Camper Tie Down: In Need of Feedback

[hiphiker13]

Hey guys, I love this forum and have gotten some great ideas from some of you for my last few setups but this is my first post. I need a little feedback on my latest project.

I have a 97 F-150 and a 060S Skamper pop up. They are both in great shape but the camper is made for a smaller truck. I saw how another guy on this forum with a larger Ford, maybe an F-250, built out his camper to fit his truck and did something very similar. I repurposed my old bed/drawer build from my basic camper shell set up and sat my Skamper on top of that and then built a couple of side cabinets to give it extra side support. I really like this set and feel like it works great. What I need some feedback on is how I tied the camper down.

First of all I used solid cast eyebolts with the highest load rating I could find. Then drilled through the bed and through the bed cross pieces as close to the frame mounts as I could get, and then bolted the eyebolts with metal plates and lock washers. In the front of the bed the cross piece was square tubing and in the back it was a bit thinner channel like piece and I used a small piece of 2x4 to take up space. From the eyebolts I ran chain and a turn buckle to the existing points on my camper.

So far I have driven it like this on the freeway with a pretty hefty cross wind, and also on a few short dirt roads in Death Valley. My truck barely notices the camper. The dirt roads had some wash boarding and a few spots were I would slightly pitch to one side. The wash boards seemed like no big deal but when the tuck twist, so to speak, I notice that the bed of the truck and the cab move separately, not a huge amount by any means but I can see it in my side mirror.

So my concerns are this: Are my tie downs sufficient? Is bolting into the bed cross pieces like this a good idea? Because my camper doesn’t hang over the bed very far it may be impossible or at least very difficult to put tie downs outside versus inside (like a happijack or torklift type rig). When the truck leans is it normal given the weight of the camper that the bed and cab "twist" separately? Should a worry about this twisting my frame? Are the bolts that attach the bed to the frame able to handle the load of the camper under typical driving conditions/what are their limits? Also given my set up what would you do differently? How have others built custom tie downs?

So far I am happy with what I've done, I worry a little but after my first trip it seemed to work fine. I have found no signs of damage or bending. I would much rather have it attached directly to the frame and will probably make that happen in the future, but for now this is what I have. I will take any feedback or comments it will all help, also if there is a tread on this subject I missed or any resource out there please let me know.

The pictures below should help make it clear how I've tied it in. Ask away if there is any other shots or info you think would help. Thanks guys!

View of the drawer notice the tie down on left

You can see the right side cabinet

Side cabinet, you can also see the turn buckle placement

Another view, notice the front turn buckle

Back tie down point, the front is identical. The 2x4 you see under the camp chairs is wedged in to help keep the under box from moving side to side, there is one on the left side too obviously.

Underside of back tie down point, on the right the black is the frame and the hitch, the 2x4 sits inside the channel

Underside of front tie down point (the left bolt), notice that it is along side the bracket that attaches the bed to the frame

 

[rotti]

Fords are famous for their frame flex:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKMQjm7i2Jw

 

[hiphiker13]

Thats pretty crazy... And good to know. Thanks

 

[daveyboy]

I don't proclaim to be an authority, but here is my anecdotal story.

I bought my camper from the original owner. He had a '97 Ford F150 extended cab (purchased new at the same time as the camper) with 170K miles and had the camper on his Ford full-time for many of those years.

He used the old happijac style tie downs mounted to the factory rear bumper and through the lower sides of the front of the box.

That seemed to work well for him for a long time. I would think your method is as strong.

 

[ExpoMike]

I would say you're good to go. Our FWC is using the cast eye bolts like you and just using turnbuckles to the camper. We have had it twisted up fairly good without problems.

 

[hiphiker13]

I would say you're good to go. Our FWC is using the cast eye bolts like you and just using turnbuckles to the camper.

What did you bolt the eyebolts to?

 

[ExpoMike]

I am talking in the bed. I made the holes near the "pinch rail" under the bed (near where the floor and sides meet), since it would be the strongest point. I then used large diameter washers to help keep them from pulling through. The camper I modified to add large plates to distrube the load over the mounting areas, as the factory setup was pulling through.

 

[hiphiker13]

Ok. Yea I worry just as much about them pulling out of the camper as I do the truck and plan to do the same thing soon. Thanks.

 

[ExpoMike]

Don't have pics of the bed but here is what I did in the camper.

This is what prompted me to do the following upgrade.

And I used this on the plates where they hit the wood

Not too worried about them pulling out anymore.

 

[hiphiker13]

Very nice. That is what I had in mind too. Is that a swiveling eyebolt?

Also what kind of driving do you do with the camper? Everywhere I look I hear people saying to never bolt only to the bed. Are you only in the sheet metal?

 

[rotti]

Everywhere I look I hear people saying to never bolt only to the bed. Are you only in the sheet metal?

The factory install on my new FWC is 4 eyebolts thru the bed of the truck with large fender washers top and bottom. On the camper itself, the newer FWC use what ExpoMike has done on his camper with the large metal plates backing the wood. My previous FWC Grandby was bolted through the floor into the bed of my previous truck. Twenty five years and 200,000 miles of a lot 4WD roads and I never had an issue. Note my experience is with FWC campers only.

Toys are the problem child with the plastic beds requiring a different system.

 

[ExpoMike]

Very nice. That is what I had in mind too. Is that a swiveling eyebolt?

Also what kind of driving do you do with the camper? Everywhere I look I hear people saying to never bolt only to the bed. Are you only in the sheet metal?

Here's how we roll

 

[hiphiker13]

Yea I'm pretty much convinced. I saw this on your recent thread too. I was in Death Valley last week and because it was my first time out with my rig I was worried about taking the graded gravel road to Panamint Dunes hahaha. I think next time I can be a bit more adventurous

 

[hiphiker13]

I'm pretty sure I have gotten the answers I needed, just wondering if anyone out there wants to share their tie-down system custom or not...

 

[Bill_G_62439]

Last summer my family and I took a trip from Southern Illinois to Washington State in a brand-new borrowed 2013 Chevy diesel with a 1979 Cameo hard-side TC. I mounted it using two eye bolts like yours in the front corners of the bed reinforced with a very small 1/8" steel plate. These were attached to the camper with the same eye bolts mounted the same way to the front of the camper. These were tied together using a 5000 lb (I think) ratchet strap with locking hooks. I also added 4 other steel eye bolts, one to each corner of the camper, that were tied to the factory bed tie down loops with a 2500 lb ratchet strap. That TC was a hard side cabover model that caught a lot of wind. We traveled for one month and covered 6500 miles. At times I did 80 mph, but most of the time 70. It didn't budge.

I get a kick out of some of the posts where TC owners are equipping their trucks well with heavy duty tie downs that mount to the frame while the connection to the camper is often simply a lightweight eye bolt through 1/2" plywood. Your setup looks great to me.

On the other hand, I told my wife for the first 500 miles of our trip, "If this thing flies out the back, we need to stop, remove the ratchet straps and any papers that identify us as the owners and leave it on the side of the road!"

By the way, my wife, 3 teenagers and myself were on that trip. All of the teenagers are now in college. The camper slept 3. That was the trip of a lifetime in a good way! Go enjoy that Skamper!