27 replies to this topic

[MarkBC]

Has anyone here ever had damage to your rig -- pickup with camper mounted on it -- from driving on very rough roads?

 

"Rough" could be bad washboard or rock-studded roads or deeply potholed roads -- road features that can severely jar/vibrate the rig.

"Damage" is mainly asking about truck damage, since the camper is so much simpler...though I guess there could be hidden damage to the camper frame...or something that might happen at either end of the camper-mounting turnbuckles..

I'm asking about personal experience -- happened to you or someone in your party, not something you heard/read about.

 

I just got back from a camping trip that included quite a bit of rough road -- bad washboard and rock-studded dirt and driving directly on rough bedrock...and I don't always drive gently...

...and though my truck and camper are still fine, AFAIK...as I was vibrating/bumping/banging along out there, at times it crossed my mind to wonder how much stress -- "punishment" -- my truck and camper can reasonably handle.       

So I'm just asking -- kinda like a poll -- if anything bad has happened to anyone here driving in similar circumstances -- ??

 

A related question:  Might there be any "effects" (things that need attention but aren't obvious to me) that happened on my rough-road driving trip that I or a mechanic could/should check for?  Maybe things that aren't damaged but just loose, for example?  Suggestions for what to check?

 

 

(This topic could go in the "Trucks, Truck Accessories..." forum, but posting it here in hopes of limiting input to experience with pickups with campers mounted on them...not horror stories of trucks/4X4s in general or passenger cars on roads they shouldn't be.)

 

Thanks!

[Spitfire]

I didn't have my camper on at the time but I took my truck over a severely washboarded National Forest road near Mt Adams and one of my power steering hoses came loose. I got extremely lucky as my destination was a campground and happened to find somebody in the campground with a wrench and some ATF which got me home. My Chevy truck has the hydroboost system where the power brakes get their power from the power steering pump so I really could have been in trouble.

[ntsqd]

Cottonwood Wash, UT. My wife's itinerary had us going north to Kodachrome on it, and it's a far piece to go around.

 

Road was "closed" with one A frame barricade. How bad can it be says I, we can always turn back if we have to. So up we went cautiously looking for why it was closed. Got to a puddle that was wider than the road. Stopped and looked it over. Sandy bottom looked firm, still to be on the safe side I thought to drive on the shallow side (to the left) and try to keep the LS tires on the semi-dry. About 2/3 of the way thru the rig slid sideways into the deep water. Instinctive response from years of driving a 22R is "gun it!" Only this is a 6BT Cummins, not a 22R.

AND there was a 4"-6" tall step submerged under the water.

 

Camper shifted stretching/distorting the mounts enough to make a divot and break the paint in the DS bed-rail about 5" aft of the front stake pocket. The DS "Happi-Jack" stake pocket mount is permanently bent. Phoenix apparently expects anchoring to happen off of the jack brackets because there are no other known hard points to tie it down from.

[Ted]

My experience is similar to Spitfires. Look for things that worked loose. My Father and I were in Mulege, Baja Sur. The whole way down it was rain, rain rain.Three bridges on Highway 1, the only paved road through Baja, were washed out behind us. It took a couple of days of severely wash boarded roads to get home. We lost a radiator hose and shock due to vibration working things loose. Have a mechanic do a thorough check of any and all bolts, nuts, etc.

[Smokecreek1]

I agree with the "Check everything crowd" all those bolts and things that could come lose do come lose. Specifically, I made a habit of checking my tie downs after every trip or super bad road, you know  the fear of driving down the freeway and off goes the camper rolling down the freeway.  Back to the tie downs, several years ago during my after trip checks (they say you don't need to check them that much after the first few trips-but I leave it on all the time), I discovered the right rear one got real lose and I could not twist it down anymore-what to do( I had all these visions of jacking this side up or taking the thing off and putting it back on again nice and tight.  Then I looked closer and found that it (the fixture)  had become partly undone at the base where you twist it, not the hook and eye bolt, but the fixture and a twist here and there and it was tight again. 

