"New" Hallmark

O

OpenSpace

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Joined
Jul 21, 2015
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58
Location
Colorado Plateau
Been hanging out here for quite awhile now reading and learning, and wanted to say what a great community and resource this is.

Been debating between an ATC, FWC, or Hallmark. Well, a great (good) deal on a 2011 Guanella just came up and I pick it up in a week. Woohoo - haven't been this excited in awhile!

Never had a camper before so I hope it meets the expectation. Come from a life-long outdoors background and still sleep on the ground (which I generally like), so this thing thing should be ridiculous in its comfort.

Trying to figure out the best way to attach; seems most love their Hallmarks but not the attachment system. May try Torklift setup - open to suggestions.

At any rate I'll post up pics once we get 'er on the truck!

Going on this: 2012 Silverado cc shorted 6.0 gasser.
 

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I had Happijac tie downs and forklift fast guns on my 2006 Ram 2500 with Hallmark Milner and Northstar Laredo. Totally satisfied.
 
first congrats on the new camper - looking forward to pics when you get it settled

Had happi-jac's on my 99 Ram / Sunlite and went with tork lifts on my 2014. Had/have many carefree miles with both. If I had it to do all over again I still think I'd still go with the TL's on my 14. They are a bit overkill for my Hallmark but I like the way they are engineered and adjustable. For instance I was able to drill a second set of holes in the front tiedown to get the width exactly right my my camper tiedowns

Suggest you cruise the hallmark facebook page and look for a similar camper on a truck like yours - and evaluate have the tiedowns are used. Depending on the mounting and location of the brackets you might get some funky angles with the tiedowns.
 
Welcome to the club! You will not be disappointed...

We have Tork Lifts as well with the fast guns and have been very satisfied. Solid and easy to install and once hooked up you can forget about it.

Just an FYI, I just bought a new '16 F-350 last week and the TL I had for my 2006 will not fit. If they work for you I will make you one hella deal....something to thing about.

Enjoy your rig!
 
My Happijac’s tie downs have held up well but didn’t provide enough angle to keep the front of the camper pulled up against the truck bed. The camper slid back a few inches several times when traveling off road. I had Hallmark add a second set of front tie down anchor point’s to get some forward tension on the camper, problem solved.

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Went with a complete Torklift tiedown/fastgun system. Pick up and install of the camper is next Thursday, after which I'll take a few days camping to get home and familiarize myself with the camper. Yeehaw!!
 
You'll like the fastguns, they make it real clean and easy. On my F350, I have the Happijack bed mounts at the front, but use the Torklift's in the back. The rear Happijacks attach to the bumper and considering it's as strong as aluminum foil, they don't do so well. On the Ford, the Torklift's just slide into the square tubing of the hitch so they are real easy to install/remove.
 
Well, as planned I got the camper last Thursday and took a few days to get home. It's really sweet - used less than 12 times, everything works perfectly and it doesn't have a scratch on it.

Drove over to Valley of the Gods where I spent my 1st night and by chance met up with a few WTW folks (thanks for the warm camaraderie). Continued south and spent my 2nd night in the cinder hills around Flagstaff.

Torklift system is nice - simple and solid. Glad I went with it.

Already making some mods (just read the "Low cost Mods" thread - brilliant) to personalize it and make it "ours". Also looking at a few suspension upgrades for a better ride and greater reliability.

Everything's a compromise and mine is the overall size of my setup which will keep us off some of the narrower tracks. But for 90% of our adventures we should be good.

Primary 1st impression is how quick and easy the setup and takedown is. Coming from a tenting background it seems like we're cheating somehow.

Already heading out again next weekend - super excited!

A few pics to prove it's real!
 

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<p>Nice looking camper. We have the same fabric on the cushions in our 2015 Outfitter.</p>
 
Same fabric here too in our 2015 K2, pretty popular choice. Interior looks almost identical to mine. Love how much light comes in with all those big windows opened up.

Nice camper, you should enjoy for a long time.
 
Nice camper. I'm sure you will enjoy it. We love our Hallmark Ute. Especially the wife who likes all the ammenities.
 
Thanks for all the kind comments, and indeed the camper is meeting the expectation. Been out on 3 separate trips already!

Vic, not completely sure what constitutes a Hallmark option, but the camper has a fantastic fan and an additional vent above the bed, a roof-mounted solar panel (not sure wattage but I believe about 100) with 2 deep cycle batteries and a charge controller, a radio, a rotopax gas canister, electric jacks and roof, and a bunch of other stuff that I believe is standard.

I'm going to add a ladder, a portable panel to get around 200 watts total, an inverter, and possibly a compressor fridge. Hallmark will sell me a 12 volt Novakool fridge which is exactly the size of the current Dometic 3-way. Really wanted a chest-style but not sure where to put it, and honestly don't know that I need any 12 volt refer?

