camper tie down advise

[GregTaylor]

looking at dropping a new lance camper on the 03. and the dealer wants to use a big mean drill on my bed to mount the tie downs and the electrical connection. has any one used the frame mounted version? also he wants to install centering blocks in the bed floor again using his nasty drill. any help would be appreciated



PS diesel is going 1. 89 a gal at the cheep place and 2. 10 at the expensive place

Greg Taylor

 

[MGordon]

A lot of guys have the frame mount tie downs and swear by them. I personally have the bed mount tie downs and have not had any problems and believe me, they've been tested.



My Lance dealer also put in the centering blocks - without telling me. I guess I'm not sure if they have value or not.



Try doing a search on these topics as this has been covered in several threads.



By the way, why don't you fill out your signature. It helps when people are responding to your questions.

 

[GregTaylor]

signiture done

 

[Bill Stockard]

I installed the bed mounts myself in about 3-4 hours(used my own nasty drill--measure twice-drill once). I bought the new style with the brackets that tie to the truck frame. The front of the new Lances have a thick plastic rub strip that matches up with the stops on the new style tie downs. No more are the rubber blocks necessary for proper spacing in the front of the bed.



I also installed the camper guides in the bed, drilled the hole for the electrical receptacle in the side of the bed, and hooked up the wiring. I prefer to do it myself so it's done to suit me.



I had the frame mount type tie downs on my previous '00 3500. The frame mounts, if they haven't changed the design, interfere with the fuel door on the 3rd gen trucks. If you choose the frame mounts, you will need to add the rubber blocks. Your Lance dealer should have some lying around.



Bill

 

[bkaiser]

I have a belly bar just aft of the cab and use two stake pocket clamps on the rear corners. With a rubber mat on the bed, I haven't noticed any movement.



One thing I did that I would recommend to anyone - I bought a section of 1/8" x 1" flat steel stock and reinforced the upper front bed wall. I basically sandwiched the sheet stock with two pieces of the flat stock, so if the camper does slide forward, I hopefully won't bow the front of the bed. The steel cost me about $15, a local body shop hit me some pocket change to prime and paint the two pieces, and I probably spent less than 2 hours making/installing the parts.

 

[Lorenz]

there is absolutely not question for me.



i did weeks of research and the torque lifts are hands down stronger, and better built. 1x1 box steel to the frame vs 1/4" plate to the bed and bumper. the bumper is only 1/8" and w/o the new happy jack frame mount, sheet metal is, well only sheet.



if the dealer is willing to work with you the happy jack actual tie dwns are better vs the torque lift chain. spring loaded on the "cable" not a optional dew hicky at the bracket w/ torque lift. so torque lifts on the truck and happyjack "tie dwn"



there hidden too. no dog ears off the side or chrome button on the bumper.



lance give the dealers a better deal on the happy jacks that why there are so many out there.



word of caution: make shure the dealer uses locktite on the leaf spring bolts. mine backed off, i was lucky to be airing up the tires and noticed it before a 3000mile trip. the bolt had about a qrtr inch before my leaf failed!!



also. make them take the power (i believe its the bigger white one) up to one of the batteries. its in the opposite direction and theyll have to take it out of the wire loom, but the power they tapped into on the truck is about half the size of the one on the lance.



make shure the lights work properly too, my dealers techs got confused w/ all the extra wiring on the ram. they have 7 pin and 4 pin connectors under there. a test lamp wont work, they need to tap into all of the 4 pin wires and none of the 7 pin.



one last thing. if its a new lance they'll fit a group 31 battery, my dealer threw it in.

 

[wsurf]

I went very heavy duty because I would take the camper on dirt roads in Baja. Started with the bed tie downs and the camper would shift and beat the s__t out of my bed. I mean the front was almost hitting the cab. I went to a local RV shop and they welder recievers on the frame, front and rear. When using the camper I would slide in the hitch part, pin it, and connect the chains to the camper. Never moved again and really helped during driving.

