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Ideas from those of you who built your own hold downs

GAR2
Explorer
Explorer
Greetings. Sorry for the long post.....I have started getting material together for building my own camper tie downs. I have been looking at the products on the market to get ideas. I have all the equipment and am an experienced Boilermaker Welder so no issues there. I havenโ€™t bought the camper yet but am looking at models around 2500# dry weight. My plan is to buy spring loaded turn buckles (fast guns) so all Iโ€™ll be doing is building the frame mounted, bolt on, no drilling hardware and rear extension tubes for the rear hitch already in place. Iโ€™m not going to pay someone over 1000$ for what I do everyday! So a couple questions:

The extensions with the bullet plate where the turn bucket hooks in, why do some of the manufactures have a โ€œcutโ€ from the outer edge into the holes? I found the same question and an answer on etrailer and it makes no sense whatsoever....... (artifacts left over from the plasmโ€. Sounds like poor CNC programming to me if thatโ€™s true.

Those of you that have built your own, any ideas, or thoughts of what you wish you had done, or changes you made to improve. Once built I will be having all the parts powder coated.

I have a 2002 F350 8โ€™ bed dually and from pictures Iโ€™ve seen I thought something like the fast guns would be better than chainsโ€”donโ€™t want anything hitting or rubbing on the truck. Am I correct on this or being overly cautious? Camper wonโ€™t be on a lot.....vacations, fishing/hunting trips.

Best Regards! Glenn
In the market to buy a T/C
2002 F350 4wd CC DRW 8โ€™ box
Load Lifter 5000 rear air bags, front Timbrens
Rancho 9000 shocks
Brighton, Illinois
41 REPLIES 41

GAR2
Explorer
Explorer
In my case the load is applied mostly to the tube as a side pull (cantilevered structural rating) as it telescopes inside the frame. A fastener prevents it from telescoping in or out.
In the market to buy a T/C
2002 F350 4wd CC DRW 8โ€™ box
Load Lifter 5000 rear air bags, front Timbrens
Rancho 9000 shocks
Brighton, Illinois

jimh406
Explorer III
Explorer III
GAR2 wrote:
jimh425 wrote:
Looks good. How do you have them attached?


My 10K Hitch frame was open on the ends. The 2โ€ square tube telescopes perfectly inside. On the front I made frame mounted receivers.


Bolted or welded to the hitch?

'10 Ford F-450, 6.4, 4.30, 4x4, 14,500 GVWR, '06 Host Rainer 950 DS, Torklift Talon tiedowns, Glow Steps, and Fastguns. Bilstein 4600s, Firestone Bags, Toyo M655 Gs, Curt front hitch, Energy Suspension bump stops.

NRA Life Member, CCA Life Member

GAR2
Explorer
Explorer
jimh425 wrote:
Looks good. How do you have them attached?


My 10K Hitch frame was open on the ends. The 2โ€ square tube telescopes perfectly inside. On the front I made frame mounted receivers.
In the market to buy a T/C
2002 F350 4wd CC DRW 8โ€™ box
Load Lifter 5000 rear air bags, front Timbrens
Rancho 9000 shocks
Brighton, Illinois

jimh406
Explorer III
Explorer III
Looks good. How do you have them attached?

'10 Ford F-450, 6.4, 4.30, 4x4, 14,500 GVWR, '06 Host Rainer 950 DS, Torklift Talon tiedowns, Glow Steps, and Fastguns. Bilstein 4600s, Firestone Bags, Toyo M655 Gs, Curt front hitch, Energy Suspension bump stops.

NRA Life Member, CCA Life Member

GAR2
Explorer
Explorer
In the market to buy a T/C
2002 F350 4wd CC DRW 8โ€™ box
Load Lifter 5000 rear air bags, front Timbrens
Rancho 9000 shocks
Brighton, Illinois

GAR2
Explorer
Explorer
Sorry for the elapsed time guys... I did finish the hold downs. Hereโ€™s a picture of the rear ones after having powder coated and attaching the mud flaps. I put buying the T/C on hold due to the Covid 19 and waiting to make sure the economy rebounds and that I remain gainfully employed. Best regards โ€” Glenn





Post edit: I have the hold down adjusted to their fully outward position, they are adjustable and will each move inward another 2-1/2โ€ slightly narrower than the dually fenders. I did leave the wheel well flares their original black plastic color and ended up liking them that way
In the market to buy a T/C
2002 F350 4wd CC DRW 8โ€™ box
Load Lifter 5000 rear air bags, front Timbrens
Rancho 9000 shocks
Brighton, Illinois

GAR2
Explorer
Explorer
ykphil wrote:
My comment won't be very useful to you...but I am wondering if you could tell me the specs for the tubing you plan to use in the hitch. Thanks in advance.



