Another followup to a thread this morning. We made the trip to Montana this summer with the cargo box as it appears in the photo above. Unfortunately that extended bar cargo carrier led to so much bounce over 5-6,000 miles that the aftermarket front hitch receiver bend downward over time and slightly bend the bumper on the truck.
The good news was that the truck place that installed the receiver replaced it free of charge under warranty, and the bumper damage was so slight I've just left it alone.
What I did do for our fall trip to Michigan, however, was to take the bent arm portion of the cargo carrier off and mounted the tray directly into the receiver. This only left about 2" (maybe a bit more) between the back of the box and the grill, but I monitored the coolant temp on the trip and it never rose much more than about 5-6 degrees from normal. No bouncing, no more bent receiver.
So something to consider for anyone reading this thread in the future and/or considering a similar set-up for a front-mounted cargo box.
Box was great by the way, for both trips. Really helpful to have a place to store the genny and all the outside campsite kind of stuff--chairs, Coleman stove, dog-related things, etc.
If I can dig out a picture of the new installation I'll try to add it as well.
