Tore Out Mounting Tiedown on Camper

[M1010 Mike]

Well, I got my materials together for a day to pull the camper and fix the mounts. Overall went well outside of limited access on the driver rear spot. FWC manage to mount the power converter over top the bolt. I ended up drilling a new mounting location 2.5" back from the original one. Works fine. I used 1/4" plate aluminum and grade 8 bolts. I also used some Loctite bonding glue to help put the torn out wood back in place and to bond the plates to the wood. Couldn't hurt. Well here's the pics.

Plate being used, 4.5"x12"

Bonding glue

Top place and grade 8 bolt

Bottom plate with eye loop

Well, hopefully that will take care of things for good. Camper is back on, centered up and turnbuckles set per FWC specs. Guess we'll see.

 

[RJones]

I'd like to see you pull that one out. Clean looking fix you have there.

Well, I got my materials together for a day to pull the camper and fix the mounts. Overall went well outside of limited access on the driver rear spot. FWC manage to mount the power converter over top the bolt. I ended up drilling a new mounting location 2.5" back from the original one. Works fine. I used 1/4" plate aluminum and grade 8 bolts. I also used some Loctite bonding glue to help put the torn out wood back in place and to bond the plates to the wood. Couldn't hurt. Well here's the pics.

Plate being used, 4.5"x12"

Bonding glue

Top place and grade 8 bolt

Bottom plate with eye loop

Well, hopefully that will take care of things for good. Camper is back on, centered up and turnbuckles set per FWC specs. Guess we'll see.

 

[bobc]

i did the same thing. I used a piece of aluminum the same size of the original.2010 Eagle. The grade 8 bolt should be stronger than those other ones . Thanks for sharing . I thought I was violating some engineering principle or something. I need to check my turnbuckles more often. I need locknuts. I use this camper a lot. A year ago I read on a forum submitted by someone from 4W about other options and now I can't find it. Did you ever come across this? Thank You.

 

[buckland]

No experience with the turnbuckles but I do have 20 some years of trouble free experience with the bolt through the floor system. This was how the factory used to do it and mine was a new factory install: 4 bolts through the floor back in 1983.

A lot of gravel, wash board, and four wheeling and never an issue. After reading several of these threads I think I'll stick with the old system on my new rig.


Hello. Have a 2011 Eagle on a 2001 Tacoma, I'm interested in your idea of bolting camper down through the floor. What are the best hole placements, did you use plates, what # strength bolt did you use? That also would free up the space in the wheel area for a greywater tank or other such retro-fit.

 

[buckland]

No experience with the turnbuckles but I do have 20 some years of trouble free experience with the bolt through the floor system. This was how the factory used to do it and mine was a new factory install: 4 bolts through the floor back in 1983.

A lot of gravel, wash board, and four wheeling and never an issue. After reading several of these threads I think I'll stick with the old system on my new rig.


Hello. Have a 2011 Eagle on a 2001 Tacoma, I'm interested in your idea of bolting camper down through the floor. What are the best hole placements, did you use plates, what # strength bolt did you use? That also would free up the space in the wheel area for a greywater tank or other such retro-fit.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

I also placed foam pipe insulation on top of the bed rails, which helps eliminate sway and seals the wheel well space from dirt and water.

This has held up very well.
[/quote]

Just looking through this thread and found something I can try. Rancher thanks for the idea. I'll pick up some black foam pipe insulator and attach it to the underside of the camper at the bed rails. Since I have a ACT Bobcat on a 1st gen Tundra,the camper doesn't stick out but an inch or so past the truck bed. This idea will seal that area nicely. When it's completed I'll post pics.
Thanks for the idea.Frank

 

[rotti]

Hello. Have a 2011 Eagle on a 2001 Tacoma, I'm interested in your idea of bolting camper down through the floor. What are the best hole placements, did you use plates, what # strength bolt did you use? That also would free up the space in the wheel area for a greywater tank or other such retro-fit.


Hi Buckland,

My old camper was a factory install that used four elevator bolts through the floor at the four corners. Underneath was simply a fender washer, lock washer and a nut. For specifics you could contact FWC as I believe they still sometimes mount campers that way.

On my new Hawk I went with the turnbuckles......time will tell I guess.

