Advice re: Tying Down to Tacoma

[AWCO]

I've got a dilemma with my tie-down situation and I'm wondering if anyone has some thoughts or advice to offer.

I have an older Fleet with a 7.5' base length that I need to tie down to my 2014 long-bed (~6') Tacoma. When in the truck with the tailgate down, the camper comes to rest about 1" in from the edge of the tailgate. I ordered a Tacoma tie-down kit from FWC, as it's necessary with the composite beds on the 2nd-gen Tacomas. However, the metal bars from the tie-down kit are made to fit the front (closest to cab) and middle sets of bolts that secure the bed to the truck frame, but not the rear set of bolts. The tie-downs also need to angle in toward each other to their mounting points on the camper. This means that, if I mount the bars where they're designed to fit (at the front and middle bolt sets in the bed), I'll have all the tie-down force located on the front ~4' of the camper and will have an additional ~3.5' of camper (between the middle set of bolts and the end of the tailgate) that's just sort of hanging out. This strikes me as less than ideal. I'd prefer to be able to use the front and rear sets of bed bolts (rather than the front and middle), but to do so I guess I'd have to drill new holes in the tie-down bars, which I'm not currently equipped to do.

Do folks think I'd be safe to mount the camper at the usual front and middle bolt sets? (In the short term, I've thought about doing this and then using a heavy-duty ratchet strap around the rear (tailgate side) of the camper while I'm driving, just for extra security and peace of mind.)

Or, do folks think I should find a way to drill new holes in the mounting bars and then use the rear set of bolts instead of the middle bolts?

Any other thoughts? I'd appreciate any insight I can get. Not trying to have this thing come off on the highway....

 

[WillTheThri11]

My 06 Tacoma has factory tie downs in the back. I use those in the rear. I didn't get the FWC kit because I think it's a waste of money and precious weight personally. I used rock climbing bolt hangers which are probably stronger and definitely much smaller and lighter. You could install those on any of the frame bolts on the tacoma you want.

Regarding your specific question though, i think you'd probably be ok with the front and middle tie down only. I've read that some people will loosen the rear turnbuckles when off-roading to allow the truck camper to flex separately. For slow speed that's probably ok although I'm not sure I agree with the idea entirely.


Link to rock climbing anchors:

https://www.backcountrygear.com/ps-hanger-1-2-inch.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwgdX4BRB_EiwAg8O8HY80mSEZdTJcnFMG2GZ-TWIGqrL2QzJZ4EWb-wgmTQUtQUE-3VrVxRoCR0sQAvD_BwE

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

Depending on the shape of the camper base, the camper might not fit in the bed, if you put one of the FWC Black Steel Bed Bars in the furthest set of bolts in the Tacoma Bed.

Might be easier to install the Tacoma Bed Bars in the correct locations, but add or move the rear camper tie downs on the base of the camper. Most of the older Fleet Models from the 1980's didn't originally come with turn buckles or eye nuts on the camper base. They used to be only "bolt down" installations.

Hope this helps.

 

[AWCO]

My 06 Tacoma has factory tie downs in the back. I use those in the rear. I didn't get the FWC kit because I think it's a waste of money and precious weight personally. I used rock climbing bolt hangers which are probably stronger and definitely much smaller and lighter. You could install those on any of the frame bolts on the tacoma you want.

Regarding your specific question though, i think you'd probably be ok with the front and middle tie down only. I've read that some people will loosen the rear turnbuckles when off-roading to allow the truck camper to flex separately. For slow speed that's probably ok although I'm not sure I agree with the idea entirely.


Link to rock climbing anchors:

https://www.backcountrygear.com/ps-hanger-1-2-inch.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwgdX4BRB_EiwAg8O8HY80mSEZdTJcnFMG2GZ-TWIGqrL2QzJZ4EWb-wgmTQUtQUE-3VrVxRoCR0sQAvD_BwE

Thanks, WillTheThrill. I'm not sure I'd be able to make those work; it seems like the camper would be resting on top of the anchors.

 

[AWCO]

Depending on the shape of the camper base, the camper might not fit in the bed, if you put one of the FWC Black Steel Bed Bars in the furthest set of bolts in the Tacoma Bed.

Might be easier to install the Tacoma Bed Bars in the correct locations, but add or move the rear camper tie downs on the base of the camper. Most of the older Fleet Models from the 1980's didn't originally come with turn buckles or eye nuts on the camper base. They used to be only "bolt down" installations.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, Stan. I think the camper would fit with the bed bar mounted on the rear set of bolts, but it would be close and I'd have to measure it out precisely before going that route.

For the option of changing the location of the tie-down mounts on the camper itself, this does seem like the easiest option, but in that situation my tie-downs wouldn't be in tension with one another. I was under the (potentially mistaken) impression that the tie downs should pull in toward each other (something like this / \ ) or pull away from each other (like this \ / ), but shouldn't both pull in the same direction. If I mounted the rear set of eye bolts further back, then both sets of tie-downs would be pulling in the same direction (like this / / ). But maybe this isn't an issue?

