Yes, I've searched. And read. And searched. Being on the waitlist gave me time. So many good ideas, but many won't work for me for various reasons.
Anywho, a new Hawk on Ram 2500. FWC wouldn't make any mods when installiing, and I know I'd going to hate checking a lot, especially since with a side dinette the passenger rear is a drag to get to.
And frankly looking at what FWC puts in I was skeptical. Since I do have some experience with big dynamic loads (climbing, sailing, offroad recovery, towing, yadda yadda) I just thought there must be better ways.
But rather than get exotic, I just swapped out for stainless double eye (not hooks) turnbuckles with lock nuts/washers on both sides, and similarly sized locking links. Breaking load is somewhere well north of 2k kg. I was going to go with the marine like turnbuckles with shackles, but it was just too hard to mess with the pin up in where they attach. Easy to do sort of quickdraw the links on and tighten down the gate.
Anyone foresee problems with this setup? Since the install is new I'm not sure I should bother tightening down the lock nuts and safety wiring the turnbuckles, since maybe there will be some stretch in the bed or something. Anyone have that happen? Or just lock it down now? I'll still check, and one nice thing is that I can see the links and turnbuckles; I can't see the top hooks in the factory install, and since they're a weak point that bugs me.
Thanks for any advice.
Rob
Anywho, a new Hawk on Ram 2500. FWC wouldn't make any mods when installiing, and I know I'd going to hate checking a lot, especially since with a side dinette the passenger rear is a drag to get to.
And frankly looking at what FWC puts in I was skeptical. Since I do have some experience with big dynamic loads (climbing, sailing, offroad recovery, towing, yadda yadda) I just thought there must be better ways.
But rather than get exotic, I just swapped out for stainless double eye (not hooks) turnbuckles with lock nuts/washers on both sides, and similarly sized locking links. Breaking load is somewhere well north of 2k kg. I was going to go with the marine like turnbuckles with shackles, but it was just too hard to mess with the pin up in where they attach. Easy to do sort of quickdraw the links on and tighten down the gate.
Anyone foresee problems with this setup? Since the install is new I'm not sure I should bother tightening down the lock nuts and safety wiring the turnbuckles, since maybe there will be some stretch in the bed or something. Anyone have that happen? Or just lock it down now? I'll still check, and one nice thing is that I can see the links and turnbuckles; I can't see the top hooks in the factory install, and since they're a weak point that bugs me.
Thanks for any advice.
Rob
