Turnbuckle options

[scappoosebrad]

We just took delivery on a new Fleet ... mounted on our 93 Nissan SE-V6 King Cab...the design/location of the truck's wheel wells leaves very little room for my "fat hands" to reach through the mount door, past the very close wheel wells to the eye hook mounted on truck bed, and tighten the front 2 turnbuckles...in fact, Lynn, my wife, with smaller hands was the only person between Jeff and myself who could reach in there and tighten as needed...Jeff @ the Tigard distributor, said one customer who had come into his shop had found/used turnbuckles with a locking "flip panel" (instead of the long screw mounts on your standard turnbuckle)...

Has anyone out there found and use these kind of "locking flip panel" turnbuckles? if you have, would love to see a photo and/or a website where we could purchase these especially for our front tie downs...
Thanks...

 

[DavidGraves]

Hi Brad

They can be hard to reach or secure with a lock nut.

You might consider looking for shorty wrenches or even modify an existing tool and dedicate it to this job.

It is the most important thing you can do carefully to secure you camper.

It takes a lot of patience and a bit of yoga.

DavidGraves

Nehalem

Is the dealer in Tigard using forged turnbuckles ?

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Brad, I think those might be the Derringer style/brand of tie down. You might try google...

 

[BillM]

In the long run it may be easier to make the access doors longer so that you have better access. If it is difficult to tighten/check you may be tempted to not check turnbuckle tightness and this can lead to camper damage if they loosen even a small amount.

 

[scappoosebrad]

I did find a few "flip locking" turnbuckle models online--but way too expensive and mainly for outside connections with larger campers...

Bill, I think your idea is best...in fact, if you saw my other post where our new camper, due to roof popping issues, is returning to the factory for repair, I have requested that the factory (to offset our inconvenience) enlarge the front door openings to allow us easier access to the the forward turnbuckles... I suspect they will do that which should ease our problem and allow "larger" hands to reach/tighten with out bruises and scrapes each time tightening/loosening is attempted... thanks again for your feedback...

 

[DavidGraves]

HAHAHAHAAHA !

Brad wants to install without bruises and scrapes !!!!!

When I bought my Hawk used in CA , it was 8000 degrees outside and the seller was sort of well.....there you go.....enjoy !

And he had crap turnbuckles and I had lots of stupid straps.....and I only have one left arm......etc, ad nauseum.

and I wanted to make time north toward Oregon before rush hour !

Seriously, anything you can do to make the process easier to keep track of turnbuckles will serve many times over.

Maybe I can see your unit when we pass thru Woodland in a few days..... weeks.....some damn time.'''for an annual trip to Baja Sur.

DavidGraves