 

A stupid check I do during my walk around is to see if the camper is still level-not shifted-on the truck bed-figure I may see something-if it had and an eye bolt had broken or something. The hot water heater door-lost that several times until I put on a catch to kept it on. Out of habit I always walk around the truck before I leave any camping spot and again at my first "dog and papa " stop down the road. All those years of bouncing around the back country at work and play made me always check everything out when I had some time-you know get ready to camp and discover your water cooler or spare tire fell off-you just have to develop a habit to check things out and what do we say here all the time-"be prepared for anything-because anything can happen when you are not ready for it. That help Mark!

 

Smoke

Edited by Smokecreek1, 12 May 2014 - 03:31 PM.

[craig333]

Not yet but something is making an annoying noise. I've looked but i can't see anything.

[Kolockum]

I am notorious for not driving sanely gently on dirt roads. I keep nailing the bottom of my rear quarter panels (between the rear axle and the bumper) and I have yet to figure out how, but I seem to be able to do it every trip. I have also knocked the auto transmission shifting cable out of alignment crossing a snow drift. Could not get it into park but luckily it was very easy fix. I have also vibrated both of my headlights out of the sockets, kinda looked like a strobe light show going down the rough dirt road.

 

Check everything. When I have a chance (at least 2 times a year) I will break out my torque wrench, torque spec sheet, Chilton Manual and a dead blow hammer and crawl underneath of the truck and meticulously go from one end of the truck to another. I check nut/bolts and the major ones, i.e. ones with specified torque listed, I use the torque wrench. Any nuts/bolts that are loose I use locktite to prevent it from happening again. Since I hate rattling noises I go the extra mile to find them. I take the deadblow hammer and randomly bang on solid components (axle, chassis, etc.) while listening for any abnormal sounds. I have found the source of many rattling sounds doing this. 

 

I put about 10k of off road miles on my wrangler in 4 years. After a year or two of working on and driving the jeep I was able to start to recognize the normal sounds and abnormal sounds and I hope to get that way with my truck (its only been 9 months).

[craig333]

I have a new dead blow hammer. Perhaps next weekend when the temps go back into the eighties.

[Kolockum]

I have a new dead blow hammer. Perhaps next weekend when the temps go back into the eighties.

 

My only other tidbit about that is to keep an open mind. One time I couldn't seem to find the source of the rattle-ly/jingly sound emanating the rear driver side area of my truck, kinda up behind the spare tire (I was under the truck). After a while of not getting anywhere I took a break and grabbed the second to last beer out of my fridge. And when I got back to work, lone and behold the sound was gone. After further investigation and considering that was my first beer of the day I came to the conclusion it was the beer bottles rattling together in the fridge, not the beer dampening my senses.    Although the latter is very is useful when your truck rattles like a set of cymbals crashing down a flight of stairs... 

[camelracer]

I haven't had any problems with the truck but there has been some camper damage.

 

I lost a turnbuckle on the Devil's Racetrack road  a few years ago. When I got home I installed jam nuts and haven't had any problems since.

 

FWC has repaired the rear wall twice do to cracking over the door. Hopefully the last repair solved the problem since the warranty has expired.

 

Lost the ammonia in the 3 way fridge in Baja last year. Replaced it with a 12v Truckfridge which seems to be working well.

 

I did the Mojave Road a couple of weeks ago and did some damage due to the narrow trail through a Joshua tree forest. Broke a roof clamp, lost both awning end caps, broke the side porch light and desert pinstriped everything.

 

During my inspection after the last trip I noticed that the horizontal floorpack piece in the area where the turnbuckles mount is pulling down from the vertical side panel. It's only about an 1/8 inch but I'm concerned that this could be a problem. I think FWC staples that joint but I'm not sure if they also glue it. Next time I have the camper off the truck I'll take a closer look and beef up that joint.