Community Forums

jrushing · 08-02-2019, 03:18 PM

Hi. I have a 2002 ford 350 dually diesel truck and purchased on old truck camper (1987 I think) and have been fixing it up. the guy I bought it from was a welder, and he chose to weld some strong looking bars to the base of the camper that he then attached to the truck via some other things (I'm a woman, sorry I don't know all the names of stuff). there are only connections on the front of the truck camper to the truck. the camper weights about 3400 pounds dry.

I went to get a complete set of tie downs the other day, and the repair shop said it would cost about $1600 to do the labor (including removing the heavy metal bars the previous owner had welded to the camper). They thought it wasn't worth doing. I don't think they wanted to touch the job at all.

I bought the camper cheap.
I have to decide whether to spend $1600 on real tie downs or sell the camper.

truck campers are rare around here (western NC) so I don't have many choices for who to ask advice from or consider other options.
sorry for the lengthy post.

Podivin · 08-02-2019, 03:21 PM

Some pictures of the connecting points might help the folks here help you. Otherwise anything said would be a wild guess. My GUESS is that the previous owner connected it to his truck somehow, so perhaps the same method, whatever it was, will work on yours.

Bedlam · 08-02-2019, 03:59 PM

D&H RV out in Apex is good resource. If they don’t have a good fix, they may have a better maintained camper.

jrushing · 08-02-2019, 05:34 PM

ok thanks to you both.

hpcbmw · 08-03-2019, 08:52 AM

I have Torklift frame mounted tie downs on my 2000 Ford F250 truck. They are easy to install (they are designed to easily bolt onto your specific truck frame) and work fantastic. I've been using them for almost 10 years. You need a set for the front and a set for the rear, and a shop shouldn't charge that much to install them. You could probably hire a local handyman to install them, it shouldn't take much more than an hour or two.

If your problem is that the camper itself has not connectors for the tie down, you might be able to use the camper jacks as a tie down point. They should be a very strong connection, as they hold the weight of the camper. I've been using them on my camper, but it's a pretty light weight Four Wheel Camper.

One last idea- some people bolt the camper to the truck bed directly through the floor of the camper. You would want to use some big metal plates on the floor of the camper to spread the load, and probably big ass washers or metal plates as backers on the truck bed as well.

Good luck.

Here's a link at Etrailer for the torklift
https://www.etrailer.com/p-TLF2021.h...350+Super+Duty

Mr_Fixit · 08-04-2019, 05:14 AM

Couple of thoughts. Since you have a dually, if you have standard jacks, you will have swing-outs to clear your fenders so, as suggested earlier, they most likely could be used as an attachment point using an eyelet and Torklift Fast Guns as the turnbuckles. The condition of the camper is crucial in making that decision.

No matter how you slice it though, you are going to get into some coin as Tork Lift components are not cheap so if you were hoping for a "plug and play" setup unfortunately that is not likely in the cards.

I think part of what you are running into is simply the fact costwise is that you are presenting a liability issue to whomever works on this camper if they have to modify an older rig. Just speaking as someone who with my wife ran out own RV service center in Bristol, TN. for years (now retired), jobs like this scream potential liability issues and moding something always opens the door to the unexpected. That may be why you are sensing hesitancy from prospective technicians.

So the tie downs for the truck are a given from either Tork Lift or Happijac, although I would always use Tork Lift on the rear. It is possible that the camper needs very little, hard to tell from you post so for sure pics would really help.

You bought it on the cheap, how solid is it?

jrushing · 08-04-2019, 10:34 AM

thank you ALL for all the feedback. I will take pics.

The camper seems solid to me. but I am falling less in love with it by the minute : )

It was going to be a fixer upper project.

dix39 · 08-04-2019, 11:18 AM

Just a thought, but could you talk with the person you bought the camper from concerning the tie down arrangement? Perhaps he could also help with that situation if you actually need new tie downs. I dabble in "hobby welding", among other things, and I fabricated the tie downs for our first camper simply because I couldn't afford new ones and I had the tools to fabricate them.

Kudos to you for taking on this challenge, especially as a lady, I wouldn't give up yet. We all started learning new things at one point in our lives or another.

