How was this one tied down before it flew off !
TC takes flight
Forum Discussion
I don't think we are getting the true story. Here's what I think happened and why;
The driver didn't attach the camper. Look at the tie downs on the truck. Those chains are welded on. Both rears are the same length. None of the anchor points were tweeked. It looks like they are designed and built that way; a few links welded to frame anchors. The frame anchors even look to be angled slightly downward to counter any flex when they are anchoring the camper when it is attached. The anchor ends where the chain is welded on is bare metal and not even rusted, suggesting it's freshly built. There is a sheet of plywood in the bed. THAT didn't blow out!
It looks like the road behind has a pretty significant curve to it the driver just drove through. With the camper just sitting in the bed on a sheet of relatively slippery plywood, it started to slide off while the driver was accelerating out of the turn, going down the road. The driver realized something was wrong, maybe he dozed off, turned his head, or was distracted by wildlife in the road and with the wheel still slightly turned to the curve in the road, wandered off onto the shoulder, causing the truck and camper to lean. Based on stock wheel/tire combo, the suspension is probably stock as well, causing even further lean. The driver made a hard correction to the left and with the camper in some stage of sliding off, camper tipped back and lifted above the wheel well. The camper was tipping one way due to the shoulder of the road angle, the truck pushing hard the other way and the bed gave way, the camper slid off, pushing on the rearward end of the bed side, bending that part more than the front, and slid to a stop. Look and you can just see the front jack folded back, indicating it slid on the road in a forward direction before stopping.
The camper tie down points would have ripped loose before a chain, all four in fact, snapped without any of the camper parts hanging or shown damaged in that photo.
Driver probably drove off in the dark, forgetting to attach the camper, got drowsy and drifted off the road and over corrected when he realized his mistake.
****EDIT****
I want to point out that it looks like the rear tail light was removed and some sort of gusset attached to the inside of the light's hole and the end of the tie down arm. The driver side light is removed as well, but I don't see the gusset from this angle.
The driver didn't attach the camper. Look at the tie downs on the truck. Those chains are welded on. Both rears are the same length. None of the anchor points were tweeked. It looks like they are designed and built that way; a few links welded to frame anchors. The frame anchors even look to be angled slightly downward to counter any flex when they are anchoring the camper when it is attached. The anchor ends where the chain is welded on is bare metal and not even rusted, suggesting it's freshly built. There is a sheet of plywood in the bed. THAT didn't blow out!
It looks like the road behind has a pretty significant curve to it the driver just drove through. With the camper just sitting in the bed on a sheet of relatively slippery plywood, it started to slide off while the driver was accelerating out of the turn, going down the road. The driver realized something was wrong, maybe he dozed off, turned his head, or was distracted by wildlife in the road and with the wheel still slightly turned to the curve in the road, wandered off onto the shoulder, causing the truck and camper to lean. Based on stock wheel/tire combo, the suspension is probably stock as well, causing even further lean. The driver made a hard correction to the left and with the camper in some stage of sliding off, camper tipped back and lifted above the wheel well. The camper was tipping one way due to the shoulder of the road angle, the truck pushing hard the other way and the bed gave way, the camper slid off, pushing on the rearward end of the bed side, bending that part more than the front, and slid to a stop. Look and you can just see the front jack folded back, indicating it slid on the road in a forward direction before stopping.
The camper tie down points would have ripped loose before a chain, all four in fact, snapped without any of the camper parts hanging or shown damaged in that photo.
Driver probably drove off in the dark, forgetting to attach the camper, got drowsy and drifted off the road and over corrected when he realized his mistake.
****EDIT****
I want to point out that it looks like the rear tail light was removed and some sort of gusset attached to the inside of the light's hole and the end of the tie down arm. The driver side light is removed as well, but I don't see the gusset from this angle.