 

[Living The Dream]

I am not sure I follow exactly what the issue is. Back when I installed my camper (which I think is the same as yours) in my old truck (an 09 tacoma so I think same bed as yours), I had the FWC bed bars in the forwarded-most and rear-most bed bolt locations.

I believe you are correct that the tie-downs pulled in the same direction (front //) but I think there is a FWC video where they mention that pulling everything forward into the truck bed is ok too. Or regardless that is what I think I did and lived to tell the tale.

I am confused as to why the bars need to go in the front and middle bed-bolt positions, maybe things where changed over time. If I recal my bars had two sets of holes and I only used one, maybe someone has modified them at some point in time before me.

If I was to do it, I would drill the holes to have bed bards in the front and rear. I would not go with just the simple rock climbing anchors, not because I think the climbing hardware is weak, but because I do not have fait in the d-rings of the tacoma bed.

Let me know how else I can help

 

[AWCO]

I am not sure I follow exactly what the issue is. Back when I installed my camper (which I think is the same as yours) in my old truck (an 09 tacoma so I think same bed as yours), I had the FWC bed bars in the forwarded-most and rear-most bed bolt locations.

I believe you are correct that the tie-downs pulled in the same direction (front //) but I think there is a FWC video where they mention that pulling everything forward into the truck bed is ok too. Or regardless that is what I think I did and lived to tell the tale.

I am confused as to why the bars need to go in the front and middle bed-bolt positions, maybe things where changed over time. If I recal my bars had two sets of holes and I only used one, maybe someone has modified them at some point in time before me.

If I was to do it, I would drill the holes to have bed bards in the front and rear. I would not go with just the simple rock climbing anchors, not because I think the climbing hardware is weak, but because I do not have fait in the d-rings of the tacoma bed.

Let me know how else I can help

Thanks Living The Dream. Your YouTube content has been super helpful on a number of different issues.

Unfortunately, at least the current Tacoma bed bars won't fit the rear-most set of bolts. They have two sets of holes: one that fits the front set, and one that fits the middle set. For whatever reason, the rear-most set are just a little closer together than the middle set and don't line up with the pre-drilled holes on the bars.

I watched an FWC YouTube video (which I can't seem to get to link here) where the guy stresses the importance of opposing forces (/ \ or \ /) but doesn't talk about pulling in the same direction toward the cab of the truck. But if it worked for you, then I don't see why it would be an issue!

If I can be confident there will be enough clearance around the camper and wheel wells for turnbuckles if I mount the bars on the rear-most set of bed bolts, then I might go ahead and drill new holes in the bars and mount back there.

 

[WillTheThri11]

If I was to do it, I would drill the holes to have bed bards in the front and rear. I would not go with just the simple rock climbing anchors, not because I think the climbing hardware is weak, but because I do not have fait in the d-rings of the tacoma bed.

Let me know how else I can help

To clarify, the climbing anchors use the same bolts that the bed is bolted to the frame with. Has nothing to do with the stock D-rings or their location. From the research I did at the time on the FWC bars, the attachment point was almost identical.

The bar portion that sits under the camper on the FWC bar is wasted in my opinion. Can’t think of a structural reason for it. It also requires you to put a spacer under the bar because of the truck bed ridges. I think both are probably comparable and I like that the climbing anchors were cheap and I know they’re extremely strong. Also they’re stainless so no concerns about paint chipping and rusting.

 

[Beach]

The idea behind having the tie downs point towards each other is to hold the camper in place, so there is no movement, not forward and not rearward. If you have a constant forward load the camper will be pulled into the front of the bed which can/will damage the camper skin and possibly the frame.

 

[JaSAn]

Climbing anchors will work if the bed bolts are not under the floor of the camper.
Why not just drill new holes in the anchor bar? Too close to the existing holes?

 

[WillTheThri11]

The idea behind having the tie downs point towards each other is to hold the camper in place, so there is no movement, not forward and not rearward. If you have a constant forward load the camper will be pulled into the front of the bed which can/will damage the camper skin and possibly the frame.

I think the bumpers solve that problem if you've got them, no?

Climbing anchors will work if the bed bolts are not under the floor of the camper.
Why not just drill new holes in the anchor bar? Too close to the existing holes?

Sounds like he doesn't have the means (a drill) to drill the new holes.
.

 

[AWCO]

Update: This was a pretty significant pain in the ass, but I eventually got everything worked out and just got back from a successful maiden voyage camping around Wyoming and Montana.

1. Certain of the Tacoma bed bolts were extremely difficult to remove (as in, even extractors didn't work) but ultimately got them out.

2. I ended up drilling new 1/2" holes in one of the two Tacoma mounting bars I got from FWC, using a friend's drill press, so that I could use the rear set of bed bolts as the second tie-down location (instead of using the middle set of bolts). The measurement on these has to be precise, but there's room enough to drill the new holes without encroaching on the inner set of existing holes that come on the bars.

