Well, Since I opened this can of worms here is the entire story.First let me say I have been a long time truck camper owner and I am no rookie. I have gone trough several truck campers. I recently had an article published in truckcampermagazine.com about me and my familyHere is some more background on who I am and how long I have been truck camping.http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/camper-lifestyle/four-season-truck-camping-in-southern-californiaIf you read the article you can see in the pictures I used the same tie down system with both the Northstar Laredo and Eagle Cap 800. The week before Christmas I was driving home from a great camping trip in the anza borrego desert (trip report here http://www.anzaborrego.net/anzaborrego/Forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=694 and was traveling on BLM land road named EC085. I was traveling at approx 25 mph on a straight section of the road, when a strong gust of wind came up and caused the camper to become separated from my truck and rolled over the truck bed rail! The road was also a bit bumpy but not too bad. I had my 6 year old son Brett and 8 year old daughter Brenna in the truck with me. It is a miracle we are all okay. The crazy part of the situation is I did not really feel the truck do a huge sway or anything. It was my daughter in the backseat who said "dad the camper just fell off". Upon further inspection I noticed the cause of the camper becoming separated from the truck was my Wolf Creek was manufactured with a spliced in piece of plywood where the front passenger anchors are installed and this spliced plywood separated from the skirt. When the front tie down became separated I noticed my bumper was tweaked a bit upward and believe the rear tie down became separated by pulling up on my bumper. Before starting to travel on EC085 I called my wife to tell her we were going to stay one more night. Knowing I was about to be driving about 20 miles on a dirt road I specifically checked all my spring loaded turnbuckles to make sure they were nice and hand tight snug. I am fully aware of keeping the turnbuckles hand tight and not using a tool to tighten them down.Here are some pics from the incidentThe spot where I called my wife took a pic and checked the tie downsThe spot where the camper rolled outMy wolf creek in the middle of the desert. Notice the turnbuckle still attachedcloser look at spliceMy truckThe torn off jackUnderside separationNose cap damagerescued by Dickerson Towing Moderator edit: Please note, maximum photo width=640.

Just wanted to give a 10 year update on this topic: LOL!!![IMG]https://i.imgur.com/CUu2pG7l.jpeg[/IMG]was looking at new Wolf Creeks today and noticed Northwood definitely fix the issue. Tie downs are beffier and bolted into the frame. Plus I did not notice any splicing. I currently Have over 500 nights and 10 years going strong in wolfy 2 and starting to look to upgrade. Its quite hard to swallow the new prices have over doubled since I bought mine. As well as interest rates. Wow eye opening. Maybe I'll just keep wolfy 2 for another 10 years 😉

Holy smokes , glad no one was hurt that's a story your children will never forget.

anutami, thanks for sharing your experience, good to hear that no one was hurt. The only thing I can add is that AF seems to be using the same failed design on the new Wolf Creeks that they were using on the AF's prior to 2005. This type of failure was an issue back then as well. When AF went to the AL frames in 2005, they improved the tie point design by bolting through the new frame, very strong and would tear up TorqLift or HJ mounts before failing. Seems AF needs to re-visit the the Wolf Creek tie points and I think they would want to based on the pics you've provided.

MAN!Callin' my son right now and telling him to check how the tiedowns are attached to his camper- I'm really shocked that at least from the pics these depended on a few wood screws holding the point of attachment on.Thanks a lot for the post/pics- sure hope insurance covers everything and glad no one got hurt.

If it were me, I'd never even bother with dealing with the camper manufacturer. Your insurance should cover your camper and truck. Let THEM deal with the Wolf Creek folks if they wish. If you want to kick the can, maybe contact an attorney about the personal injury / civil litigation against WOLF CREEK but life is awful short to be spending time on a long shot. Only property damage. Nothing money can't fix and that is why there's insurance.