We've had two campers, one continuously over a 38 year period. The first was a '72 Security and the second a '92 Caribou. Both were wooden "stick framed" and, in my opinion, much easier to work on than newer aluminum framed laminated side campers. Being wood they are susceptible to rot, but it can be repaired because the covering, unlike laminated, can easily be removed in order to repair/replace the damaged wood. If the systems, refrigerator, water, fresh/holding tanks, etc are good and there have been no significant leaks, your camper may be worth spending a bit of work and few bucks on.

Waiting for more info.

Steve

jrushing · 08-04-2019, 01:49 PM

Hi. I am trying to attach pictures of the connection between my truck and truck camper. hope this works.

Mr_Fixit · 08-04-2019, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrushing

Hi. I am trying to attach pictures of the connection between my truck and truck camper. hope this works.

Looking at your pics for the front tie down, it looks to me like what you have will work although I would anchor the front to tie downs on the truck by Tork Lift given you have a good size camper. What you have looks pretty substantial if it is well anchored to the camper base, but I am not a fan of stake pocket tie downs on anything that large.

And I would also have tie downs on the back, although I know plenty of folks only run front tie downs that I see out and about, but I do not agree with that. Is it going to live on the truck or are you going to load and unload it? Where do you intend to go with it?

jrushing · 08-04-2019, 02:24 PM

so in addition to what I have, you (Mr. Fixit) are recommending fork lift tie downs on the front and rear,and leave the welded stuff on there too?

I'd like to be able to remove the camper occasionally. I'd be going to the mountains and beach with it (NC/Tennessee/Virginia most likely).

the estimate I got was about $800 for the tie downs with $700 for labor from a private rv repair shop. maybe I should sell it to someone who can do the labor themselves so the cost won't be so high relative to the value of the camper.

wonder the best way to find someone (a handyman, as a previous poster suggested) to put the tie downs on for me for maybe half the labor cost. craigslist?

Mr_Fixit · 08-04-2019, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrushing

so in addition to what I have, you (Mr. Fixit) are recommending fork lift tie downs on the front and rear,and leave the welded stuff on there too?

I'd like to be able to remove the camper occasionally. I'd be going to the mountains and beach with it (NC/Tennessee/Virginia most likely).

the estimate I got was about $800 for the tie downs with $700 for labor from a private rv repair shop. maybe I should sell it to someone who can do the labor themselves so the cost won't be so high relative to the value of the camper.

wonder the best way to find someone (a handyman, as a previous poster suggested) to put the tie downs on for me for maybe half the labor cost. craigslist?

That's my thought looking at your pictures.

As to the tie downs that go on the frame of the truck, it's a simple matter to price them yourself. You can go to the Tork Lift website, this is your truck I think and find your parts numbers. (https://www.torklift.com/findyourfit..._ez&rboards=no)

These parts are pretty common so sometimes you can find them used on ebay or craigslist.

You also need something on the camper like you have on the front to fasten a turnbuckle to.

Next you need what are called turnbuckles to fasten the truck to the camper. Those can be pretty basic or pricey depending. Torklift also makes turnbuckles in different models and price ranges.

As to finding someone, you could just post under the RV for sale section of Craigslist for someone to install them and see who turns up. The rear tie down on the truck is nothing, takes just a few minutes assuming you have the standard Powerstroke hitch on the truck already.

If you stick with it, that is a big camper so practice with it first close to home. We live in a great camping area both right at home and also over at Myrtle where we have also taken our camper.

If not, post it for sale on Craigslist and see if you get some hits.

jrushing · 08-05-2019, 05:39 AM

thank you for the suggestions.

jrushing · 08-05-2019, 09:16 AM

I have had a couple of different people comment that the truck/camper combo was leaning a lot in curves. one guy who did some work on the truck (with camper attached) had to test drive it and said he was "scared" while driving it. I was surprised. I just take turns slowly and don't feel like I'm going to tip over or anything

I did tow a big 5th wheel with that truck before so maybe it's just that I'm used to going slow.

does it sound like an issue beyond getting the right tie downs? is it natural for there to be some leaning with this kind of rig?
thanks