Escapees July-August 2022

anchor points welded onto it, one at each end and one in the middle. This provides several options for places to hook the turnbuckles once the kit is bolted onto the camper. We were impressed that these anchor points were much thicker steel and were far more securely attached to the camper than the small original anchor points. FastGun Turnbuckles Now that we had solid anchor points that were well positioned on both the truck and the camper, we hooked the top of each FastGun Turnbuckle onto camper and hooked the bottom onto the truck. We rotated the large clamp handle on each FastGun Turnbuckle to tension the spring inside, and then closed the clamp to secure it. With the turnbuckle tension set, all we needed to do to detach the camper from the truck was to open each turnbuckle handle and unhook it. To reattach the camper to the truck, we simply hooked each turn buckle onto its camper and truck anchor points and clamped the handle closed. Since each FastGun Turnbuckle is uniquely tensioned, there is a label on each one for notating which corner it is set for. We have noticed that each time we load our camper onto our truck, it lands in a slightly different spot in the truck bed, so the FastGun Turnbuckles usually need some slight tweaking to get the correct tension. However that is easily achieved by holding the clamp handle open and turning it. Lastly, because the FastGun Turnbuckles and Talon Tie Downs are so easy to remove, Torklift sells optional locks to keep the thieves at bay. For us, having this robust camper tie down system holding our camper onto our truck has given us con fi dence as we shake, rattle and roll down various dirt roads in our travels. It also sets our minds at ease when we climb steep grades in the mountains. EMILY AND MARK FAGAN traveled full-time by RV and sailboat for 13 years and now enjoy RVing part-time. Emily has written over 200 articles for various RV and sailing mag azines, and the Fagans’ photography has appeared onmagazine covers, in commercial wall calendars and even in museums! Follow their blog at roadslesstraveled.us.

and/or truck bed (not the most sturdy connection point), the Talon Tie Downs are bolted onto the frame of the truck. In addition to these turnbuckles and camper tie down products, we also installed Torklift’s Camper Anchor Relocation/Repair kit which gave us bee fi er anchor points on the camper than the ones that came with it and also positioned them further aft to accommodate the wider fenders of our dually truck. Talon Tie Downs Our fi rst job was to install the Talon Tie Downs which are the truck’s turnbuckle anchor points. There are two parts to each tie down: the mounting bracket and the anchor point. The mounting bracket consists of a steel square channel sleeve and fl ange with holes in it for bolting the bracket to the truck frame. The tie down, or anchor point, is also a square channel tube that slides into the larger mounting bracket sleeve and a fl ange with two holes providing two choices for the placement of the hook on the bottom of each turnbuckle. The mounting brackets stay on the truck at all times but the anchor points can be slid out of the sleeves of the mounting brackets and removed when the camper isn’t loaded on the truck. It required some scrambling under the truck to bolt the mounting brackets onto the truck frame. Each of the four short steel sleeves pointed outward towards the sides of the truck. Two of the mounting brackets were installed on the frame near the back of the truck bed and two were installed near the back of the truck cab. Once installed, we slid the four anchor points into the four mounting brackets and secured them with the round locking pins that came with the kit. The truck was now ready for the turnbuckles. We tested the placement of each FastGun Turnbuckle between the truck anchor points and the camper’s factory installed anchor points, and as we expected, the wide hips of the dually truck were in the way of the two aft turnbuckles. Camper Anchor Relocation Kit So, to accommodate the wide fenders of the dually, we installed the Torklift Camper Anchor Relocation/Repair kit on the camper. This kit is a long piece of L-channel steel with several open hole

Tie Downs When buying the Talon Tie Downs, it is important to get the correct kit for your truck year, make and model as well as its fea ture set, such as optional running boards. This is because each truck has a slightly di ff erent layout underneath, so the bolt hole alignment and length of the steel sleeves will vary.

Torklift FastGun turnbuckles: WWW.TORKLIFT.COM/RV/ ORIGINAL-FASTGUNS

Torklift Talon Tie Downs for the truck: WWW.TORKLIFT.COM/RV/TALON CAMPER-TIE-DOWNS Camper Anchor Repair/ Relocation Kit: WWW.TORKLIFT.COM/RV/ CAMPER-ANCHOR RELOCATION-REPAIR-KIT

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ESCAPEES Magazine July/August 2022