3. Once I got the holes drilled, I realized that the existing truck bed bolts would not work for mounting on the rear-most set of holes in the truck bed. Although all the bed bolts are identical, and although the existing bolts work when installing the mounting bars on the front and middle sets of bed bolts, the receiving holes for the rear set of bolts are situated lower on the frame than the holes for the other two sets of bolts, such that the stock bolts will no longer thread once you've run them through the mounting bar and the spacers that go beneath the bar (the mounting bar and the spacers each are about 3/8" thick, so 3/4" combined). I went to several local hardware and auto parts stores, but nobody had longer otherwise-matching bolts on hand, so I had to order some from Fastenal. Luckily, these came in about 2 days' time. (For reference, I used a 12mm bolt, with a 1.25 pitch, 150mm long, and with a ~3/4" hex head.) The bolts from Fastenal had much less threading on them than the stock Tacoma bed bolts, so I used four 1/2" spacers on each one to make sure I was keeping more thread biting in the hole.

4. If you're looking to mount like this, another potential issue will be clearance of the camper wings, both for the bumpers that come on the mounting bars and the angled-up ends of the mounting bars where the turnbuckles attach. Luckily for me, I already had built a 5.5" T-shaped platform for the camper to sit on top of. (I already needed about 2.5" of lift so that the sides of the camper would clear the side rails of my truck bed, and then I went ahead and made it bigger so that I can store skis underneath the camper. Got this idea from, and basically built the same platform as, @ Living The Dream.) Because the new holes I drilled in the mounting bars are closer together, I needed to make my platform slightly narrower so that it sit flush on the bars and fit in between the two rear bolts and washers. For me, this meant the outside long edges of the platform each had to be about two inches in from the edge of the camper. As for the "T" portion of the platform (i.e., the squares I built to undergird the wings of the camper), I cut each of those back to make them about 3" shorter than they had been (from about 20.5" to 17.5"). This allowed for the platform to fit in the bed, with the mounting bar bumpers and angled-up turnbuckle receivers sitting behind the back edges of the wing portions of the platform. The camper itself then extends out over the platform in these areas, but because the platform is 5.5" high, the camper clears everything, and the turnbuckles reach to the eye bolts I installed on the camper with no problem.

5. For the turnbuckles, I'm not sure if this is standard, but the Tacoma tie-down kit I bought from FWC (through Rocky Mountain FWC in Arvada, CO) came with two longer turnbuckles and two shorter turnbuckles, as well as a 3/8" stainless quick link for each tie-down (4 total). I had to mount my own tie-down points on the camper itself, and I had spaced them so there would be about 6" from the tie-down point on the bed to the tie-down point on the camper. The two longer turnbuckles, with a quick link on one side, worked great for two of the tie-downs. However, the shorter turnbuckles did not fit well, so I then went and bought extra quick links and a variety of alternative turnbuckles at Home Depot to see what would work for the other two tie-downs (I was under time pressure to get this done and get headed out on our camping vacation, so I went with more options and plan to return the things I didn't end up using). What ended up working, actually, was using the two shorter turnbuckles with one of the stock hook screws on each one, and then swapping in for the other hook screw a longer forged-eye-bolt screw that I pulled off one of the extra turnbuckles I bought at the store, plus adding an extra quick-link to the other side. So in other words, for each of the other two tie-downs, I had two 3/8" stainless quick links (one on the eye bolt on the camper, and one on the tie-down hole on the Tacoma mounting bar), then the shorter FWC hook-ended turnbuckles, each with one hook end removed and replaced with a longer-stemmed forged-eye-bolt screw. A pic of each type of tie-down below.

6. Finally, I also bought some rubberized matting to supplement the matting that comes with the Tacoma tie-down kit, both to fill in the extra space created by moving the second mounting bar to the rear set of bolts and also to cover the tailgate (as my camper sits on the tailgate). It wasn't a perfect height match with the matting that comes with the kit (was maybe a little under 1/8" less thick), but it seemed to work out fine.

Overall, even though it was quite a process, this all proved to work out great, and the camper stayed super secure over the course of our ~1,800 mile trip, even deep on some pretty burly forest service roads in Montana.

(Several of the pics below uploaded upside-down.)

 

[WillTheThri11]

i know how this goes...I picked up my camper in Boulder CO and it was a mad dash to get it secured in order to hit the road and make it back to southern California. ended up taking a 5 day weekend instead of the 4 planned in the end. I actually drove it on the stock rear tie downs and on the front I had already drilled out the drain holes and placed eye bolts there previously (i know everyone's going to freak out that i used the composite bed...it was totally fine and we were able to get about 15 miles of washboard in that would rattle the turnbuckles loose pretty good before doing any damage hehe)

 

[BBZ]

Nice to hear the maiden voyage went well and nice to see the pics of that gem, its come a long way...

 

[CementTruckUT]

I have a related question. I have the Tacoma bars mounted in the bed and have quick links on the front bars, with turnbuckles, but no quicklinks on the back. On the back the quicklinks are mounted directly to the bars. Is this a problem? Should I get more quicklinks?