Truck bed - slight crack visible -

[srileo]

Hi all,
I have a FWC Hawk mounted on a Nissan Titan. I just noticed a slight cracking of the bed where the rear eyebolts goes through the bed. How should i go about this repair? Is it just a welding around the edges job or something more serious? I also do not have camper jacks to take the camper off - makes things more difficult in terms of repair.

Please advise.

 

[klahanie]

IDK but I think that should have more than a repair. I'd look into a reinforcement and or relocation of both front anchors.

Could you post a pic of the underside, might help for advice.

 

[srileo]

Adding some more photos from inside and outside.

I've asked FWC for advise. Lets see what they say.

 

[Vic Harder]

Yikes! I've seen unibody cars crack like that near the suspension mounts on hard driven track cars, and besides welding the cracks up, they always reinforce them with more/thicker metal to ensure it does't happen again.

That's nasty looking.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I don’t think welding is the answer, as it may make the metal next to the weld brittle. I’d talk to a good welding or body shop to see if there is any validity to my opinion, and hear their recommended repair.

Root cause is too much loading on the eyebolt, with not enough reinforcing washer/plate between the nut and underside of the bed. It should be a relatively easy fix, but I believe the camper should be unloaded.

 

[PackRat]

Wow...I'm with the guys here....
1) remove camper from truck
2) remove any paint/undersealing from within 6-8 inches of any of the cranks (you have several!)
3) go to a COMPETANT welding shop and after they assess the damage, if they can weld it SAFELY then do so
4) ask them to fabricate two pieces of metal (maybe each one is 3/16" or 1/4" aluminum), they need to conform to the bends in the floor
5) they will sandwich the existing floor above and below
6) they need at least FOUR bolts through both plates away from the eyebolt hole you will re-drill through both plates
7) paint and spray undersealing if used

Now, if one is failing, then the other one across is also failed or will...and checking the other two is next. This is metal fatigue....like bending a piece of metal back and forth until it breaks.

Or....ask FWC how they mount the Hawk or similar campers on Nissan or similar trucks....maybe a bracket from side to side or they install those plates (gussets) similar to what I suggested.

This is all predicated on your doing the work, having a body/fender shop "fix" the bed and then returning to FWC to get a better system of mountings installed or....just asking FWC to fix it for you......dollars being the deciding factory vs. skills.

I myself suspect that loose tie-downs are the problem but....it gets worse....perhaps the floor of the camper where the eyebolts go through has equally been damaged? Time to dismount and check that as well...

 

[RicoV]

Srileo, I just now checked the topsides and undersides on my Titey, and can't find any evidence of bed cracking anywhere near the four mounting points. FWC used 2" washers on each when mounting our Grandby shell, which seems to have provided adequate anchoring for my config, so far. Let's hope the bed stress you're apparently getting isn't residual from any of those repairs you had to do awhile back on your Titey/Hawk. I agree with the advice above, so best of luck to you, and let us know how it goes.
Rico.

 

[Alley-Kat]

And, you may want to think about some truck bed to frame rail attachment brackets.

I've got a lot of washboard dirt miles on my Ranger and ATC Bobcat camper, no issues.

 

[JHanson]

I don't think any repair will do much but gain you some time before it happens again. The sheet metal of the bed is clearly not up to the task of supporting the stress from the camper. The backing plate is nearly pointless as it does not appear to bear on the bed steel except over a few square inches. You need to have a mount engineered to tie into the chassis, as in Alley-Kat's photo.

 

[wuck]

Srileo, I started thinking about your roll away incident, and was wondering if the bed was damaged. But, in reviewing the thread, I see the bed was replaced as part of the repair. So, that brings me to what type of parts did they use, OEM (Nissan) or aftermarket? Maybe an aftermarket bed isn't as strong as the original - something to check out.

I recall reading once that an insurance company (perhaps mine, State Farm) would stand behind aftermarket parts used for repairs as long as you owned the vehicle.