Wolf Creek 850 roll over story | Good Sam Community

Camper_Jeff___K
Nomad III
May 16, 2024
I'm reading a post about your truck camper falling off the truck, and the replys are about a furnace, gas lighting, and other non-related topics.
Also, kind of sucks photobucket puts a their watermark over a significant amount of each image. I see lots of screws going through a piece of aluminum box that either pulled out of something or nothing. My old 2000 S&S has had some pretty hard slams and all tiedown points are fine. Rather than the tiedown points pulling out, the hook ends on my turnbuckles bent straight. I see no reason to use fastguns or similar over simple turnbuckles. The spring in the fastguns may even allow for acceleration of the TC mass increasing the breakaway force. A solid turnbuckle will not allow that freedom of movement. I'm sure there will be plenty of expert argument over that suggestion.
The main thing is, you and your family are fine. Any landing you can walk away from as they say. Best wishes on getting a replacement and back on the trail.
anutami
Explorer III
May 12, 2024
Just wanted to give a 10 year update on this topic: LOL!!!
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/CUu2pG7l.jpeg[/IMG]
was looking at new Wolf Creeks today and noticed Northwood definitely fix the issue. Tie downs are beffier and bolted into the frame. Plus I did not notice any splicing. I currently Have over 500 nights and 10 years going strong in wolfy 2 and starting to look to upgrade. Its quite hard to swallow the new prices have over doubled since I bought mine. As well as interest rates. Wow eye opening. Maybe I'll just keep wolfy 2 for another 10 years 😉
- RZAR66
  Explorer
  Aug 02, 2024
  You should have still bought my Lance 850 when you came to look at it..LOL Glad to see you're still truck camping and Wolfy2 is working out for you.
- MORSNOW
  Navigator III
  May 18, 2024
  My Wolfy is going on its 11th summer camping season this year (2014 WC850SB, delivered in Aug 2013). We just got home two days ago from a 32 day, 4,278 mile road trip visiting family and friends. We made a huge loop from our home in Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and back to Idaho. It's been an awesome camper so far and with Covid and then the huge price hikes, I see myself keeping for a long time. Some day I'll upgrade to a dually and a larger non-slide camper, but I see this camper in many years of my future if it continues to please. The only thing that broke on this trip was a small plastic clip that holds the lower refrigerator vent on. We were subject to tons of crazy winds on this trip and the plastic clip finally had enough I guess. I caught it on time before losing the entire vent and secured the vent with white gorilla tape, hopefully I can find a replacement clip. Attached is a pic from our West Yellowstone campsite in a beautiful RV park (super clean restrooms are a must while on long road trips for us). Love our Wolf Creek!
specta
Explorer
Jan 14, 2021
deltabravo wrote:

It's not the problem of "the furnace Northwood puts in their campers" it's where it's located in the AFs: In the slide out (except the 865). With it being there, you can't run ducting anywhere else in the camper.

That doesn't make any sense at all, especially in a "4-season" camper.

Years ago I had a TT with a radiant heat furnace so there was no ducting anywhere, the bathroom was always freezing.

We camped in temps well below freezing and the furnace kept the rest of the trailer toasty warm.

I solved that problem by installing a 2nd propane gas light in the bathroom. It would warm up the bathroom on cold morning in about 15 minutes. I'm quite sure that this would be more difficult to do in newer TCs.
billtex
Explorer II
Jan 14, 2021
We have small 12v fans that we use on boat and in TC. They are USB. No need for hookups, use minimal power. It is very helpful to blow some warm air up into bed area if you do not have ducted heat.
deltabravo
Nomad
Jan 14, 2021
anutami wrote:
One of the major complaints that I can't really fathom especially with the Arctic fox is the furnace Northwood puts in their campers. How do you call their campers 4 season with NO heat in the cab over, bathroom and basement?

It's not the problem of "the furnace Northwood puts in their campers" it's where it's located in the AFs: In the slide out (except the 865). With it being there, you can't run ducting anywhere else in the camper.

