Truck bed - slight crack visible -

[Josh41]

Back left eye bolt. And one of the whole thing 'cause I felt like it.

 

[PackRat]

Josh...It looks to me like you caught the tearing EARLY and as such could easily use the gusset plates in the bed and under it to SPREAD out the forces trying rip the eyebolt through the floor. I like the second bolt as well as it effectively locks the gusset plates to the floor.

If srileo can get the floor in his truck welded up properly, he can use a similar set up on his truck bed as well.

The goal is simply to SPREAD out the force of the camper pulling away from the truck bed as you go down a rough road, especially a washboard surface or rocky road where there is a LOT of side-to-side stress or fore and aft flexing.

Again, I suspect that any loosening of the eyebolts or the turnbuckles greatly increases the allowance of the camper to "move" and that looseness allows for inertia to put a LOT of force on the truck bed and/or the camper floor.

 

[Josh41]

It's not a loose turnbuckle issue. I have never found them loose in the 15k miles I've hauled this around. I think it is really just not an ideal tie down system and thin truck bed. Nissan does show in the manual that you can use a truck camper but they do not show how to secure it.
Before my FWC I had another brand with frame mounted front tie downs, obviously there were no problems with the bed, but it would be in the way for off road use. Additionally, I am now taking it off road.
I'll just keep checking it, knowing that I will need to weld something in place down the road.

My dealer (MainLine Overland) took care of it at no charge about 10 months after purchase, it is nice to know that they have my back.

 

[srileo]

All,picking up the threads again on this issue. I was off for a while with job hunt etc. I've decided to sell the truck camper and move on to other things.

I hoped to repair it and then sell it, but after talking to bodyshops etc, I decided to sell the truck+camper combo as is for a good price instead and save some precious time in the process.

Thank you all for your recommendations and insights. I will certainly be sharing this thread with any potential owners.

 

[Andy Douglass]

I'm no welder but I seem to remember that drilling a hole at the ends of the cracks will stop them from spreading.