Going to better secure the drawers as the notch system Hallmark uses is inadequate (for me), and get a pair of front brackets mounted under the camper so I can get my Fastguns off the jacks and remove them.

Also doing a slight lift on the truck with some Cognito parts. Will get some air bags and a front bumper to deer proof and 34" or 35" tires. Last addition will be a Ruger or M416 trailer (could put the fridge in there).

Fun stuff!
 
We've been really happy with our Guanella on a Dodge Ram 2500 CTD short bed. Hallmark installed Happijac box-mounted tie downs which we'd read were not as strong as the frame mounts, but they added some extra reinforcement which seems to do a great job of holding things together on really rough roads (just did the Maze District of Canyonlands this past week). Bill had suggested we swap out the front (spring loaded) and rear (dampened) turnbuckles by unscrewing/removing the threaded hooked bolts and swapping them around, but we'd read some posts suggesting that was not necessary/undesirable so we kept them as sold by Torklift. Lo and behold when we hit a big bump at moderate speed in the middle of friggin nowhere, the unsprung rear turnbuckles jerked the attachment plates on the undersides of the camper clean through the plywood in which they were mounted, leaving us with turnbuckles on the ground and gaping holes in the plywood on both sides of our camper's underside. We plan to cover the holes in the plywood with 1/8 inch aluminum plates and re-attach turnbuckle mounts through the plates, and this time we're going to follow bill's advice and go spring loaded in back and keep the front tight (spring loaded in front seemed to allow too much slop and cause the turnbuckles to come unhooked when roads got rough; conversely lack of spring loaded in back seems to be a risk for sudden undampened load stress, causing destruction of mounting points on the camper). Essentially, you want the camper snugged up against the cab for off roading, and the back has to be able to wander a bit so it doesn't destroy itself.
It's a learning curve, and unfortunately the curriculum is trial and error.
Air bags are great, as is a compressor to air down and back up when you get onto particularly rocky or sandy roads.
Enjoy your new rig, sounds like a good one!

By the way, our 3-way fridge works fine. We got our camper used without solar and were planning on installing a system (Bill will tell you how to do it if you ask), but we're so satisfied with how things work at present we're going to just leave the camper the way it is until further notice.
 
DoGMAtix said:
We've been really happy with our Guanella on a Dodge Ram 2500 CTD short bed. Hallmark installed Happijac box-mounted tie downs which we'd read were not as strong as the frame mounts, but they added some extra reinforcement which seems to do a great job of holding things together on really rough roads (just did the Maze District of Canyonlands this past week). Bill had suggested we swap out the front (spring loaded) and rear (dampened) turnbuckles by unscrewing/removing the threaded hooked bolts and swapping them around, but we'd read some posts suggesting that was not necessary/undesirable so we kept them as sold by Torklift. Lo and behold when we hit a big bump at moderate speed in the middle of friggin nowhere, the unsprung rear turnbuckles jerked the attachment plates on the undersides of the camper clean through the plywood in which they were mounted, leaving us with turnbuckles on the ground and gaping holes in the plywood on both sides of our camper's underside. We plan to cover the holes in the plywood with 1/8 inch aluminum plates and re-attach turnbuckle mounts through the plates, and this time we're going to follow bill's advice and go spring loaded in back and keep the front tight (spring loaded in front seemed to allow too much slop and cause the turnbuckles to come unhooked when roads got rough; conversely lack of spring loaded in back seems to be a risk for sudden undampened load stress, causing destruction of mounting points on the camper). Essentially, you want the camper snugged up against the cab for off roading, and the back has to be able to wander a bit so it doesn't destroy itself.
It's a learning curve, and unfortunately the curriculum is trial and error.
Air bags are great, as is a compressor to air down and back up when you get onto particularly rocky or sandy roads.
Enjoy your new rig, sounds like a good one!

By the way, our 3-way fridge works fine. We got our camper used without solar and were planning on installing a system (Bill will tell you how to do it if you ask), but we're so satisfied with how things work at present we're going to just leave the camper the way it is until further notice.
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Hmmm, sounds to me like the camper's mounting plates were weak rather than the turnbuckles being at fault. Both types of Torklift turnbuckles have enough play to not put excessive force on the camper, unless you had them tightened so strongly that there was no slack.

We, too, had several problems with Torklift turnbuckles that Hallmark installed. Three out of four came loose in the first few hundred miles. It was useless to ask Hallmark about it because they insisted that it must be my fault for not checking them constantly. When I asked why the turnbuckles labeled "front" and "rear" were reversed, Hallmark said that they need to be that way for their "lightweight" camper and that they know more than the manufacturer!

Well, when I couldn't do anything to make the turnbuckles work properly, I called Torklift. After a discussion with a technician and sending them photos, they pointed out several ways my turnbuckles were incorrectly installed and sent me new ones with complete instructions on proper adjustment. No problems since.
 
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