New Ram dually vs. Torklifts vs. Bigfoot

[TxGearhead]

It has been a frustrating morning. I decided to load the Bigfoot on the new Ram. Not much issue backing under it, went on fairly easy. Maybe an inch both sides between the fenders and the jacks. Set it down and started putting the Fast guns on. The fronts were against the body. No way that would work. Tried the rears, no way, and inflicted the first damage to the truck paint. The Torklift tie downs were all the way out...pins in the inboard holes. Well this ain't ever going to work. Guess I'll cancel my fishing trip. I needed to get the FastGuns further out from truck. Not much of a way to do that to the Torklifts, so I needed a way to extend the Bigfoot tie downs outward. I used a 7/16" machinery eye bolt on each Bigfoot tiedown. It is a no-no in the turbo machinery world to pull sideways on an eye bolt. But the BIgfoot isn't a 20,000# turbine rotor. The eye bolts are forged and have a good shoulder. These aren't WalMart eye bolts to hang a picture. It worked. Gave me about an inch clearance off the truck bed. Just took a 10 mile ride to top off the diesel and all seems well. I'll call Torklift and see if they have any other ideas.
Of course y'all are welcome to opine.......

[TxGearhead]

I'm going to have to think about this. I never expected to have to be within .500 inch side to side. I guess a wooden guide captured in the rear of the truck will work. Maybe cover with Astroturf or similar.

[jimh406]

Glad you got it working.

[TxGearhead]

Well I figured out what was going on. I went to the passenger side first and turned the Fastguns upside down. Hey I have plenty of clearance now. So I removed the eyebolts and still had plenty. Assumed I would do the same on the drivers side. Uh, no. Not enough clearance. I put the eyebolts on the Torklifts and had enough clearance, barely. WTH is going on? Oh you dumb butt, I looked at the tailgate opening....an inch+ on one side and almost against it on the other. That explains it. I never had to be concerned with the SRW, if it was in the bed it was OK. I've got 500 miles to the fishing hole tomorrow. If it wasn't about to pour down rain here, I would jack the camper up and center it. I'll drive it as is and probably center it at the campground or maybe when I get home. I might make me a wooden "guide" to center it better.
Thanks again for y'alls help.

[Bedlam]

Thank you - That was item I was describing. It has worked for others with large fender flares but my setup needs to actually run the Fastguns out at a greater angle to gain the clearance I require.

[Troutguy]

https://www.torklift.com/rv/camper-anchor-relocation-repair-kit

Sometimes this clickable link stuff works for me....sometimes not....Sorry.

I think that this is what Bedlam was referring to.

[Bedlam]

One other option is a product from a Torklift that relocates the camper tie downs farther from the flared fenders. The Fastguns then have modified camper anchor point. Search for this product and let me know if you cannot find it. My phone makes it harder to post links and pictures, so you would have to wait until I could get on a laptop.

[HMS_Beagle]

Cantilevering out from the Bigfoot tie downs is structurally questionable in my opinion. These are meant to be pulled on straight down, or a little forward or aft of straight down. The bolt sticking out will try to twist them, if you take a look at the mountings inside, they are not designed to resist that. I'd do modifications to the Torklifts to make it work. That steel is more robust, and you can see its condition at any time to see if you are overloading. They're already cantilevered, you're just extending it a little.

I've admired those curvy Dodge fenders compared to my bulbous Ford ones, but now, maybe not so much....

[TxGearhead]

^^Yeah Bedlam I already have a soft camper tie down. Swapping the eyebolts and turning the FastGuns upside down may help.
Another good idea...Thanks to all.
I got pretty dehydrated in yesterdays heat and frustrated worse. Not a good day.

[Bedlam]

On my flat bed, I mounted the Fastguns upside down and outboard of the rub rails to clear my storage boxes under the wings. When I tried to mount eyebolts to camper tie downs, they were defecting inboard more each time I drove.

[TxGearhead]

^^^I'll try that. I'm thinking the angle won't be enough to give me needed clearance under the Bigfoot though.
I'll learn how to post pics here someday...

[Bedlam]

TxGearhead wrote:
It has been a frustrating morning. I decided to load the Bigfoot on the new Ram. Not much issue backing under it, went on fairly easy. Maybe an inch both sides between the fenders and the jacks. Set it down and started putting the Fast guns on. The fronts were against the body. No way that would work. Tried the rears, no way, and inflicted the first damage to the truck paint. The Torklift tie downs were all the way out...pins in the inboard holes. Well this ain't ever going to work. Guess I'll cancel my fishing trip. I needed to get the FastGuns further out from truck. Not much of a way to do that to the Torklifts, so I needed a way to extend the Bigfoot tie downs outward. I used a 7/16" machinery eye bolt on each Bigfoot tiedown. It is a no-no in the turbo machinery world to pull sideways on an eye bolt. But the BIgfoot isn't a 20,000# turbine rotor. The eye bolts are forged and have a good shoulder. These aren't WalMart eye bolts to hang a picture. It worked. Gave me about an inch clearance off the truck bed. Just took a 10 mile ride to top off the diesel and all seems well. I'll call Torklift and see if they have any other ideas.
Of course y'all are welcome to opine.......

Put the eye bolts on the Torklift tie downs instead of on the camper anchors.

[3_tons]

Troutguy wrote:

Faststreak wrote:
Waiting for my super hitch and tie downs to come in. Will my fastguns clear on my new 2018 Ram dually and host cascade?

They should clear without any problems. I just installed new Torklifts all the way around on
my 18’ RAM Dually last week and my Arctic Fox 811 fits fine and it’s probably the same width as your Cascade. And yes I used a new SuperHitch also.

TG

I agree, should be just fine...

[TxGearhead]

^^^Long box

[Troutguy]

TxGearhead wrote:

jimh425 wrote:
Is it possible the TL mounts are are the wrong sides? Pictures would help.

The frame mounts or the extensions? The front frame mounts are new....different from the 2016 SRW. Pretty sure they are right. The rear frame mounts were the same. The extensions....the old ones for the rear have the labels on the ends for "drivers front", etc. The new extensions look exactly the same, but didn't come with labels. I think all that is good. I think the Bigfoot just happens to have hold down eyes that are more inboard than others.

How wide is your Bigfoot? My AF is 96+ inches wide and on an 18’ RAM 3500 DRW and has enough clearance from the wide sweeping sheet metal. Torklift does sell extension brackets that fit on your camper body brackets, although I’ve not seen them in person.
Is your 9.4 Bigfoot a long-box or short-box model?