Thru bolt or not thru bolt...that is my question

[DavidGraves]

Howdy

I have reasons to through bolt my 2013 Hawk shell in lieu of the factory turnbuckle hold downs.

I understand the truckbed side of the equation but wonder about the floorpak.

All things considered it seems the best place for floor through bolts should be as close to the sides and the fore/aft corners of the floor pak.

Has anyone experience with thru bolts on an FWC and any failures ?

Many thanks

David Graves

North Oregon coast

 

[RC Pilot Jim]

David,
All trucks have steel floors except Tacomas. Buy the "elevator" Bolt from Four Wheel.

With Tacomas you have your local welder weld 1/4 inch steel plate onto the frame. Drill 3/8 inch hole through the camper, plastic bed floor through the plates add nut and you are done.

Our Eagle has been bolted down over 6 years and 51,000 miles with no problems.

 

[camper rich]

My old FWC (98 Ranger II Shell) had a 3/4" thick plywood floor but the newer FWCs have a very thin floor with strips of wood to support it spaced evenly along the bottom. This saves a lot of weight, but not sure it would hold up to thru bolting it to the bed.
I'm not sure what year they changed to the lighter weight floor.

 

[DavidGraves]

Thanks...I have a 3/4 floor and three 5/8 strips...planning to go thru them all for sure...into a 90's CHEVY bed.

I am mostly trying to get my brain around the structural difference between fastening the floor alone versus putting the entire floorpak in tension as the turnbuckles do.

FWIW I have no complaints with the turnbuckles.

David Graves

 

[PaulT]

David,

Check out this ODOT document. http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Forms/DMV/464.pdf
Bolting a camper onto the truck converts it from a pickup with camper to a motor home. This may not make a difference to you but you should be aware that it may affect insurance and registration costs. Check before drilling & bolting.

Paul

 

[larryqp]

I bought a used 2014 FWC Eagle shell. The previous owner had it bolted thru the floor onto his Ranger. I called the FWC factory, got their advice and thru bolted it to my 2009 Ford Ranger 4X4. Its been on the truck full time for 2 years. I've been off road on some pretty rough tracks and have not had any problems. I love the fact that I don't have to worry about turn buckles becoming loose.

My advice is to check with FWC they provide great customer support.

With regards to insurance, that's a involved topic. I have my FWC covered under a separate policy, so the truck has a policy, the FWC has a policy as well as our motorhome in which we live full-time. My insurance company required me to carry full-timers coverage on the FWC because we carry full-timers insurance on our motorhome. If you are not a full-time RVer, don't worry about the full-timer coverage. I tried a number of different insurance companies, but my choices are limited because there are not a lot of insurance companies that offer full-timers coverage. It all has to due with where your legal domicile is and your "garaging address". Mine happens to be Texas.

There is a thread about insurance on this forum somewhere.

 

[RC Pilot Jim]

Thanks Larry for your insurance comment.

We insure our Eagle through "Good Sam's" insurance company . Since its bolted down full time it carries the same annual mileage based cost as the truck -9,500 miles annually.

Annual premium camper only with $1,000 deductible (Liability, Comp, Collision and $2,000 personal effects) - $148.00. We have been with them over 30 years with one claim 20 years ago (Our then 1989 Toyota Truck was totaled in an accident (not our fault). Handling of medical, money for the truck (they doubled the Blue Book value), and misc items superb.

Location of bolt holes. Four Wheel will be able to advise you on this.

 

[DavidGraves]

FWIW, I realize that mounting a camper any way but the factory turnbuckle way is propbably not something FWC wants us to be talking about publicly and I can understand that point of view.

So.... PM me if you have anything to share about your experience if you have mounted your camper directly by through bolting the floor.

I know how to do what I plan....just wanting to hear of failures or close failures from other owners.

Many thanks,

David Graves

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

David,
Check out this ODOT document. http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Forms/DMV/464.pdf
Bolting a camper onto the truck converts it from a pickup with camper to a motor home. This may not make a difference to you but you should be aware that it may affect insurance and registration costs. Check before drilling & bolting.
Paul

Last I looked, if it is not for “human habitation” as I believe the regs still state, I’m not sure anything changes. I didn’t see anything that defined human habitation, but I interpret that to mean if permanent sleeping, cooking and bathroom facilities/capabilities are present, it needs to be registered.

Edit: just checked... permanent sleeping and cooking define human habitation. http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Forms/DMV/464.pdf Scroll down below fees.

 

[PaulT]

Since David is in Oregon, I just wanted him to be aware that bolting a camper to the truck instead of turnbuckles changes the legal definition of the combination to a motor home.

Paul

 

[nevaska]

I through-bolted my Eagle to a first-gen Tundra on advice directly from FWC for my application (rarely removing camper and using for off-road field work). Probably more hassle than its worth lining up bolt holes if you are going to take the camper off or you stay on the highway, but so far its worked for me. 3 3/4" x 3/8" bolts with large thick washers on both sides and nylon lock nuts.

 

[roverjohn]

From a structural standpoint a camper bolted in place will allow both the camper and the truck's bed to be much more flexible. Doing so loads the tub in a completely different manner changing a lot of the compression loads to tension. There is not a lot of mass above the tub on a FWC so I wouldn't worry about bolting it in cause other stresses to show up as long as, and this is important, FWC designs their campers in a way that allows bolting. Only they can tell you that.

A previous poster suggested welding some sort of plate to a Taco chassis. I would seriously not do that especially to a new truck. A lot of new trucks use hydro formed spring steel to make the chassis. It's done as it allows fairly complex shapes and they can save quite a lot of weight while making the chassis stronger. I would contact Toyota before welding because it could cause stress risers in the frame which could lead to cracks. It's hard for me to imaging that it wouldn't be possible to bolt something to the frame and then tie your camper down to whatever that might be.