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Fixing Camper to truck and expected loads

Posted: September 7th, 2017, 11:39 am
by Black Countryman
I'll be taking delivery of my new Isuzu D-Max in the next week or so and it has set me thinking as to how My Northstar can be secured to the truck.

The rear isn't a problem. I've got a hefty square sectionsteel tube which bolts between the tow bar and tow ball and I slide in equally hefty tubes with massive carabiner type hoops which hook to the underside of the camper via 5 tonne ratchet straps.

The front fixing to stop it sliding backwards is another matter. The standard load eyes on the D-Max don't look man (or woman) enough to take the strain of the camper pushing backwards as the truck drives forwards. I had steel plates fixed behind the load eye mountings on my old Ford Ranger to spread the load but there doesn't appear to be enough space to get between the load bed and the cab on the Isuzu.

Has anyone got the new style (or even the post 2012) D-max and, if so, what have you done for forward fixing points?

I know that there are a lot of clever people using this forum, so can I ask if there is a way of working out the rearwards load strain that driving forwards exerts on the camper?

Re: Fixing Camper to truck and expected loads

Posted: September 7th, 2017, 12:48 pm
by zildjian
We all have different ideas on this, I'm not personally familiar with Isuzu but on all of my trucks I've had the front (and rear) chains pull down with a little forward bias, and thats worked fine till now
I'm not even sure going through bulkhead on tub offers significant benefits myself,
though open to ideas

Re: Fixing Camper to truck and expected loads

Posted: September 8th, 2017, 7:19 am
by Big Jim
Image

I did see an engineers study commissioned by Happijac, but I can't find it now . The first 2 pics are pretty much what the study suggested.
I could not active that with my present outfit so I have a chain running from the back of the bed upto the front of the camper to stop it sliding forward under heavy braking . I have left a gap of about 10 mm off the bulkhead and the chain slightly slack to see iff it moves and the camper hasn't moved so maybe it is a bit over the top , but that's how I am .