Originally posted by Harald:
Hi P3 guy,
There's basically 3 types of tie downs: bed mounted, frame mounted or stable-lift.
The bed mounted tie downs are inexpensive but don’t have the strength of the other mounts. Two common versions are Stake pocket tie downs (
http://www.crbrophy.com/tdhd.html ) and Happijac style (
www.happijac.com ). Stake pocket tie downs are inserted in the stake pockets and have a metal bar that extends outward and down the outside of the bed. You then use chain and/or turnbuckles to attach the camper to the mount. I would never use stake pocket tie downs unless the camper was very light because they rely of the strength of the stake pocket holes in the bed to hold your camper in place. The Happijac style consists of a mount bolted to the front of the bed and a mount attached to the rear bumper. The newer versions have strengthening bars included to strengthen them. But the strengthening bar inside the bed may cause interference with camper loading. Older styles that bolt direct to the bed and bumper are too weak IMO because new truck beds are too flimsy.
Another style of mount is the frame mounted tie downs. The simplest is a belly bar, which is just a long bar that bolts under the truck frame and sticks out both sides. You then use chains and turnbuckles to connect the camper to the mount. It is cheap, but you lose some ground clearance and the cheapest ones stick out the side of the truck so you risk bashing your shins. A better version of the frame mounts are ones like the Torklift (
www.torklift.com ). These are basically receiver hitches bolted to the truck frame that accept extensions for hooking the camper to. Use the same chain and turnbuckle to attach camper to truck. The nice thing about these is they have the strength of the belly bar, but the extension is removeable so that you don't hit your shins on them when the camper is off the truck. And you don’t lose any ground clearance because the mount bolts to the frame with no parts hanging low under the truck.
No matter which of the above mounts you use, using spring loaded turnbuckles is a good idea if the mount doesn’t have springs built in or else you run the risk of damaging the mounts because the camper can't move at all when hitting bumps or suddenly swerving. If there’s no “give†in the mounting, then the eyes can get ripped right out of the camper or the truck attach point can bend (I’ve seen bent beds where a Happijac mount was attached).
Finally, there’s the Stablelift mount (
www.stablelift.com ). It consists of a tubular stand and jack system. You simply raise the camper on the permanently attached frame, drive the truck under, lower the camper and then suck the frame up against the truck to hold the camper in place (there’s upside down “U†channels bolted to the truck frame that the camper stand ride in). Although pricey, it’s a secure and easy to use mount system. Besides cost, the main disadvantages are reduced ground clearance and some people object to the look of a truck with girdle attached.