 

[WyoIDI]

Another idea is to use bolt hangers for rock climbing for the tie down anchor points. They are all tested and most have a failure strength of around 8-10,000 lbs. They mount flush as opposed to being tall like an eye bolt/carriage bolt. They are designed to reduce leverage which seems like the culprit in tearing out bolts from campers. I have them mounted in the bed of my truck for holding down large loads and hopefully for holding down a camper someday. They're cheap and come in stainless too. They take a 3/8'' bolt nicely. Hopefully the link works.

http://www.mountaingear.com/webstore/Gear/Climbing/Protection/Metolius/Bolt-Hanger/_/R-615070P.htm

Jon

 

[tnscoots]

Hi - I have a 2012 Tacoma and was told by Stan that we can't bolt the camper down due to the composite bed material, so he suggested these (see below):but I made a set with the help of a grad student in our sculpture dept. I teach at LSU, Baton Rouge, and I paid him handsomely but at 1/4 the cost of a factory set. They are held down be the original bolts that hold the bed down. You have to find the right "torx" socket to remove them. I bought a set at HD and the big socket was the right size.
Tom


Hello. Have a 2011 Eagle on a 2001 Tacoma, I'm interested in your idea of bolting camper down through the floor. What are the best hole placements, did you use plates, what # strength bolt did you use? That also would free up the space in the wheel area for a greywater tank or other such retro-fit.

 

[ntsqd]

Climbing anchors are intended to have the loads applied in a direction close to parallel with the surface that they are mounted on. The worst possible placement for a "bolt" (as they are called) is one where the load will be perpendicular to the surface. This is due to two concerns. First is that the strength of such a placement relies entirely on the pull-out strength of the anchor (which doesn't really apply to our use). Second is because the nature of the design of the tab results in an eccentric load which applies a compound bending moment against the anchor (which does apply and can be a significant concern).

For holding light stuff down in a p'up bed it's probably OK. I wouldn't suggest using them to hold down a camper as they will always apply a compound bending moment. A forged eye-bolt need only be aligned properly to any angled pull to reduce it's applied bending moment to be very small. I used some of these in the galvanized 1/2" size. They have 4" square, 1/8" thick load spreading plates under the bed, then a heavy flat washer and a nylock nut. Wanting no sharp edges or corners to act like a can opener against the bottom of the bed I also rounded the corners and radiused the top edges of the plates.
http://www.mcmaster.com/#general-purpose-eyebolts/=kj5xmk

 

[WyoIDI]

Climbing anchors are intended to have the loads applied in a direction close to parallel with the surface that they are mounted on. The worst possible placement for a "bolt" (as they are called) is one where the load will be perpendicular to the surface. This is due to two concerns. First is that the strength of such a placement relies entirely on the pull-out strength of the anchor (which doesn't really apply to our use). Second is because the nature of the design of the tab results in an eccentric load which applies a compound bending moment against the anchor (which does apply and can be a significant concern).

For holding light stuff down in a p'up bed it's probably OK. I wouldn't suggest using them to hold down a camper as they will always apply a compound bending moment. A forged eye-bolt need only be aligned properly to any angled pull to reduce it's applied bending moment to be very small. I used some of these in the galvanized 1/2" size. They have 4" square, 1/8" thick load spreading plates under the bed, then a heavy flat washer and a nylock nut. Wanting no sharp edges or corners to act like a can opener against the bottom of the bed I also rounded the corners and radiused the top edges of the plates.
http://www.mcmaster.com/#general-purpose-eyebolts/=kj5xmk



I understand what you're saying with the direction of which they are being pulled and thought about that thoroughly. With my particular camper/turnbuckle set-up the angle of the turnbuckle from the camper to the truck bed is by no means pulling straight out on the bolt hanger. It's at about a 45degree angle, which on overhanging rock climbs is pretty close to the direction of pull if one were to fall on a bolt. The bending of the tab in the bolt seems to transfer to the backing plate I installed, not the wood or steel. Also the mcmaster website warns about strength of eye bolts being significantly reduced when pulled at an angle. I'm sure the eye bolt won't break, but it's going to transfer that stress to what it's mounted in. I'm not trying to argue with you, I just work with bolts on a daily basis for my job and have seen bolt hangers severely stressed (in rock of course) in multiple directions and have seen nothing that would convince me an eye bolt would preform any better. All I see with the eye bolts is a taller anchor point and increased leverage. Obviously the surface you're mounting the eyebolt/bolt into makes a difference but in the 6 months of living in and out of my camper driving into extremely rough trailheads I've noticed no bending of the bolt hangers or surfaces they're mounted in. If you use a good enough backing plate it shouldn't be an issue either way.