Safety wire?

[ScottBailey]

8 miles down this road loosened my turnbuckles.

8 miles out loosened them again!

I'm not ready--for various reasons--to bolt through the floor and I don't want to add nuts to the turnbuckles.

Is anyone using safety wire on their turnbuckles?

 

[davinski]

This alarmed me when I first started out.....each time you remove the camper, you have to go through it. the more often you tighten, the less you have to do it.

I also changed out the turnbuckles and use one with loops instead of hooks. fancy carabiners attach them to the eye bolts. Even if they come off, they can't fly off the truck.

I remember adding bolts, that did slow it down.

Good luck. At least you are getting out there!!!!

Dave/Seattle

 

[DirtyDog]

This was a big issue for many of us at Death Valley. Most seem content with the idea of putting nuts on the turnbuckles. Personally, I'd like to see a better alternative from the factory.

 

[Rockjok]

On my front turnbuckles I overtighten them slightly and then run a piece of solid wire through the barrel of the turnbuckle and one of the eyes. It'll back off hopefully to the right tension and no further. I don't use stainless wire, just 12 or 10 Ga solid electrical wire that's easy to manipulate in tight spaces.

Rob

 

[keith]

I'm wondering if wing nuts would be an option?

 

[John D]

I used ropes and cleats on my last camper and they worked better than turnbuckles. I intended to use them on my FWC but the turnbuckle setup was standard in this community. Sooooo, I'm back to using turnbuckles now, and with no problems.

The advantage of ropes and cleats is rope has a bit of stretch that effectively puts less strain on the anchor points. Ropes are easier to adjust than turn buckles because the tail if run inside the camper to a cleat where they can be easily tended.

Having used both setups, each for years, I think ropes and cleats work better, they are stronger, work better when the truck body flexes and they are easier to use. I might change back and take some pictures, just so this community could see how to do it, even though this is not rocket science and most of you guys could figure this out for yourselves. John D

 

[DirtyDog]

I'm wondering if wing nuts would be an option?

That's what I was thinking too. I'll give it a try one of these days.

 

[masterplumber]

My '87 Granby didn't come with provisions for turnbuckles so bolting it thru the floor was the only easy option at the time. I've never had it come loose & that includes probably 50k - 70k miles on the truck & many miles on washboard etc... Crawling under to undo 4 nuts is no harder than taking out the turn buckles IMO the only tough part is lining up the holes when putting it back on but really no big deal. I wrote about a trick in another post that might help you guys running turnbuckles - measure the distance between the bed rail & the lip on the camper & put some closed cell foam in there - it greatly reduces the sway between the truck & camper. Mine was just under an inch so I glued together strips from an old sleeping pad.

Doug

 

[ScottBailey]

Good Idea!

I wrote about a trick in another post that might help you guys running turnbuckles - measure the distance between the bed rail & the lip on the camper & put some closed cell foam in there - it greatly reduces the sway between the truck & camper. Mine was just under an inch so I glued together strips from an old sleeping pad.
Doug
Doug,

That is a great idea! I will absolutely do that next time I have my camper off the truck.

I like the bolt through option, but am hesitant to commit the camper to it's current spot. In this [thread=1674]thread[/thread], Mark moves his camper back a bit and puts a bladder tank in between truck and camper. I'm considering the mod, and since I wish to minimize the number of holes in my bed, I'll hold off until later for bolt though.

In the mean time, I ordered safety wire and a twister from Aircraft Spruce. I also fiddled with jigs and drilling holes in the turnbuckle ends. I'll do a full writeup when I'm done.

 

[pods8]

I'm wondering if wing nuts would be an option?
Perhaps some wing nuts a lock washers (since this isn't a jam nut situation as opposed to trying to keep the turn buckles from backing off the nuts).

 

[ScottBailey]

Update

I was getting ready to twist up some safety wire today and took a good look at the truck bed where the eye bolts are mounted. It looks like the washers ATC installed aren't spreading the load across enough area for the thickness of the bed! So I'm speculating the turnbuckles are pulling the bed up ever so slightly and then further vibrating loose.

