May 18, 2015
    There's a couple of recent threads on here about the other Northwood brand that had similar failures.

    Safe to assume Northwood fixed this on the AF flagship line...don't know about their other brand as those reports are more recent. Maybe this would work for reinforcing those?

    Edit; Wolf Creek is the Northwood entry brand...(couldn't think of the name last night).
    Here is one of the threads.
  • kerry4951's avatar
    kerry4951
    Explorer
    May 17, 2015
    RamTC wrote:
    Northwood Mfg changed their tie down plate design in the 2005+ Arctic Fox Campers, it's now a non-issue.


    You bet its a non issue. I can vouch for that. Forgot to remove the right front (slide out side) Fastgun one time and raised the TC. The Torklift tie down arm bent but the TC tie down plate never budged. That was 5 years ago and its still just as solid as the day it arrived. I dont know how they anchor them today, but I can guarantee you its not a crappy method.
  • RamTC's avatar
    RamTC
    Explorer
    May 17, 2015
    Northwood Mfg changed their tie down plate design in the 2005+ Arctic Fox Campers, it's now a non-issue.
  • Boatycall's avatar
    Boatycall
    Explorer
    May 17, 2015
    I had an older Arctic Fox 1140 that had the exact same problem. That particular one was an '04. Arctic Fox in their infinite wisdom back then anchored that tie down to nothing but a sheet of plywood. There was nothing else in that corner, no framing, no solid piece of wood, nothing. IMHO it should be a factory recall, because it could fail going around a corner, and **whomp**, there goes your camper.
    My work around was to go from the weakest point on the camper to the strongest - I put eye-bolts on the camper jack brackets and used that as the tie-down mounting point.

    Then I made a much more permanent fix and got an Eagle Cap. ;-)
  • covered_wagon's avatar
    covered_wagon
    Explorer
    May 16, 2015
    Problem with the cheaper plywoods used in rvs. It's so porous and light weight it absorbs moisture like crazy. Dry rot prone just from high humidity in winter storage. It is not like the good structural plywoods available to framing contractors. Its different.
  • trail-explorer's avatar
    trail-explorer
    Explorer
    May 16, 2015
    THat appears to be a mid 2000s vintage AF, back when they were using Happijack jacks. (They use a different method of conencting to power, which I can see in one of the pics)

    Let's hope that design changes have occurred since the above camper was built.
  • SlideInDad's avatar
    SlideInDad
    Explorer
    May 16, 2015
    Back when I had my Arctic Fox 1150 I had all sorts of issues with my slide out and even had the slide out rip off the slide out rams. When I traded it in I was shown the problems with the AF design when it comes to where the camper tie downs are. Now I'm not saying that other mfg don't cut corners but seeing the issues with construction I'll never own a full wall slide out again, especially an 11.5' camper.
  • pjay9's avatar
    pjay9
    Explorer
    May 15, 2015
    I stand corrected...it does have a purpose...Clearance issues. Interesting! Still is ugly, couldn't it have been made from aluminum and not given the impression that you got to haul-in on those tie-downs! Operator error, maybe..but all contributing factors.
  • Bedlam's avatar
    Bedlam
    Moderator
    May 15, 2015
    That's a camper tie down relocation bracket used if your tie downs interfere with Dodge dually fenders at the stock locations. Torklift 7004

    http://www.torklift.com/documents/products/superhitch/dodgeDually.html

    I suspect that the camper was torqued down too much and this damage resulted. Bonding the two tie downs together would seem to make it stronger with the bracket and not be the cause of the damage.

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