I had a small rack attached to the back bumper of the TT for the Honda 2000, but aside from it's fabric cover was out in the weather during camping season...I stored it inside in the winter.
I saw a nice truck tool box at Lowe's on closeout before Christmas and thought this would be the perfect time to add some outside storage to the TT. Aside from the Honda, I also wanted a place to keep all of the blocks, tools, hoses, attachments etc. The drawer I had made for the pass through storage in the front of the TT worked OK, but was stuffed to the gills. I also had the lawn chairs on a ladder rack that was rapidly deteriorating so the plan was to move the chairs up front to the pass-thru storage, move the set up stuff to the back, and give the drawer assembly away here on RV.net (it's already spoken for).
So, first step was to cut off the bumper:
With that done, I needed to extend the frame rails. I used 1/4" x 2 1/2" angle iron as the main supports that will attach to the main frame rails. 4 Grade 5 bolts with washers and nylock nuts hold each frame extension on:
Note the mis-calculation on the hole....there is a cross piece that goes between the frame rails at the rear and that bolt was not far enough ahead of it...fixed it on the other side though! So much for measure twice and drill once....
I welded some U-channel on the bumper so I could re-attach it to the new frame extensions with 3/8" stainless hardware. Bumper was taken off again after this to get painted, so excuse the primer in the photo:
Next up was to build the frame that the box would sit on. the main cross pieces are 1 1/2" square channel, with smaller 1" channel pieces welded in to support the floor of the box:
What I did where the square tubing attaches to the angle iron was insert crush collars...I drilled a 1/2" hole in the square tube, then drove in 1/2" steel tube and welded the the top and bottom edges to the faces. The inside of the steel tube was 3/8" so those size bolts fit perfectly. I also welded end caps on so that the entire tube is sealed and should stay relatively rust-free:
Here it is on the paint line:
Here is the initial placement of the box:
I found some Peterson recessed tail lights that I installed in the bumper and added some side marker lites to the rubber end caps. Installed the back up lights on top of the bumper and slightly angled to the sides:
And the storage, you can see the Honda on the right with its blue cover still on:
Box measures 18x20x56 long. Honda is under it's blue fabric cover in the box. The box has the added benefit of being able to put the Honda under it to keep it dry when it's running.
Since all the wiring runs through the bumper, I have also added the 5" vinyl fence post for the sewer hose, mounted to the top of the frame extensions between the box and the TT:
Taking it out for its first trip this weekend...it's extremely solid, I just hope that I didn't kill my departure angle too much by going out so far from the back....but had no choice because the outside shower, city water connection, black tank flush and ladder are all on that back wall.
I saw a nice truck tool box at Lowe's on closeout before Christmas and thought this would be the perfect time to add some outside storage to the TT. Aside from the Honda, I also wanted a place to keep all of the blocks, tools, hoses, attachments etc. The drawer I had made for the pass through storage in the front of the TT worked OK, but was stuffed to the gills. I also had the lawn chairs on a ladder rack that was rapidly deteriorating so the plan was to move the chairs up front to the pass-thru storage, move the set up stuff to the back, and give the drawer assembly away here on RV.net (it's already spoken for).
So, first step was to cut off the bumper:
With that done, I needed to extend the frame rails. I used 1/4" x 2 1/2" angle iron as the main supports that will attach to the main frame rails. 4 Grade 5 bolts with washers and nylock nuts hold each frame extension on:
Note the mis-calculation on the hole....there is a cross piece that goes between the frame rails at the rear and that bolt was not far enough ahead of it...fixed it on the other side though! So much for measure twice and drill once....
I welded some U-channel on the bumper so I could re-attach it to the new frame extensions with 3/8" stainless hardware. Bumper was taken off again after this to get painted, so excuse the primer in the photo:
Next up was to build the frame that the box would sit on. the main cross pieces are 1 1/2" square channel, with smaller 1" channel pieces welded in to support the floor of the box:
What I did where the square tubing attaches to the angle iron was insert crush collars...I drilled a 1/2" hole in the square tube, then drove in 1/2" steel tube and welded the the top and bottom edges to the faces. The inside of the steel tube was 3/8" so those size bolts fit perfectly. I also welded end caps on so that the entire tube is sealed and should stay relatively rust-free:
Here it is on the paint line:
Here is the initial placement of the box:
I found some Peterson recessed tail lights that I installed in the bumper and added some side marker lites to the rubber end caps. Installed the back up lights on top of the bumper and slightly angled to the sides:
And the storage, you can see the Honda on the right with its blue cover still on:
Box measures 18x20x56 long. Honda is under it's blue fabric cover in the box. The box has the added benefit of being able to put the Honda under it to keep it dry when it's running.
Since all the wiring runs through the bumper, I have also added the 5" vinyl fence post for the sewer hose, mounted to the top of the frame extensions between the box and the TT:
Taking it out for its first trip this weekend...it's extremely solid, I just hope that I didn't kill my departure angle too much by going out so far from the back....but had no choice because the outside shower, city water connection, black tank flush and ladder are all on that back wall.