So it looks like step one is to replace the washers with steel plates sandwiching the bed. Maybe just go straight to bolt through on the front and remount the battery where the front turnbuckles are.

 

[Alex]

Have you guys thought about using Torklift type of tie down, it's spring loaded so it has some "give" when the truck is flexing. Mine front tie down is mounted on the frame so it should be strong enough. My Tacoma has a composite bed so bolting camper to the bed is not an option and I'm not sure how the bed will react when the frame is flexing. The rigidity different between the camper and truck bed during offroad flexing condition.

 

[ScottBailey]

Have you guys thought about using Torklift type of tie down, it's spring loaded so it has some "give" when the truck is flexing. Mine front tie down is mounted on the frame so it should be strong enough. My Tacoma has a composite bed so bolting camper to the bed is not an option and I'm not sure how the bed will react when the frame is flexing. The rigidity different between the camper and truck bed during offroad flexing condition.

I think the Happijac system seems more compatible with my usage; however, I don't think I need the weight carrying capacity of either external system nor am I especially interested in worsening my aerodynamics.

Plus, reinforcing existing bolt locations or bolt through are CHEAPER (and look better?)...

 

[keith]

I'm planning on using happijac. The eye bolts on the jack brackets. I think it will be easier to keep an eye on them and keep them tight.

 

[pods8]

I put my camper back on today and tossed a wing nut and lock washer on the turn buckel, we'll see how it works out:

 

[Alex]

I think the Happijac system seems more compatible with my usage; however, I don't think I need the weight carrying capacity of either external system nor am I especially interested in worsening my aerodynamics.

Plus, reinforcing existing bolt locations or bolt through are CHEAPER (and look better?)...

True, Torklift is going to cost more, not sure how much it'll effect aerodynamic mine is pretty close to the truck body. There are two things made me go with Torklift, 1. The tie down is spring loaded, so in case I hit a pot hole of something, the camper can "jump" a little, 2. The tie down is in plain view, I can check it their condition by looking at the rear view mirror. When I run to tea kettle junction in DV it's pretty nice to be able check the tie downs from the mirrow.
Do you have a air deflector on the truck roof? I got one from Thule and it helps a little with the wind noise so I'm guessing it should make the aerodynamic a tiny bit better.

 

[brett13]

Pods,

I'm not 100% sure, but that looks to me like if the turnbuckle moves even slightly, the wingnut will also loosen and have no positive pressure to help. Wouldn't any nut need to be inside the frame of the turnbuckle to work? What am I missing?

 

[pods8]

Pods,

I'm not 100% sure, but that looks to me like if the turnbuckle moves even slightly, the wingnut will also loosen and have no positive pressure to help. Wouldn't any nut need to be inside the frame of the turnbuckle to work? What am I missing?

No you're seeing things right in that regards. Don't know how you'd put nuts inside the buckle though (ie no space). What I'm trying here is I put a wing nut and a toothed lock washer on there and tightened it against the turnbuckle (w/ pliers for the final pressure). "Theoretically" the toothed washer on the turn buckle should hinder movement of it which would release the pressure. No idea if it will work or not yet, but a few wing nuts and lock washers were cheap to try out.

 

[keith]

PODS8 Have you thought of using a star washer. They have little turned up metal "stars" on either the inside or outside of the washer. They take a lot less pressure to lock up. May not need to get a wrench in there. Hand tight may be enough.

 

[pods8]

PODS8 Have you thought of using a star washer. They have little turned up metal "stars" on either the inside or outside of the washer. They take a lot less pressure to lock up. May not need to get a wrench in there. Hand tight may be enough.

Yeah that is what I'm using, I was just calling it a toothed lock washer. I tightened the wing nut by hang then put some force to it with some adjustable pliers. We'll see how it works, if successful its a rather cheap and easy thing. Tracking down some reverse thread wing nuts to do the same on the other side could potentially help out too but I'm content to see how this handles for now.