What are "torklift" mounts?

[Tardog]

I read in a previous post about the slide in campers and it came up that the "Torklift" mounting system may be a better product than others. I have to outfit my truck for our camper and I need some kind of front (behind the cab) mount. I'd prefer to go with something that is attached to the frame as sheet metal is not a favorite. Can these Torklifts be made or where do you get them?

Thanks

 

[Bob Wagner]

take a look you will be glad you did

http://www.torklift.com/





high quality product is an understatement

 

[Tardog]

Thanks a bunch Bob

 

[Gunny]

Tardog, These are the tiedowns that you want. I just bought a set to replace the happijack tiedowns that came with my camper. There are something of a pain to install on the driver side because of the tank. But once they are on they are great. With the happijacks my dually had quite a bit of sway, with the torklifts all or most of that sway is gone. You will be happy with these. Gunny

 

[Tardog]

Thanks to all

To start our camper is an 8' and it could be awhile before we see anything bigger, so here's what I did, I talked with torklift and yes they have a nice product but, not to be cheap, being from canada they are $200us +duty + shipping + our measly exchange rate so this roughly equals $350ish of my hard earned denaro. So I looked around and have purchased a set of brackets ($120can)made in Kelowna BC. they attach to the frame and have a knee brace for added support. I do like the Torklift brace that goes up to the under side of the box though. But I'm in luck, my running boards have a pretty good skokum brace that is mounted vertically to the underside of the box that is right beside the spot where the new camper mounts go



Sooooooo, I'm gonna fire up the welder and attach a bracket to the new tie downs that I can bolt to the running board brace. This way I'm one better than the Torklifts in that I have a knee brace and a vertical to the underside of the box and money left over for ?(torque plate) Thanks for all the help.

 

[BV]

Camper Mounts

Tardog - I had half-n-half meaning the front mounts are HappiJac and the rear mounts are homemade Torklift which is basically 2" receiver tubing (with a groove ground into it so they slip inside the OEM trailer hitch) about 30" long with a plate welded to end that the turnbuckle hooks to. This was for an 8-1/2' extended cabover and we never had any problems. The only flex it had was from the spring loaded turnbuckles made by HappiJac. No way I would hook to that thin tin bumper. Cost was $30 for the metal and a 6 pack to pay the nieghbor for welding the plates to the ends of the tubes.

 

[Tardog]

Thats what I had figured, I'm gonna use my modifeid fronts and do the same as you with the 2" to the receiver hitch, I'm fortunate in the fact that my receiver is oped ended and pre drilled so the 2" will slide in and then pin in to place. Are the springs connected to the turn buckels cause I always just use chain to turnbuckel to mounts, on my other truck?

 

[BV]

Turnbuckles

The springs are internal to the turnbuckle. Here is the description from the HappiJac web site.



Front Turnbuckles

Happijac front turnbuckles are spring loaded to ensure that any movement of the camper within the bed doesn't cause damage to the camper or the truck.



Rear Turnbuckles

Happijac rear turnbuckles secure into the bumper of the truck. They are not spring loades so as to prevent the camper from moving like a quadrilateral.

 

[Tardog]

Movement within the bed? Isn't that what we are all trying to prevent? I personally think I'm gonna strap it down so it can't move. I can just see my self now----. "But officer they said it was to make up for any movement within the bed". (me standing on the side of the road, on an outside curve with my driveline stare'n at the sky). Cheers.

 

[dresslered]

The front tie-downs are to be spring loaded while the rear's are to be rigid. I use the spring-loaded Happy-Jak Turnbuckles in combination with rigid Tork-lifts. If you have spring-loaded Tork-lifts, do not also use the spring loaded turnbuckles (just use a chain). Here is a picture of the front Tork-lift tie-down:

 

[dresslered]

Here's another view:

 

[Bill Stockard]

David,



My TorkLifts are just like yours--HappiJac turnbuckles to the TorkLift chains. I already had the HappiJacs, so like you, I didn't need the TorkLift spring mounts. The front HappiJac turnbuckles have a spring in them and the rear ones have a rubber cushion in them.



On first Lance('84) was on a Ford, the dealer installed the HappiJac front tiedowns in the bed in the usual way, but put the rear HappiJac tiedown bolts in the rear fender panel--lots of good that did!! I couldn't even tighten down the rear turnbuckles with out buckling the rear fender!!! Unfortunately, I was working and didn't have the time to go watch the installation. That guy was a Lance dealer for about 6 months after that and I can see why!!!



