Heavy duty rear hitch receiver for hardside

[Bluepill]

Since camping season has slowed down, I finally have time to share my design of a heavy duty hitch receiver on the rear of my T12RBST Hardside. (Same as the Rockwood A122 Series)

My purpose was to allow me to safely carry a 300 lb. motorcycle on a 40 lb. hitch carrier. I needed a 2 inch square receiver, since that's what comes with the carrier.

Clearly the flimsy rear bumper was not an option as an attachment point. Using the heavy rearmost cross beam, as well a 2 smaller cross beams forward of it seemed to offer more than sufficient strength. Here is a shot of the completed installation. (I had just washed the bottom of the camper, so a lot of water drops are there)



The 1/4 inch thick, 5X5 angle iron is 18" wide. A 1/4" by 4" by 18" flat pate is on the other side of the trailer cross beam, and solidly bolted to "sandwich" the cross beam. If you look carefully, you will see two gold colored bolts below the square tube going forward. Those go through the smaller cross beams, and are backed with 2" angle iron to sandwich the beams.




This shows the receiver stub welded to the large angle iron, and an adapter made of another stub welded to a standard ball mount. This was needed to raise the point of attachment for the carrier to be above the bumper. Due to an error in my measurements, the assembly came out 1/2" too low, so I had to bend the top of the bumper.





Side and rear views with the carrier installed.

Note that instead of using standard hitch pins, I used 5/8" bolts, washer, and nuts to secure the adapters. This reduces the slop in the connection to zero.

I have put over 5000 miles on this with no problems. Note that I carry a 135 lb. generator and some heavy tools in the front of the camper to balance out the weight. The total weight of the camper is now 3000 lbs. and I have a tongue weight of 340 lbs.




Loaded up and headed NORTH for the Summer

[ronmon]

Nice job - very neat. Thanks for the design idea for our A192HW. I would like to see the backside of the sandwich and how the support to the smaller beams is situated.

I have been thinking of this for months on how to carry fuel for the generator and the generator plus a couple of bicycles. i would want to have a double hitch (over and under) design allowing to put the bike receiver on top and the platform receiver on the bottom.

I am finding it difficult to find good selection of steel at a reasonable price. Then finding a welder who will do this is the next hurtle. Could buy a MIG and do it myself but I'm not that experienced with welds that count. You must have all that equipment.

These would sell - Rockwood should get the hint.

- Ron

[Bluepill]

I will be bringing the camper from storage to my house in a few days and will take some more detail photos.

As far as material and fabrication, I was lucky that we have a structural steel company in town. They had all the angle and plate steel in stock, as well as the talent to cut and weld for me. The cuts were precise and the welding excellent. The only thing that I supplied was the 3 foot long receiver tube (bought from etrailer.com) and the additional receiver stub and ball mount (from my local Tractor Supply store)

[AquaMan]

Nice job. Would keep an eye on everything, including the frame at the axles. I would also check you tongue weight to make sure you counter that much rearward weight. It could get squirrely on you. Oh, and welcome to the land of voided frame warranty.

[A-Frame Don]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing this. Well done!!

[Bluepill]

Additional photo of underside:



Shows angle iron reinforcement to small crossbeam (upper right) and flat plate behind rearmost crossbeam (center)

No bending or distortion anywhere after 5000 miles.

[clunk]

I don't suppose your local fabrication company would be willing to produce a couple more sets ...


Do you have an estimate for how much the project set you back?

[Bluepill]

Originally Posted by clunk

I don't suppose your local fabrication company would be willing to produce a couple more sets ...


Do you have an estimate for how much the project set you back?

I no longer have the detailed plans and measurements. They may vary by model and year anyway. Total cost was $200.

[jb623]

Did you notch out the rearmost cross beam on the camper to accommodate the receiver tube? Or is the receiver hitch just welded to the rear of the of the 5x5 angle iron? Does the receiver extension pass through the 5x5 angle iron?

[OYO]

Originally Posted by jb623

Did you notch out the rearmost cross beam on the camper to accommodate the receiver tube? Or is the receiver hitch just welded to the rear of the of the 5x5 angle iron? Does the receiver extension pass through the 5x5 angle iron?

Haven't seen BP around for a while. I showed a local fabricator his pictures and he mimicked what BP had done.

Not sure i understand your questions, but:

There's no notching, everything is bolted to the the bottom of the cross beams. My guy added an additional cross beam.

Here's a couple additional pictures:

[jb623]

OK, I see now. Your hitch is a bit different than the original post. You mention an additional cross beam? How far forward of the rearmost cross beam is it mounted? Is the new cross beam welded or bolted to the original frame? Did you bolt the hitch tube to this new cross beam or is it welded? Thinking of using the 36" raw fabrication extension from etrailer, cutting what I need to stack the pieces at the rear, like yours. Do you carry a motorcycle on the back as the original poster does? How much weight do you feel your hitch is capable of carrying? Sorry for all of the questions, but I'm trying to plan out that exact hitch for my camper. Thanks

[OYO]

Originally Posted by jb623

OK, I see now. Your hitch is a bit different than the original post. You mention an additional cross beam? How far forward of the rearmost cross beam is it mounted? Is the new cross beam welded or bolted to the original frame? Did you bolt the hitch tube to this new cross beam or is it welded? Thinking of using the 36" raw fabrication extension from etrailer, cutting what I need to stack the pieces at the rear, like yours. Do you carry a motorcycle on the back as the original poster does? How much weight do you feel your hitch is capable of carrying? Sorry for all of the questions, but I'm trying to plan out that exact hitch for my camper. Thanks

It's an L just behind the rear stabilizers. The tube and cross beam are welded.
Just bicycles (and a very heavy duty bike rack). The fabricator suggested a 300 lb limit.

[Gramps42]

I attempted to install a 2” hitch on my 214HW but my crossbeams didn’t match those shown in this thread. I had an excellent welder who was able to accomplish the project. I have a rack mounted with 2 Honda 2200 generators, two 2 1/2 gallons of gas and an EZ-up canopy. I drove 7500 miles last year with no problems.
Roy