 

[PackRat]

If your truck bed is secured to the frame with no rubber isolators and has no means to flex whatsoever and Is basically a uni-body type assembly, then the brackets that attach the truck bed to the frame are a wonderful idea. However if there is movement of the truck bed as the frame is flexing or torquing in an off-road or washboard road situation that would seem to me to be a worse idea...no offense meant.

What I mean is while the frame and the bracket do NOT allow for any movement, the truck bed will if it is designed to have some flex to it. That would tend to want to push UP that bracket and eyebolt through the truck bed floor and as it flexes the other way, it would pull it DOWN where it is attached.

It isn't a good situation either way in my book, but since ATC and FWC use the truck BED as their factory installed attachment points, I would stay with that plan....just beef up the floor by spreading the pull around more than a 2" flatwasher on top/bottom can and I think that along with monitoring the turnbuckles would stop that flexing which is tearing the floor of the truck bed apart.

Alaskan owners (that's me) prefer the Happijacs up front attached to the brackets that are bolted to the front of the truck bed and depending on how long the bed is vs the camper, use attachment points on the rear bumper to secure it in the back. That is a mixture of attaching points, but the front two Happijacs are spring-loaded to take some flexing which should address that problem. I wonder if you can use those Happijacs up front on your rig? I have seen multiple posts about failed/cracked El Cheapo turnbuckles that fail once they have become a tad loose and inertia when on rough roads puts a hugh amount of stress on them....as you have seen the truck bed suffer from...

 

[srileo]

So, back then, the bed was replaced completely, and the donor bed was from another titan. All other parts were new Nissan original. I have the invoices to prove that. The re-install of the camper was done by FWC, and there were no issues raised then....

Srileo, I started thinking about your roll away incident, and was wondering if the bed was damaged. But, in reviewing the thread, I see the bed was replaced as part of the repair. So, that brings me to what type of parts did they use, OEM (Nissan) or aftermarket? Maybe an aftermarket bed isn't as strong as the original - something to check out.

I recall reading once that an insurance company (perhaps mine, State Farm) would stand behind aftermarket parts used for repairs as long as you owned the vehicle.

 

[srileo]

If your truck bed is secured to the frame with no rubber isolators and has no means to flex whatsoever and Is basically a uni-body type assembly, then the brackets that attach the truck bed to the frame are a wonderful idea. However if there is movement of the truck bed as the frame is flexing or torquing in an off-road or washboard road situation that would seem to me to be a worse idea...no offense meant.

What I mean is while the frame and the bracket do NOT allow for any movement, the truck bed will if it is designed to have some flex to it. That would tend to want to push UP that bracket and eyebolt through the truck bed floor and as it flexes the other way, it would pull it DOWN where it is attached.

It isn't a good situation either way in my book, but since ATC and FWC use the truck BED as their factory installed attachment points, I would stay with that plan....just beef up the floor by spreading the pull around more than a 2" flatwasher on top/bottom can and I think that along with monitoring the turnbuckles would stop that flexing which is tearing the floor of the truck bed apart.

Alaskan owners (that's me) prefer the Happijacs up front attached to the brackets that are bolted to the front of the truck bed and depending on how long the bed is vs the camper, use attachment points on the rear bumper to secure it in the back. That is a mixture of attaching points, but the front two Happijacs are spring-loaded to take some flexing which should address that problem. I wonder if you can use those Happijacs up front on your rig? I have seen multiple posts about failed/cracked El Cheapo turnbuckles that fail once they have become a tad loose and inertia when on rough roads puts a hugh amount of stress on them....as you have seen the truck bed suffer from...

Its funny you suggest the Happijacs. When the accident happened to my truck a while back, I called FWC and said "hey now is a good time to install happijacs while the repairs are happening and insurance is footing the bill. what do you say?" and unfortunately, the owner of FWC happened to take that call that day and sounded quite offended at the suggestion and basically said "if u want us to do it, install it through the bed, like everyone else does". And there the matter ended, until now. I think i have to think through the options again now. Wish i can remind him of that conversation now. But ofcourse, i will get the "we have never seen anything like this happen in all the hundreds of install we do every year."

