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Torklift fronts and Happijac rear?

kjenckes
Explorer
Explorer
I have been hauling my Lance 820 on my 97 F250 with Happijac mounts. I have a 2013 GMC 3500 that I just bought. I like the idea of the Torklift front mounts better. I am wondering if anyone here has used the Torklift fronts and the Happijac buttons on the rear. The obvious benefit to this is price. Anyone here done this? Why? Any regrets? Would you do it differently next time?

Thanks,

Kevin
1996 Ford F250 Crew Cab 7.3PSD 445,000 miles!
6/1 springs
3400# tires

2005 Lance 820
Solar, Generator, AC

1997 Ranger 487 Bass Boat
Too much stuff to list
14 REPLIES 14

Torklift
Explorer
Explorer
kjenckes wrote:
Thanks everyone. I went with..... Torklift front and rear. I installed them this morning. Saving $250 on HappiJac bumper buttons was very tempting, I mean, I had them on my 96 F250 and was happy with them right? I looked this all over. I grabbed my 96 rear bumper and pulled, and pushed, and pulled some more. Nope, didn't budge. I grabbed the 2013 GMC rear bumper. I hope it holds if I get rear ended. Yup, it moved rather easily.

Thanks to Andrew at Torklift for some excellent customer service. He probably thought I'm an ignorant dumb--s but very politely explained to me how to fish the bolt fish wire for the front mounts. That took longer than installing them. Maybe 15 minutes each side. The rears were more challenging. The driver's side- 15 minutes. Easy-peasy. Passenger's side? Ummm no. The rears have 4 mounting holes. 2 go to the holes in the bottom of the spring shackles and 2 are GMC OEM frame bolts. 1 of the shackle bolts wouldn't feed so I had to take a small trip and buy a 1 1/2" to use instead of the supplied 2". Now easy-peasy.

I love the look and they are super steady. If you don't know what you are looking at you don't even see them.


Thank you so much for sharing this review about our buddy Andrew, he works very hard to do a good job for our customers. We always watch these forums in order to find opportunities to help our customers but we are also looking for opportunities to honor our team when we can. Every time we see someone share a nice report about one of our team members, we buy them lunch. Thank you for helping us buy Andrew some lunch!
Towing, Tie Downs, Suspension, Steps
Your Torklift Team!
Call us direct at 1-800-246-8132
support@torklift.com

kjenckes
Explorer
Explorer
Thanks everyone. I went with..... Torklift front and rear. I installed them this morning. Saving $250 on HappiJac bumper buttons was very tempting, I mean, I had them on my 96 F250 and was happy with them right? I looked this all over. I grabbed my 96 rear bumper and pulled, and pushed, and pulled some more. Nope, didn't budge. I grabbed the 2013 GMC rear bumper. I hope it holds if I get rear ended. Yup, it moved rather easily.

Thanks to Andrew at Torklift for some excellent customer service. He probably thought I'm an ignorant dumb--s but very politely explained to me how to fish the bolt fish wire for the front mounts. That took longer than installing them. Maybe 15 minutes each side. The rears were more challenging. The driver's side- 15 minutes. Easy-peasy. Passenger's side? Ummm no. The rears have 4 mounting holes. 2 go to the holes in the bottom of the spring shackles and 2 are GMC OEM frame bolts. 1 of the shackle bolts wouldn't feed so I had to take a small trip and buy a 1 1/2" to use instead of the supplied 2". Now easy-peasy.

I love the look and they are super steady. If you don't know what you are looking at you don't even see them.
1996 Ford F250 Crew Cab 7.3PSD 445,000 miles!
6/1 springs
3400# tires

2005 Lance 820
Solar, Generator, AC

1997 Ranger 487 Bass Boat
Too much stuff to list

northshore
Explorer
Explorer
I had happijacks on my old camper front and rear, when I installed the bumper buttons and put the turn buckle on them the first time, I thought that dang bumper isn't much to write home about, but I used them and never had a problem, the old camper never moved, stayed right where it was suppose to, never shifting at all. When I gave the camper to my grandson we put the buttons on his truck, never a problem.
I say go for it, you can always go to the expensive torque lift ones any time you want to, or feel the need.

ajriding
Explorer
Explorer
kjenckes wrote:
Th… it might hit my fender on 1 side and exhaust on the other. The torklift bracket sits forward just enough to clear. I'm leaning to front and back torklift because I am nervous about the rear bumper. …on.


For the rear, if you are mounting the Torklift to a receiver hitch, you can rotate the Torklift mount forward or back to get it angled exactly how you need it to sit. I did this on my Ram to keep it as close to the body without hitting, high enough to be mostly above the exhaust and still at a good angle to hold the camper properly.


I rotated it just 8-10 degrees back, clockwise. Don't think it has to be bolted in exactly square to everything, it does not.


This makes it sit closer to the body than if I had mounted it square and level. Closer means higher and more out of the way for any off-roading encounters with rocks, and also less visible hanging out under the truck… cleaner lines.
Mounting it square-up would have put the bracket exactly in the exhaust stream, much lower.
Is hard to see, but the bracket is just barely missing the body, I gave just enough room for it to flex up and not touch.