Bill

 

[Tardog]

So I gotta ask the Question. With all of your experiance is it better to have the spring (or other shock obsorbing item) installed with the front tie downs or should a person go direct tie down with no room for movement? Thanks,

 

[dresslered]

Bill-

From what I have learned from a very experienced installer, the rigid style (unsprung) Tork-lifts used in conjunction with the HappiJac spring-loaded turnbuckles are the best possible combination. Tork-lift does make a spring-loaded version but it apparently is not quite as good as using the piston type spring. You are correct that the front turnbuckles have a spring while the rear has a polyurathane bushing. The rear act like a hinge, while the front allow for slight up and down movement.



Tardog-

You must have a spring installed on the front tie-downs. Much of the damage that people do experience is from improper tie-down methods. Tighter is not better. Only a couple of hundred pounds of force is required to hold down the front of the camper.



The general idea of tying down a camper is a more or less rigid mount in the rear with allowable movement up in the front. There are many components that flex when going over uneven terrain including the frame. The main component that keeps a camper in the truck bed is its center of gravity and the frictional surface on the bed floor. I have a Rhino Liner that provides a perfect non-slick surface. Others use a rubber horse mat that also works very well. The tie-downs merely keep the camper from hopping out.



This has been discussed in the past but might be worthy of repeating again. Both Lance and Bigfoot (as well as other manufacturers) recommend only using frame-mounted tie-downs with their campers. It has been the dealers that keep pushing the bed-mounting systems because they are much cheaper and easier to install (often the tie-downs are thrown in with the price of the camper). In the past, the lighter and more flexible wood-framed campers could be mounted to the bed. Before that, even stake pocket mounts were used and some even used bed tracks. Now that the campers are so much larger and stiffer (i. e. fiberglass siding), much more robust methods are required.

 

[Tardog]

I appreciate the pics Dresslered this is the kind of information I appreciate and thank those and this web site for. It never crossed my mind about the "Flex" being a an important factor. But you are oh so right and I understand fully.



I mounted my frame mounts today (had a bit of modifaction on the pass side as the bolts that run through the frame that support the muffler hanger were in the way). Now I just have to get a set of the spring loaded turnbuckles and do the wiring. Which brings up a question. Do these p/u's have any aux wiring built into the truck already? My hitch is wired (7 point) but is there any wires strung out for say - a camper? Or do I have to start at the front end with a fuse etc. ?



always appreciated, Tardog

 

[dresslered]

Oh boy, Tardog. You bring up a whole different subject. There are many methods of improving upon the factory wiring. For myself, I added a 7-pin connector to the inside of my bed (directly below the camper hook-up). Most of the wires were spliced directly into the OEM wiring. The exceptions were the +12V battery circuit and the return line. In addition, I added an inline shunt so that I can monitor the current being supplied to the camper via a remote ammeter.



For the +12V and return line, I ran separate 8-Ga wiring to minimize the voltage drop. I also used a solonoid switch so that the camper battery is isolated from the truck batteries when the ignition is turned off (a fuse in front of this is also highly recommended). This prevents any accidental draining of the main batteries. Take your time and do it right. You'll save a headache when you're on the road.

 

[Tardog]

David, the in line shunt is a great idea and the use of heavy gauge #8 is always been a favorite with me (never to big,applies to wire, hydraulic equipment, and ?). I don't need to use a solinoid switch yet as our small camper does not have a seperate battery, and we do not have any big draw amenities(yet). But I'm gonna borrow your idea and put it in my tickle trunk for later.

Many thanks.

 

[HavinFun]

Tardog,



I went to the local RV store and bought some 7 pin hookups and 15' or so of 7 wire for wiring looms. Now I plug into the stock trailer adapter, run a length of wire to a adapter plug near the front of the bed for the camper, just lay it along side the camper in the bed. I also added a 3' tail where it all plugs into the truck and ty-wrap that to my hitch extension for towing the trailer. Total cost for this was about $30, and about an our of time to solder and shrink wrap the joints. I haven't had any problems with this. Does anyone see any problems with doing things this way?

 

[dresslered]

VanLier-

What you discribe should be fine with the exception of the +12V Supply and Return lines. I would not want that "length" for either. Especially, when you consider the smaller gauge wire that DC used on the OEM trailer adapter, you can actually get a considerable voltage drop. Even if the drop is only a few-tenths of a volt, this will not allow your trailer battery to charge to the fullest. I would suggest running separate supply and return lines directly from the battery. I also added a solonoid switch so that it will only charge when the ignition is on. This also elliminates the possibility of the camper draining the truck batteries.



Here's a chart for a particular battery that I found. As you can see, a slight drop in voltage can mean that you are far from ever achieving full capacity:



12. 60V+ 100%

12. 50V 90%

12. 42V 80%

12. 32V 70%

12. 20V 60%

12. 06V 50%

11. 90V 40%

11. 75V 30%

11. 58V 20%

11. 31V 10%

10. 50V 0%