 

[srileo]

Wow...I'm with the guys here....
1) remove camper from truck
2) remove any paint/undersealing from within 6-8 inches of any of the cranks (you have several!)
3) go to a COMPETANT welding shop and after they assess the damage, if they can weld it SAFELY then do so
4) ask them to fabricate two pieces of metal (maybe each one is 3/16" or 1/4" aluminum), they need to conform to the bends in the floor
5) they will sandwich the existing floor above and below
6) they need at least FOUR bolts through both plates away from the eyebolt hole you will re-drill through both plates
7) paint and spray undersealing if used

Now, if one is failing, then the other one across is also failed or will...and checking the other two is next. This is metal fatigue....like bending a piece of metal back and forth until it breaks.

Or....ask FWC how they mount the Hawk or similar campers on Nissan or similar trucks....maybe a bracket from side to side or they install those plates (gussets) similar to what I suggested.

This is all predicated on your doing the work, having a body/fender shop "fix" the bed and then returning to FWC to get a better system of mountings installed or....just asking FWC to fix it for you......dollars being the deciding factory vs. skills.

I myself suspect that loose tie-downs are the problem but....it gets worse....perhaps the floor of the camper where the eyebolts go through has equally been damaged? Time to dismount and check that as well...

That sounds like the right plan. I am waiting for FWC 'Engineering Dept' to get back to me. Apparently the Service dept does not have an opinion until Engg weighs in. I am a bit underwhelmed by FWC.

 

[srileo]

And, you may want to think about some truck bed to frame rail attachment brackets.

I've got a lot of washboard dirt miles on my Ranger and ATC Bobcat camper, no issues.

Is that bracket something custom?

 

[Alley-Kat]

Yes, I designed it and built it.
Transfers the load and stress of the camper directly to the frame rails.
The thin truck bed sheet metal carries no load or stress.
Easy to copy my photo and take it to a welder to be made.

 

[Josh41]

I was having a similar issue in my Nissan Frontier (2016) with a Fleet. At all four corners, the spot welds starting to come up. Mainline Overland installed the camper last year, and they took a few hours to install larger plates top and bottom with a second bolt (other than the eyebolt) to hold it all together. They had talked to FWC and this was their advise. So far so good, I'll snap a few images later and post them here.

 

[srileo]

Thanks Josh. Hope this is not a Nissan thing. I'd appreciate your photos of the fix and of the spot welds if possible.

I was having a similar issue in my Nissan Frontier (2016) with a Fleet. At all four corners, the spot welds starting to come up. Mainline Overland installed the camper last year, and they took a few hours to install larger plates top and bottom with a second bolt (other than the eyebolt) to hold it all together. They had talked to FWC and this was their advise. So far so good, I'll snap a few images later and post them here.

 

[PackRat]

Hmm...did FWC say why they choose to use standard turnbuckles as opposed to Happijacs? I understand they prefer to mount the camper to the floor of the truck bed rather than mount them on the exterior as my Alaskan is, but I wonder why the front turnbuckle in your pic could not be replaced by a Happijac? Unless the distance from any type of eyebolt on the camper and the truck bed is too close for the Happijac to be used/tightened.

The selling point on the Happijac system is the front pair have some spring loaded "give" to them which allows for any frame flex and/or side to side flex to avoid tearing the floor out of the camper or the truck bed.

However, if they insist that standard turnbuckles are the only way to go, I would certainly use a decent gauge of wire to insure that as the truck/camper flexes, that they do not loosen....as a loose turnbuckle is worthless since it allows the kid of damage you have....something's gotta give....and we can see the metal fatigue has "torn" the truck bed, we just don't know if the camper floor as also begun to fail from the same type of movement.

In the past, with my big ol' Lance camper mounted on my F-250, I used the Happijac system tied to an external bracket bolted on the front corners and rear mounts on the fender. One of my standard routines was every time I stopped for gas/food or departed for a campground or left it, checking the Happijacs to see if they were still TIGHT was a part of my "pre-flight" walk-around so to speak.

 

[Josh41]

These are the welds that are cracking on the Nissan Frontier bed. I'll snap the fix shortly.