This is with the bracket clamped on in a mock trial all squared up as most will mount it, directly in the exhaust and several inches lower.

devildog1971
Explorer
Explorer
I did the same thing on a 05 dodge with a winter creek camper that weighted over 5000 lbs. this time when I bought the new camper the dealer said it would void my warranty, not sure how that would affect a refrigerator
2019 Northern Lite 10-2 EXCDSE Dry Bath 2007 G M C dually crew cab and 2018 Harley Davidson Limited Low

Kayteg1
Explorer
Explorer
The days of strong bumpers are over.
My father had 69 Buick Riviera, where emergency jack had low hook and could be used on factory bumper at ANY POINT.
It would lift whole front or whole rear by single point on the bumper.
Still if you have the hitch -there is not much into making your own rear tie-down for much less than $300.

kjenckes
Explorer
Explorer
Thanks everyone for your input. There doesn't seem to be a wrong answer to this which clears my thinking like mud. Ha. I looked at doing a bar out of the end of my hitch like suggested but it looks like it might hit my fender on 1 side and exhaust on the other. The torklift bracket sits forward just enough to clear. I'm leaning to front and back torklift because I am nervous about the rear bumper. I don't mind bending, and replacing, a bracket but not a bumper. My 96 F250's bumper doesn't seem any worse for the wear but who knows what the difference in materials are now. Thanks everyone for your input. I'll post back in a few days when I make my decision.
1996 Ford F250 Crew Cab 7.3PSD 445,000 miles!
6/1 springs
3400# tires

2005 Lance 820
Solar, Generator, AC

1997 Ranger 487 Bass Boat
Too much stuff to list

mdpay
Explorer
Explorer
I have happijac front and torklift rear. The rears tie nicely into my torklift trailer hitch. I wanted the happijac front because it has some forward "pull" compared to the straight down front torklifts. I use the torklift fastguns at all 4 corners. No problems.
2012 Chevy 3500HD, D/A, CC, 4x4
2014 Lance 1181
Rancho 9000, Torklift Stableloads, Hellwig Big Wig, Happijac front tie, Torklift rear tie
Torklift Fastguns, Torklift SuperHitch 42", Lance cabover struts

stevenal
Nomad
Nomad
One camper ago and two trucks ago, I went the other way. When the Happijac button attachments bent the bumper, I installed Torklifts on the back. I think HJ has bumper reinforcement brackets now.
'18 Bigfoot 1500 Torklifts and Fastguns
'17 F350 Powerstroke Supercab SRW LB 4X4

Kayteg1
Explorer
Explorer
ajriding wrote:
..The Torklift attachment point for the chain seems to have a built-in break point. I have not heard an answer for this, but where the chain attaches has a slit instead of a closed continuos hole...


1 of the members reported "testing" the break point on speed bumps.
It is tie-down tubing that bends where it enters heavier extension.
My home made rear tie down bend somewhere on 7000 miles trip as well and I am happy the weak point is actually bending, not breaking point.
Obviously that all assuming you don't have dryrot on camper holds.

ajriding
Explorer
Explorer
The front two mount points (nearer center of gravity) is all you need to hold the TC secure from wobbling out… up to a point. That point is rarely encountered; it is the point the forces of tilting out are enough to bend the Torklift mounts or the truck frame, or pull the tie-down points out of the camper.

Having the rear tied down doubles the strength.

Attaching to the bumper instead of the frame is only as good as how much the bumper can resist twisting or bending under the tilting loads.

Bouncing down off-road trails, or extreme highway maneuvers or other unforeseen events is what it takes to stress these points.

The other thing these mounts accomplish is to secure the load fore/aft. Torklift will suggest that the angle of the front chain to the rear chain oppose each other (one pulls camper forward, the other pulls the camper to the rear). Can you do this with the bumper mount?

Considering a bumper I would compare the steel bumper to the 2 inch square tube of any/all the aftermarket frame mounts. Which is stronger, a 2 inch tube or a 7 inch tall steel c-shaped bumper? This assumes that the "button" is not the weak link.

Also, along these lines, what component do you want to fail first if things do go south? Namely, your bumper or some attachment that is held in with a pin? Likely the Torklift insert is the cheapest and most easy to replace.

The benefit of the Torklift is that there is a level of protection for the truck.

The Torklift attachment point for the chain seems to have a built-in break point. I have not heard an answer for this, but where the chain attaches has a slit instead of a closed continuos hole. This slit would seem to be intended to let the chain/hook rip out under a pre-calculated amount of tension. Here is the weak link.

I think, that yes, the buttons are just fine under more than 99% of all situations, and even more suited for lighter TCs. If you have a particularity heavy TC I would settle for nothing less than a well-built frame mounting system on all 4 corners though.

For the Lance 820 I see weights ranging from 2,400 to 2,800 lbs dry, which means add another 600-1,000lbs for it loaded and wet. That would be on the middle to heavy side, though some TC can approach 5k…

joerg68
Nomad II
Nomad II
I had that setup on my 2008 Silverado with a relatively small
Lance 915 and an Outfitter Apex 8.
It worked fine in the 7 years I ran this setup. There was no problem, except that the quality of the chrome on the HJ buttons wasn't great.
Drilling holes into the new Chevy rear bumper was not so nice. And I always had my doubts about the stability of the bumper. But never a problem, even in a few hairy situations.
On the new Truck, I have Torklift mounts front and rear for peace of mind.
2014 Ford F350 XLT 6.2 SCLB + 2017 Northstar Arrow

Kayteg1
Explorer
Explorer
Rear buttons bolt to the bumper?
Having factory hitch, I fabricated tie-downs similar to Torklift rears.
Having some scrap material already, I had only spend $6 on big washers.

Old_Days
Explorer II
Explorer II
That is what I have, and it has worked great.