Spring Loaded Turnbuckle?

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brp

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Nov 2, 2010
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The FWC and ATC aluminum frames are designed to flex. However, wouldn't a stretchable turnbuckle, and perhaps putting the camper on a mat/pad of some sort, allow for a lot more stretch/flex?

One reason I am asking is that the factory D-rings mounted in the bed of my Tacoma are pulling out of their mounts. I have the turnbuckles of my ATC Bobcat connected to them in the back.

I have seen the really long spring type turnbuckles, but not ones that would work for truck campers attached to the bed via turnbuckles. The ones from Happijac are too long.

Does anybody have any thoughts on this? I thought of building a turnbuckle that utilized a valve spring (from an automotive engine valve) so that you would maybe get one inch of flex with a lot of pull, they are very stiff. Another option would be some type of rubber bushings on each end of the turnbuckles that would compress.

The benefits would be:
-My d-rings would not pull out
-They likely would not loosen because they would be under constant load
-They would take stress off of the camper during frame flex.

The drawback(s):
-If you hit a speed bump the camper could "slap" down. If the springs offer very little flex and are very stiff, I think they would be less responsive than the truck's suspension, so you probably would not get "slap".

Thanks
 
Thanks Pods. I checked out the fastguns. Do those have a spring in them? To me they just looked like they make it easier to install turnbuckles, can't really tell though.

I did send in an info request to Happijac about their sprung turnbuckles, because it occurred to me that maybe I could just cut the threaded rod that makes up the main length of them. If the "barrel" is short enough, this could be a great option for us ATC and FWCers. That is what I asked about in my email.

For those of you that are not familiar with this stuff this link shows how the spring turnbuckle is set-up.

If you scroll down to the second picture here you can see that the barrel looks pretty short, it is the silver cylinder between the chain and the black plastic handle of the tightener. The barrel, plus a stubby hook on each end is what we would need.

I'll report back what I hear from Happijac.

Thanks

EDIT: I found this PDF. It looks like the ones designed for the rear, aka Stress Guard, have an 8" barrel.

I am going to make some measurements this week and see where that puts things.

I should note they make spring loaded turnbuckles for the front that have a 10" barrel and are not called "Stress Guard." I am not sure of the functional differences but it seems to me that the shorter barrel and the "Stress Guard" are good four our applications.
 
I am not surprised that the rear D rings for your Tacoma are pulling out. They are not very heavy duty in design. An eye bolt with good backing plate is a better idea for attaching the turnbuckles in the rear. I use Torklift frame mounts in the front which are spring loaded and I get no front slap at all. I admit that I do not do 'hard core' off roading and I try to take it easy on the rough roads.
 
Argo, the whole set-up is a little bit flimsy and I am not surprised either. I looked under the bed and the hardware/backing is bent. Toyota does make a d-ring with backing plate accessory rated at 400lbs, but I am still hesitant to just put a plate against the composite bed. I am going to find some fix that is basically the original set-up on steroids.

The actual d-ring itself appears to be in good shape, which is not good because it looks pretty wimpy to me, and it is apparently is stronger than the mount.

Thanks for the input.
 
You can take a look at Torklift.com and check out their springload XL. This is what I am using on all four tie down points. I also used the frame mounted attachment points. I don't feel good about the tie down points being attached to the body or bumper of my truck. These will give you a basic idea and if they are too long, I have seen shorter ones that I can't recall at the moment where I saw them. They are called the basic spring load tie down, also by Torklift. These look shorter by quite a bit, depending on the reach to the bed of your truck

Good Camping

Paul
 
The happijac tunrbuckles use replaceable threaded rods/hooks. You can cut them all the way down to a few threads left if you want. The rear ones use rubber bushings, the front springs. They may still be too long though. I sold mine when I got the FWC so cannot try it out.
 
I was going to post a new topic on the question of "spring-loaded turnbuckles?" when I found this existing topic.

So, ANY MORE/NEW THOUGHTS on the value, if any, of spring-loaded turnbuckles for our type of campers?

I lost two of my turnbuckles -- the ones in the rear, which loosened on rough roads and I didn't notice, and then they fell off and then they fell out of the back of the truck...apparently. Yeah, stupid, but there it is. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I need to get a couple of replacement turnbuckles, and I'll probably end up getting something like came stock with my FWC...but I thought I'd at least consider a spring-loaded type.
Why? I don't know...I haven't decided if physics makes them a good idea or not :oops: ...so I thought I'd ask for experience.