I was a 10.75 year owner of an AF811. Camping in colder weather, the cabover does get cold at the head of the bed. It wasn't until about 2 years ago that I solved the problem by setting a small fan on the stove top to blow air towards the cabover. That trick only worked when I had power hookups, which was rare. Even more rare was camping in cold weather.

The cold cabover of my 811 is what kept me from buying an 865. I can't imagine camping in an 865 in cold weather. The cabover has a tunnel leading to it with bathroom on one side and fridge on the other side, with no direct flow of air to the bed from the furnace. There's also no place to put a small fan like I used on my stove top to blow air the bed.

A popular mod for people in the AF truck camper forum is to upgrade to a digital T-stat and wire it so you can run the basement air circulation fan with the fan switch on the T-stat. That allows you to run the fan all the time to keep things warmer in the basement. This can't be done to later model campers though because the T-stat controls both the furnace AND the A/C as of at least two years ago, maybe as far back as the 2017 model year.
burningman
Explorer II
Jan 12, 2021
All this talk about tie downs, when it appears the camper’s anchor points are what failed. It doesn’t much matter whether you use frame tiedowns, belly bars, Happijacs, or Brophy clamp-ons.
The camper anchor points themselves are usually the weak point.
lniles
Explorer
Jan 07, 2021
anutami wrote:
lniles wrote:
Just came across this thread/saga -- the camper is for sale again, and the seller included the pointer in the ad.
https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/rvs/d/costa-mesa-truck-camper-2012-wolf-creek/7257401197.html

that's very nice of the seller to disclose this. I did meet up with him several years ago to give him the scissor steps that I ended up with. I wouldn't hesitate to buy that camper it looks like a pretty good deal. It looks like he has done a bunch of mods. Northwood makes one tough camper!

My second wolf creek has performed great and I have been and many many off road excursions. One of the major complaints that I can't really fathom especially with the Arctic fox is the furnace Northwood puts in their campers. How do you call their campers 4 season with NO heat in the cab over, bathroom and basement? Pretty much every time we camp in the snow the water lines behind the bathroom freeze up and the cabover gets so cold I have a pile of blankets and sleeping bags so high they almost touch the ceiling of the camper!!!

Yikes. Have you tried to do anything about insulating those water lines?

Thanks for the info. Do you have any thoughts on how the tiedown points were reinforced after the accident?

We got a Lance 1055 a few months ago, really like the camper but at 3500 lb empty it's just too heavy for our SRW F350. So I'm looking for something lighter that can still sleep 3 adults and ran across this 850 that seems to fit the bill.
joeshmoe
Explorer
Jan 06, 2021
He's just down the road from me. Maybe I should buy it. LoL
anutami
Explorer III
Jan 06, 2021
lniles wrote:
Just came across this thread/saga -- the camper is for sale again, and the seller included the pointer in the ad.
https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/rvs/d/costa-mesa-truck-camper-2012-wolf-creek/7257401197.html

that's very nice of the seller to disclose this. I did meet up with him several years ago to give him the scissor steps that I ended up with. I wouldn't hesitate to buy that camper it looks like a pretty good deal. It looks like he has done a bunch of mods. Northwood makes one tough camper!

My second wolf creek has performed great and I have been and many many off road excursions. One of the major complaints that I can't really fathom especially with the Arctic fox is the furnace Northwood puts in their campers. How do you call their campers 4 season with NO heat in the cab over, bathroom and basement? Pretty much every time we camp in the snow the water lines behind the bathroom freeze up and the cabover gets so cold I have a pile of blankets and sleeping bags so high they almost touch the ceiling of the camper!!!
lniles
Explorer
Jan 06, 2021
Just came across this thread/saga -- the camper is for sale again, and the seller included the pointer in the ad.
https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/rvs/d/costa-mesa-truck-camper-2012-wolf-creek/7257401197.html