Brophy Tie Downs?

[BurbMan]

Guys, anyone use the Brophy Universal Tie Downs?

Says they are universal and fit in the stake pockets of the bed. Also a fraction of the price of the Tork Lifts.

Are these any good or is TL the only way to go?

[silverbullet555]

Just bought a camper today that came with these. I'll use them to get the camper home. Torklifts will get installed I think.

[BurbMan]

Good point about the truck beds. I'm planning on a set of TLs at this point.

[GWolfe]

I use the clamp on Brophys for my little pop up camper, they're OK. I would prefer Happijacks or TL but am waiting till I upgrade trucks.

[deltabravo]

BurbMan wrote:
Are these any good or is TL the only way to go?

Torklift.

The stake pocket tiedowns worked well back in the 80s and 90s when truck truck beds were built substantially stronger (with heavier guage steel) than they are today.

I'd never consider carrying a Lance, Arctic Fox, or any hard wall, full size camper using stake pocket tiedowns.

[Bedlam]

It is easy to move the inserts between trucks, but the actual mounts are very specific so they can be a no drill or weld application for your model and year truck. I left the tie downs and receiver on my F250 when I bought the 5500 rather than trying to find a buyer, but I did keep the turnbuckles and receiver extension. Get the model number of the install kit you need and search the local and national ads to see if you get any hits.

[Kayteg1]

Good luck finding used ties for newer truck.
As much as I hated to pay for TL, I did for front, when fabricating easy rear ties myself.

[jimh406]

Yes, you can find TLs used on CL. I’ve never gone that route, but others here have.

[BurbMan]

I was Googling around and found a set of the Brophys on CL for $65. My TC is 3017 wet weight and my first thought was the same, that frame mounted would be better. Since I'm the newbie here, I thought I would ask in case I was barking up the wrong tree. Thanks for the input guys.

Since the TL are truck-specific can you ever find them used or do they mostly just get sold with the camper?

[sljohnson1938]

this is great. yesterday while moving stuff around i found the similar tie downs. i had them on my first 3 truck campers, of course the TC in those days were much smaller, not nearly as heavy back then. i would never use them on todays, heavier TC. They are at least 40 years old. was going to throw them away, but who knows.

[otrfun]

For what they are, the Brophys are a decent product. They're definitely tempting at $173 for a set of 4. Key thing to keep in mind: the Brophys mount to (and are only as strong as) the thin sheet metal in the truck's bed. Might be an acceptable option for a very light in-bed camper.

Torklift frame tie-downs are fabricated with 1/4" and thicker steel plates. Most importantly, they're mounted and secured directly to the frame of the truck. Another plus, you can remove the extensions (in seconds) so there's very little visible when the camper is off the truck. Downside, they cost $700-$800 for a set of 4.

[Kayteg1]

I see you have Ram listed in your profile?
I used Ram's bed from 2000's and that thing was cracking like crazy.
Had to reweld it several times just to hold it together.
Would I want my camper attached to it > NO WAY

[AnEv942]

Happijac would be another option.
https://happijac.com/tie-downs.html
Not sure the Brophys adequate for weight of your Lance

[Grit_dog]

Haven't used them. Considered them when we got the first camper because they were cheaper.
I'm sure they work, but I've found its pretty easy to bend the top lip and top of bed rail on newer trucks. Just the J bolts that attach tool boxes bend the top bed rail. I anticipated damage to the bed with these and went with frame mounts. Also appeared to not allow a long enough connection to get any sort of spring loaded connection in the turnbuckle/chain assembly.
Older truck and/or small camper, maybe, IMO. New truck with fragile thin sheetmetal and a big camper, not so much.

JMO.

Similar with Happijacs. I'd consider the front Happijac mounts to be secure and would use them based on how they distribute the load, but I'd never use the bumper buttons if I wanted to keep my bumper straight. The old 86 Chevy we just bought has one side of the bumper tweaked from HJ mounts and it's a real bumper. Newer bumpers are tin cans comparatively.

TL, while expensive also offer the best angle/location for mounting. The bed and bumper mounts require much larger angles between the camper and the tiedown, which structurally puts more/different stresses on the camper brackets AND is continually "pulling" on the truck bed vs the frame.

I think in this case, you truly get what you pay for.