happy jack vs torklift

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

I have an 2004 chevy 2500 crew cab short box, w a chip,cold air intake,airbags and custom dual cat back excht.

I am looking at a wolfcreek 850, wet weight will prob be around 2500ibs( its 2008ibs dry) I was kinda thinking i like the happyjack system w/ the fast guns but would love to hear your advice. I do offroading, exploring, SAR, MEDIC work all over.

I was just wondering what you guys recommended, what you are running on your rigs. what works and what does not! thanks

[poriggity]

It's all a matter of personal preference. I have happijac units on my 04 Dodge 2500. I know quite a few people with torklift that are happy. I don't think you can go wrong with either setup.

[Cell Block 726]

I've been wondering the same thing, as a proud new owner of a lance 825! I just bought mine this past weekend and pulled off the Happijack system from the seller's 06 Chevy 2500. Looks pretty straight forward and should work ok on my 2500!

[poriggity]

I will say, with first hand experience, the happijac system is easy to install. I did everything myself, with the exception of starting the bolts for the front brackets, because I needed an extra set of hands helping me line up the front brackets with the bolts.. Other than that, it was a no brainer, really.
Scott

[cnynrat]

I have a Bigfoot C25 10.6, so it's a fair bit heavier than your camper. That said, to me there is no contest: Torklift.

I originally had the Happijack system installed, and I found that it allowed a great deal of movement by the camper. Most of that seemed to come from flexing of the bed and bumper where the Happijack brackets were mounted. We did have the brace that ties to two front mounts together across the front of the bed.

The newer Happijack system that is advertised as "frame mount" is still basically mounted to the truck bed with a link down to the frame. The rear mounts are only mounted to the bumper as I understand it. Both front and rear Torklift mounts are mounted directly to the frame, which gives a much more secure feeling on the road.

The only downside I see to the Torklift is ground clearance, but with a relatively heavy hard-side camper I don't think that's very relevant for most applications.

[motrhed]

I highly recommend connecting the 4 camper tie-down points to the frame of the truck at each corner regardless of the camper size.
Attaching to anything other than the frame is just adding another failure point (bumper, box, etc) particularly in high winds or rough roads.
Torklift manufactures frame mount brackets for most applications or go with a custom built set. I built a custom set of brackets that attach to the side of my Chev HD frame and tuck up close to the body. It's like having a receiver hitch at each corner then extension tubes are inserted that ultimately connect the tie-downs to the camper.
Mounting it right the first time is much cheaper than repairing the damage caused by a weak tie-down point.

[morrisster]

I have a torklift system on my 3500 duramax with a pop up camper on it. (also using fastguns) - very much worth the investment. I am completely satisfied with how it works, its very easy on and off if you do that (mine stays on the truck). I installed the torklift parts in a few hours by myself - I had some trouble installing the rear ones because there wasn't enough clearance with the factory hitch - I ended up attaching the torklift parts then jacking the factory hitch back into place and it worked fine. its a wonderful very secure system.

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Thanks guys lets keep this thread going,
I agree with a heavy camper there is no contest and a direct frame mount should be used. But from the standpoint of a Rancher i know what miles and miles of rough road can do to anything. My drive way alone is a 4 mile rough road trek one way. I can see how attaching to anything that is not completely solid allows for extra flex.

motrhed
FRAME MOUNT!!!

I highly recommend connecting the 4 camper tie-down points to the frame of the truck at each corner regardless of the camper size.
Attaching to anything other than the frame is just adding another failure point (bumper, box, etc) particularly in high winds or rough roads.
Torklift manufactures frame mount brackets for most applications or go with a custom built set. I built a custom set of brackets that attach to the side of my Chev HD frame and tuck up close to the body. It's like having a receiver hitch at each corner then extension tubes are inserted that ultimately connect the tie-downs to the camper.
Mounting it right the first time is much cheaper than repairing the damage caused by a weak tie-down point.

Motrhed,
I am able to to fab as well, do you have a thread with pics of your system? Also is you're camper a heavy unit?

[motrhed]

Yeti,
I don't have any pics of the brackets and I am away from that truck for another week or two. I will try to remember to take and post a few pics when I get it back.
My TC is a Corsair 9'2", it does not have a slide but it a heavy unit, not a brute, but not light. Aluminum framed, hard wall, well insulated, double glazed windows, good sized fluid tanks, basement, etc. Fully loaded (truck and camper), I am running around 9000 lbs (+ or - 100).

[Regcabguy]

I've enjoyed the Happijac framemount system on two Dodge CTD's with my Northstar TC800. The centering system up front keeps the camper planted and the bumper mounted rear tiedowns have given me no issues. I do wish I had the Fastguns,but my camper rarely comes off.

Hopefully a rear bumper that can take a hit is in my future,so the button setup would be bolted to something other than thin steel. I would like to buy and mount Happijac's rear centering guides soon also.