Bumper Mod

A friend and I added more storage to the WC the other morning. He is a pretty good fabricator and did most of the work (I held stuff for him, got his coffee, etc.) The new storage tray can be adjusted in or out from the WC, depending on what you are hauling. This one was made to pull out far enough to load a motorcycle, if needed. Here is the finished product:



To start, a pair of receiver hitches were welded to the rear frame members...



The square tubing was inserted and bolted to the receivers. A standard receiver bolt and clevis pin would have worked in place of the bolts.



The storage tray was then welded to the basket. The left side of the tray was notched to fit the axle of my generator, and a cross bar was also welded to allow the generator to sit level. Pieces of chain link were welded around the tray for strapping attachment points...



The DW didn't see the point of the whole project until she saw the final results. And now she loves it.





I still have to move the license plate up, as it is blocked by the generator

Great Job. Jim

Looks very good. Nice work.

Excellent Mod. I don't have a friend who would do all that and only work for coffee. You are a fortunate fellow.

BTW, where is your spare?

Good job.

for the photos.

Very good job... and a very useful mod! Your friend does nice work.

Nice work Jerry! Serves its purpose very well.

I LIKE IT!!

TC

I'm luvin that mod Jerry...

Very nice job, I'll have to keep your pictures handy for when I get my welder out to put a hitch on the back of mine.

THANKS FOR SHARING!!!!

BobnP1-
Thanks for reminding me. The spare is sitting in the back of my truck right now. I'll be putting it up between the landing gear the first chance I get, modding the existing carrier. I Saw that on here, somewhere.

I think This is the link your looking for Jerry.

That's a nice mod! My father did the same thing to haul bikes on. My concern...would welding on the frame void any warranty?

Curious, when you have a generator on the back like that do you get any vibrations from it to the WC?

Bill

Curious, when you have a generator on the back like that do you get any vibrations from it to the WC?

Wouldn't that be like one of those massage beds at night? That might be a +.

As far as I can tell, Lippert gives a two year warranty to their frames and any modification to the frame voids the warranty. That being said, I am the second owner of a 5 yr old trailer, so I am way out of the warranty.

As far as the generator on the back, the mod was done primarily for storage. We have put in some rubber isolators that help out, but it does shake some when running while attached. If I am going to be running the generator a lot, I will just take it off and move it away from the trailer and keep the noise down.

Very nice, thanks for posting.

Thanks for the info Jerry, the fact that it is better to remove the generator when running it leads me more toward one that I will be able to lift.

Bill

looks good ,why did you go on top of bumper instead of below bumper, now you have me thinking of changing my plans

As it is now, the tray can sit over the existing rear bumper. You could construct this under the existing bumper, but then the basket would have to extend beyond the bumper to be of any use and I felt that this added too much length to the trailer.

And, going above the rear bumper gives me some added clearance when going into steeper driveways. Hope this helped, Jack.

Looks good!! How much additional weight do you estimate that this added? When I mounted the generator on the back of mine (see my gallery), the whole thing added about 300#'s including the genny. I didn't think much of it, but I was never able to get the Cat to pull as good as it did before the mod. I was always a little squirrelly and kept me white knuckled, but we got so much use out of the genny that we lived with it.

thats good thinking I will look at my trailer when I get home and see if that will works for me. Thanks

I agree that the mod, when loaded, adds about 300 lbs to the rear. I haven't pulled it yet, so I will have to wait and see if there is a difference with it on. Most of the dry camping we do is within an hour's drive, so I anticipate that we will just accept any changes in the towing performance. But I do appreciate the heads up!

I did a similar mod on my WC withabout the same amount of weight involved. I found no problems with the towing performance. As a matter of fact, I have found no difference at all. Hope your experience is the same.

I agree with Otis. I have done a similar mod to my trailer and no matter what I put back there I don't notice any towing difference at all.

I tried out the new bumper setup this weekend. I was surprised that the mod DID affect the towing, as I could feel more swaying going on back there. As I only carry the generator when dry camping and I take my own water, I think a good solution would be to carry all of my extra water in 5 gal. containers placed inside the trailer, forward of the axles. Will have to try it in the spring.

The posts above that did not experience any change in towing may have a different weight distribution in their trailer model than mine, just a guess. I can really feel it when my fresh water tank is loaded, this mod, when loaded, amplified that feeling of being rear-end heavy.

Otherwise, I LOVE this mod! The tray made a handy workspace at the proper height for food prep., etc.

Jerry, That is unfortunate that you have a noticeable difference in towing performance with your new rack. I have the same year and model of trailer as yours but I do also have the front storage areas pretty full of stuff as well. Hence the need for the back storage box. I carried full water this weekend and still didn't notice any significant towing changes. Up front I have two batteries, a Honda 2000, moved my spare to the front, tool box and an extra 20lb propane bottle. And that is just the front storage. The pass through is full to the ceiling with stuff as well. Maybe all this stuff is enough to counter-balance any changes I did to the back of the trailer.

I'm pretty sure Forest River says your not supposed to pull with water in the fresh water tank.
Probably why people have trouble with the sagging fresh water tank.

I have to agree with Earl. What good would an RV be if you couldn't haul a full tank of water. I have done so for more than 25 years in 1 camper, 1 TT and 2 5W's without any problem (including this Wildcat).

Also, with the weight on back end performance question. I have reinforced my Wildcat's receiver hitch to a 500# rating and carry a 310# Honda with an 85# motorcycle rack (400# total) and notice no difference whatsoever in driveability. I can't tell there is anything on there at all. Plus the spare tire is mounted on the bumper as well. This is on a smaller 25RL model Wildcat. A larger model 5W weighing more would be even less likely to be adversely affected than mine.