Sorry for the delay to your question, lots going on - Lol. Anyway, I ended up using 2โ€ square tubing with a .125 wall thickness for the removable extensions. At 24โ€ long they have a structural load rating of 5,300 lbs. with acceptable deflection figured in. This gives them a higher load rating from what material I am seeing offered in a factory offerโ€” but I believe the small addition in weight is worth what I gained and satisfaction of DIY. I work closely with our engineering department at my place of employment and know that most engineering firms look at minimum specifications and cutting costs by less material which equals big $ when your mass producing. Not the case for us DIYโ€™s.
In the market to buy a T/C
2002 F350 4wd CC DRW 8โ€™ box
Load Lifter 5000 rear air bags, front Timbrens
Rancho 9000 shocks
Brighton, Illinois

GAR2
Explorer
Explorer
No need to drill holes, at least on the โ€˜02.
In the market to buy a T/C
2002 F350 4wd CC DRW 8โ€™ box
Load Lifter 5000 rear air bags, front Timbrens
Rancho 9000 shocks
Brighton, Illinois

GAR2
Explorer
Explorer
Iโ€™ve already got the front frame brackets done, only thing in the way on the 2002 is the parking brake cable. Only one bolt needed fished through the frame and I welded a keeper to the bolt head so it canโ€™t spinโ€”as for getting the nut started a set of long handled forceps works great to keep fingers out of the way while starting the nut. Sounds like the newer trucks have more interference with the brackets. Iโ€™m happy with the hold down extension bars- I made them out of 2โ€ square tube...... I can stand on them and rock the whole truck with no obvious deflectionโ€”I read on line that my fast guns are made for putting 300 pounds of tension on each one.
In the market to buy a T/C
2002 F350 4wd CC DRW 8โ€™ box
Load Lifter 5000 rear air bags, front Timbrens
Rancho 9000 shocks
Brighton, Illinois

covered_wagon
Explorer
Explorer
JimK-NY wrote:
With my first truck and TC, the RV dealer installed the Torklift tie down brackets. I replaced that truck last year and did my own install. The rear brackets for my 2018 Ram are pretty simple and anyone with the proper equipment and fabrication skills should be able to come up with a workable solution.

The front brackets are way more complicated at least for my 2018 Ram model. It took serious engineering design to build a bracket that fit the tight space. Even with a well designed bracket it took me way over an hour to install it. As I remember it the issue was the placement of a fuel line that made it difficult to design and install a bracket. Due to the complexities, I would guess it would be all but essential to copy the Torklift parts and also to reroute the fuel line (or a brake line, if my memory is incorrect).


For that reason I never liked bolting to the side of the frame. Too many things in the way and then having to slide a nut down a wire and try getting it to spin onto the bolt threads. What a pain it was.

These days I would think about a belly type bar instead for the front, at least, to go under the frame. I think I would figure out a way to clamp or hook that to the 'C' channel frame rather than drilling holes and damage the frame.

JimK-NY
Explorer II
Explorer II
With my first truck and TC, the RV dealer installed the Torklift tie down brackets. I replaced that truck last year and did my own install. The rear brackets for my 2018 Ram are pretty simple and anyone with the proper equipment and fabrication skills should be able to come up with a workable solution.

The front brackets are way more complicated at least for my 2018 Ram model. It took serious engineering design to build a bracket that fit the tight space. Even with a well designed bracket it took me way over an hour to install it. As I remember it the issue was the placement of a fuel line that made it difficult to design and install a bracket. Due to the complexities, I would guess it would be all but essential to copy the Torklift parts and also to reroute the fuel line (or a brake line, if my memory is incorrect).

jimh406
Explorer III
Explorer III
GAR2 wrote:
I would also like to put the low profile, molded splash guards on my factory dual wheel fenders, I found some but I donโ€™t want black. You would think they would make them in custom paint colors like they do for autoโ€™s. I have been trying to find grey with no luck.


I like black, but you should be able to paint the black ones if that is what you want.

'10 Ford F-450, 6.4, 4.30, 4x4, 14,500 GVWR, '06 Host Rainer 950 DS, Torklift Talon tiedowns, Glow Steps, and Fastguns. Bilstein 4600s, Firestone Bags, Toyo M655 Gs, Curt front hitch, Energy Suspension bump stops.

NRA Life Member, CCA Life Member

GAR2
Explorer
Explorer
I would also like to put the low profile, molded splash guards on my factory dual wheel fenders, I found some but I donโ€™t want black. You would think they would make them in custom paint colors like they do for autoโ€™s. I have been trying to find grey with no luck.
It you look at the arrow I drew on the photo it looks like โ€œmud / waterโ€ could actually sling
over the top of the t/c hold down bars even if I did decide to hang mud flaps from them as was suggested earlier.

In the market to buy a T/C
2002 F350 4wd CC DRW 8โ€™ box
Load Lifter 5000 rear air bags, front Timbrens
Rancho 9000 shocks
Brighton, Illinois

covered_wagon
Explorer
Explorer
zcookiemonstar wrote:
With a older truck like yours I would look for a use set of tie downs on cragslist or facebook. You could probably find a use set for a few hundred bucks.


I have factory tie downs now since 03, but made my own rears with the open sided receiver hitch like OP suggested. It is a better way to go for sure so I gave away the rear Torklift tie downs. The slot next to the hole is where they could not shut off the cutting tool (water jet or Laser cut) to keep them looking good.