Thanks. :)
 
Mark, do you use a back up nut on the turnbuckle when you tighten it down? I use a wing nut on the standard thread side. I have never had a loose turnbuckle. I believe I have been on a few rough roads.
 
ski3pin said:
Mark, do you use a back up nut on the turnbuckle when you tighten it down? I use a wing nut on the standard thread side. I have never had a loose turnbuckle. I believe I have been on a few rough roads.
Click to expand...
No, I haven't been using backing nuts...but I remembered that you and others have recommended them, so I plan to...once I have a couple more turnbuckles ;)
 
Just to be clear...I wasn't specifically looking for a way to keep the turnbuckles from loosening, just wondering if there was some advantage to a spring-loaded turnbuckle system.
But maybe only relevant/useful for heavier campers -- those that need force-reducing mounts to keep the anchors from pulling out.
 
DirtyDog said:
Putting wing nuts on the turnbuckles was the only solution I ever needed.
Click to expand...
Agreed, that's the solution to loose turnbuckles.

My reason for mentioning the loss of turnbuckles wasn't because that was the problem I was trying to solve (that was just my own negligence). I mentioned the the lost turnbuckles just to establish why I needed new turnbuckles.

So, since I needed to buy a couple of turnbuckles anyway I was wondering if a different type of turnbuckles -- spring-loaded ones -- might be something to consider, have some worthwhile properties, and wondering what experience others may have had with them. That's what I was asking about.

But in the 24 hours since I made the first post I've thought about how spring-loaded turnbuckles would have to work, and it doesn't seem like something I'd want. If the springs stretch then the turnbuckle becomes longer, obviously -- which means the camper would be lifting off the truck bed (or shifting horizontally at least)...and then come slamming back down, driven by gravity AND the spring. :eek: Doesn't sound good (though there must be some reason/application for some people to buy them).

So, I'll stick with the standard type of turnbuckles as came with my camper.
I wonder if I can find replacements at a regular hardware store or if I need to go to an RV place... ? :unsure:
 
From what I can tell the turnbuckles that FWC uses are nothing special. In fact their working load limits is very low. If I had to buy new turnbuckles to replace the stock ones I'd be looking at stronger versions from Chicago Hardware or another company that makes solid forged turnbuckles.

http://www.chicagohardware.com/catalog/04_07_Fturnbuckles.pdf

I was also thinking of some day switching over from the current hook-hook turnbuckle to eye-hook turnbuckles. For these I'd quick link them to the camper so there always there on the camper and attached the hook to the camper when I put the camper on the truck. I hate having to store the turnbuckles, then sort through them to see which one goes where and then adjust each of them a bit to fit around the eyelet on the truck. If they're always on the camper's eyelets it's one less step I have to go through. Something like this (note the working load limit):

http://www.uscargocontrol.com/Rigging-Supplies-Hardware/Hook-Eye-Galvanized-Turnbuckles/1-2-x-6-Eye-Hook-Galvanized-Turnbuckle
 
Were I the mfg of a spring loaded turn-buckle I'd be shooting of spring with a rate that was above the inertial loading likely (camper mass times, say, 3G's) so that the moving camper couldn't compress the spring. That would allow for frame/bed twist w/o allowing the camper to bounce around. A car's valve spring isn't going to get you there (unless you have access to Top Fuel/Funny Car/Pro Stock type valve springs which *might* be close). Die springs, OTOH, are easy: http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-die-springs/=rymgsh

If that is indeed the design goal, then such a turn-buckle will be sized for a bigger and heavier camper than any pop-top since that is their actual market. Which means that the spring rate will be high enough that even with our rougher roads usage that the camper isn't likely to be bouncing around in the bed.
 
Lighthawk said:
I found my local hardware store had nylock wing nuts.
Click to expand...
Have you used those on your turnbuckles yet, Andy? Are they really hard to turn by hand...some nylock nuts are, and there's a lot of thread to traverse.
If not too bad I might make another trip to my local Ace and replace the regular nuts I bought, since I haven't installed them yet.
 
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