FWC falls off truck

[smlobx]

This may have been posted previously but the owner of the rig has written a story about what happened and how it turned out.
Good read and great outcome!

https://www.truckcampermagazine.com/off-road/adventures/the-camper-that-fell-off/

 

[AWG_Pics]

That is a great story! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

It happened quite a while ago and even made it into the magazine his “rescuers” write for. Still funny today...thanks for posting.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

That's a great story.
Lesson learned,check the turnbuckles
before and during the really ruff trails/roads.
Frank

 

[So Cal Adventurer]

I'll still argue this entire story was fake and planned for marketing/blogging purposes..

None of it adds up if you really think about it.

If you're seriously that out of tune with the noises and sounds of your camper being that loose on a dirt road, you probably shouldn't have one anyway.

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

I can assure you that was not a fake story.

The customer is not a professional blogger.

Just an older International traveler out exploring for a few years by himself.

And we surly don't want it for marketing purposes, LOL.

But it was a good lesson learned and hopefully other will check their turn buckles more often.

 

[lmwilco1]

Sounds like pretty good marketing to me, Even though the owner did not check his turnbuckles as directed and the camper fell off it survived with minimal damage. Being able to survive that is a testament to the toughness of the camper.

 

[Andy Douglass]

I doubt FWC wants prospective customers thinking too much about their product falling off.

 

[Sharx]

I was at a NoCal FWC rally couple years ago and sat across the table from a woman who had hers fall off the back of her truck on the highway. She said she felt a shudder, heard a bang, and when she looked in her mirror, she saw her camper breaking apart on the highway. She admitted that she had not even looked at her turnbuckles since she had purchased it. Lesson learned there for sure.

 

[Zoomad]

I'm happy my FWC is bolted onto my blazer at multiple points on the bed and cab. The story is great. I follow a few of the writers that ran into him on Instagram and they all had posted about finding the camper on the trail.

 

[sierrajoe]

What an amazing story and even more amazing good luck (after the bad luck!)
I have driven that Cerro Gordo road more than once and never saw another vehicle! I have had turnbuckle hooks straighten also and had them loosen on far distant rough roads. Never did think about using lock nuts - good plan.

 

[JWL]

So it begs the question, why don’t they just come with lock nuts in the first place? I can see it being harder to tighten, but then, it makes it harder to loosen.
Not having my camper yet and having not had the pleasure of reaching in to tighten the turnbuckles on a Hawk Shell is there a reason not to have lock nuts?

 

[CoreyTrevor]

I read somewhere that having a nut there actually puts more tension on the bolt, by preloading that little part of it between the nut and turnbuckle, and that could cause it to break there.

I don't remember ever reading of that actually happening.

 

[Sharx]

Personally, I broke at least 4 or 5 turnbuckles, it was my fault for checking them more often. The final timne I did, I did a bit more investigation.
1. The more loose they get, the more prone to them breaking. With slack, the next big jolt will put more force on them than if they are snug. Once you break 2 or 3, you might put so much force on the remaining one(s) you too can watch you camper disappear in your mirror.
2. J hook bolts on the end of the turnbuckle break easier than eye bolt style ones.
3. The bolted down brackets the turnbuckle's attach to, are about 1/8-1/4 inch thick and any bolt you attach is round shaped steel bent to its J or Eye shape at the MFG. So you are putting the square edge of the bracket against and round shape of the J/eye bolt. Very little contact area to take massive weight/G force against each other when you hit a bump or accelerate. I found my solution right next to the turnbuckle's at the hardware store. Shackles look like a small horseshoe with a small threaded bolt between its ends. The best ones are much thicker where it will meet your bracket. You will need shorter turnbuckles and once you put these on and thread the shackles bolt through an eye bolt connected to the turnbuckle, tighten and lastly put a zip tie though one shackle and the turnbuckle to keep it from backing off. I recently checked my connections and it's probably been 18 months since I last put them on when I took my Fleet off (it's on 100%, drive daily on the worst highways at speed). I doubt they will need to be tightened unless I take it off again.