 

[smithinc]

i have only had the happy jack tie downs and have had no problems at all. i take my camper on the beach and in the mountains.



gary

 

[Red Ramrod]

Greg,



I have a 1150 Artic Fox that weights over 5000lbs loaded. I use torklift tie downs and have not had any problems (over 7000miles logged with the camper). Lance is about the only dealer that really seems to push the happijacks. The are some good discussions on this forum -

http://www.rv.net/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/13440428.cfm

You could also search here for more info. A lot of good truck camper discussions. My recommendation is torklift frame mounted tie downs.

 

[LPChristensen]

Greg, you don't want anybody to drill into the frame of your '03 Dodge or you will have the dealer taking away your remaining warranty, only in certain situation can the frame be welded or drilled. I don't know why the Lance people are so in love with the in bed Happijac tie downs, to me they look puny and the bed of the truck is not as strong as the frame. Get some Torklift tie downs, they have a bracket kit that bolts onto the frame of the truck, not into the frame. When I was buying my camper, the dealer was about an inch away from drilling into the frame when I yelled at him to stop, think he thought I was crazy. He then looked up in the Torklift catalog for the correct application for '03 and '04 Dodge.

 

[Lorenz]

I second that... .





no drilling or welding for the tork lifts, bolt on.





sorry if my last post was ambiguose

 

[JRG]

Torq Lift.



JRG

 

[RMH]

Tie downs

after much bs i finally went with torq lifts. Superior system. Just got back from disney world fla. a 4k mile trip. absolutely no problems. At the trips finish i had 11k and milage calculeted by hand of 10. 5 mpg. this is with a lance 8000 (10. 5ft) and 4k lbs of people and gear traveling at 70 + mph. them southrons don't believe in speed signs. 55= atleast 65+, 65 = 75 and up. speedy devils i must say...

 

[GregTaylor]

thanks guy the tork lifts seem the way to go. do you think i need the frount mounts that connect to the edges of the hood near the dash board? the dealer says only if your going off road.

greg

 

[Lorenz]

i would give you the exact opposite advise your dealer did... DO NOT use the dampeners if you off road.



Ask him to show you the mounting points under the hood. Its only sheet metal. im not an engineering major, but my calculations show a falure rate of 89. 2% in 1 hr of off roading.



the dampeners are marketed at a cure for wind buffering. it dampens the up and down you get from the air going over the cab and under the camper in that "pocket" over the drivers head. there is no way sheet metal is going to hold up under 1000's of pounds of camper rocking up and down on it not matter how much dampener you have between the two?

 

[Red Ramrod]

Greg,



I would have to agree with the previous post. Definitely do not use off road. I would hold off and see how the truck rides without the mounts. Most campers ride just fine without. I added them to my Artic Fox 1150 which weighs in at 5600lbs loaded and has a center of gravity about 6" behind the rear axle. Our truck porpoised pretty bad and the cab struts solved the problem. The Lance dealer I bought the cab struts from said to definitely remove when it gets rough. If it porpoises you may then want to add but why spend the money if their is not a problem.

 

[GregTaylor]

say red i was looking at your rig how do you like that rear sway bar with the camper loaded. I assume my truck (also red!) will be tipsy with the camper on and i was thinking of the edelbrok shocks to compensate.

greg

 

[Red Ramrod]

Greg,



I just installed the sway bar Saturday. I started a thread on it with part #'s etc called "Hellwig Sway Bar". I am not sure when I will get a chance to try it with the camper. It makes a huge difference on sway with the truck empty though. I have done some other modifications that have also helped with sway. I have the Rancho RS9000 shocks with in-cab control. They help a lot with sway. I also put 2. 5" bump stops in so my overloads come into play a lot sooner. I then get the benefit of the overloads without having to let the truck drop as far in the back. I air up the air bags so I am just barely into the overloads and the truck is setting level. I have a suspension gallery in my readers rig with pictures of the suspension upgrades. Here is a truck camper forum with a lot of good info - RVnet - truck camper website . You can search it and find a lot of info about all your questions. Most people on that forum use the RS9000 shocks so you adjust them.

 

[GregTaylor]

thanks red

greg