Truck campers are the perfect way to enjoy the great outdoors without having to bother with tent camping or sacrifice on comfort. At its most basic level, a truck camping rig consists of a truck that has a truck camper, also known as a slide-in camper, and the accessories to hold the camper down in the bed. These accessories include truck camper tie downs and turnbuckles.
Below is a guide on the best way to care for your truck camper accessories to make sure they have a full, long life with plenty of camping adventures ahead of them.
Tie Downs
When it comes to maintenance for steel tie downs, there’s a couple of easy guidelines to follow:
1.) Regularly clean and inspect your tie downs – this is incredibly important! Due to the harsh and sometimes extreme under-vehicle environment that your tie downs live in, the best thing to do is regularly clean your tie downs after each trip to prevent potential for rust.
2.) Touch up any affected areas – if you are starting to see that some areas have been affected by the road debris and grime, you can touch up the spots with enamel or urethane based aerosol paint products. A good example of this is Rust-Oleum.
If you have the aluminum and stainless steel Talon truck camper tie downs, you won’t have to worry about rust! They offer rust free corrosion protection for life. Maintenance of your tie downs to ensure maximum use is important to make sure they work properly. Even just wiping down and cleaning them at the end of each camping trip once you return home will help them maintain a long life.
Also available as an accessory for the steel truck camper tie downs and come automatically with each Talon tie down kit is the Torklift Finishing Kit. Designed to protect your tie downs when you’re not using them to haul your truck camper, simply remove the tie down insert, replace it with our special protective foam inside the frame mounted portion of the tie down and cap it with our finishing kit. This will help prevent any water or debris from entering your tie downs when not in use and keep them in great condition!
Turnbuckles
Also known as the ‘hold down’ portion for your truck camper, turnbuckles are used with tie downs to make sure your truck camper stays attached to your truck while you’re hauling it down the road. The best example of a truck camper turnbuckle is the number one selling FastGun. These stainless steel truck camper turnbuckles come in sets of two and are spring-loaded with spring tension indicators. What does that mean? It means that you can quickly determine the correct tension needed to hold down your truck camper. Manufacturer recommended tension is 300 pounds to be applied for securing the truck camper properly.
Torklift uses quality grade 304 stainless steel that is well known for its anti-corrosive properties. However, there are some coastal regions where stainless steel can come in contact with road chemicals and other harsh debris that could potentially affect the finish. The best way to avoid this possibility is a quick and easy solution: simply use WD-40 and a microfiber cloth to wipe down the turnbuckles. To give your polished FastGun turnbuckles an attractive finish, we suggest using an approved stainless steel chrome or aluminum wheel polish.
For questions about the upkeep and maintenance of your tie downs and turnbuckles, or for more information on any of the products mentioned, contacts us at 800-246-8132 or shop now at one of our Torklift Certified Dealers.
As a graduate from the College of Idaho with a B.A. in both History and Art, Kerstin has found her passion for writing and marketing, and has loved every minute of working for Torklift for over 2 years. She enjoys looking up tasty recipes for baking and daydreaming about future travels.