Who's mounted a generator on the rear

[waltbennett]

I KNOW the trailer hitch on our Montana is a joke and am not at all planning on using it. My neighbor is a professional welder though (!) and I've opened a discussion with him about making a platform that would be welded to the two stub frames used for the 'hitch' or directly to the frame. This would hold something the size of our HF 4kw peak generator (secured appropriately). He's pretty confident he can fabricate what's needed, but I'm wondering what anyone else has had made or DYI'ed.

[NMDriver]

Carried a 3500 watt generator on a rear carrier along with a 8ft Bass Raider plastic boat and motor. No problems that I ever noticed. Well I did break my rear window loading the boat one day.

I quit carrying the generator a few yrs ago when I quit crossing AZ and CA in the summer time. I also sold the boat and now have a 18 footer I tow.

The hitch came on the 5er and I had a local welder reinforce it in several places, particularly the attachments to the I beams on the frame and the braces to keep it from torquing.

[Pipeman]

I used to haul a 4000 watt Onan Juice Box on the back of my 5er. It weighed 380 lbs dry. I had no problems with the weight for steering. The dealer I bought the 5er from put on the receiver and the 5er was brand new. It would have voided the warranty but the dealer said they would take care of any problems.

[goducks10]

I have just recently mounted my 2000W Honda gen on the rear bumper of my 5er. I made a 1.5" receiver and welded that to the top of the bumper. I then made a square frame out of 1.5" angle iron that's the same size as the base of the gen. I welded a stinger that runs the full width of the frame. I slotted out the angle iron on the front (5er side) and ran the 1.5" stinger thru the slot and extended it out enough to fit the in the receiver. I then made a bracket that will accept a padlock to lock it to the 5er. I have a tension bolt on the top of the receiver to keep it solid. I mounted the gen to the frame by removing the 4 rubber pads on the bottom and using longer bolts, bolted it to the frame. I then tack welded 2" wide plates on the bottom of the frame to cover the bolts. That way no one can unbolt the gen from the frame without going thru a lot of work. I also used allen head bolts to make things tougher.
Gen only weighs about 60lbs with all the frame added.
I notice zero difference in towing. I also have a Northwood MFG built frame so it's quite a bit stronger that the average trailer frame. At least as far as the bumper is concerned. NW mounts the spare on there as OEM so they have to figure it's beefy enough.

[jalichty]

I noticed the weight change when hooking our boat to the rear of the FW, but the FW seems to trailer about the same whether we have the boat attached to the rear or not. I don't really think that putting a generator on there rear of the FW will affect the towing characteristics very much at all.

[waltbennett]

eHoefler wrote:
Any weight you put on the rear will remove an equal amount from the front and place it on the axles. You need to get your axle weight and see if you have the room.

Not a problem taking care of that. Got so much front end weight now that I typically carry at least a half tank of fresh water (it's in the rear) no matter what.

[Westcoasting]

eHoefler wrote:
Any weight you put on the rear will remove an equal amount from the front and place it on the axles. You need to get your axle weight and see if you have the room.

Not an equal amount... only if the balance point was the centre of the wheels.

[cyntdon2010]

eHoefler wrote:
Any weight you put on the rear will remove an equal amount from the front and place it on the axles. You need to get your axle weight and see if you have the room.

I put some firewood on the rear of our camper once, after and hour of fighting to stay on the road. I tossed it on the rear of truck.
good luck with the weight change.

[Busdriver]

Have a 2800 Yamaha mounted on rear for several years, a friend that is a welder built the hitch and carrier

[eHoefler]

Any weight you put on the rear will remove an equal amount from the front and place it on the axles. You need to get your axle weight and see if you have the room.

[lee_worsdell]

My buddy had a nice inclosed carrier built for the back of his landmark. Made out of checker plate and powder coated and painted. Very sharp can hold his 7000 if needed.