outboardfever wrote:
I just put a hitch basket on my A to carry my fire pit and a tub of wood. Looking for some ideas to stabilize side to side. Off to the coast Saturday so we shall see how it works out. Should also work for bikes.
When I first installed my "basket" it was horribly wobbly. But after spending $100 for the basket I was determined to come up with a solution. I was very disappointed I could not use my factory installed receiver on my TT (see photo above from previous post).
But I did have one of those bumper mounts with the 2 inch receiver so mounted it on the sewer hose bumper (with the receiver on the top of the bumper, not the bottom.) The basket was still very wobbly, so I measured the distance from the top of the bumper to the bottom of basket and it was just shy of the width of two 2x4's stacked on top of each other. I was able to split one of the 2x4's on my table saw and put 2 together. The distance was perfect.
So I then drilled holes through the 2x4 and mounted them to the bottom of the basket with eye bolts. The reason I used I bolts with the loop on the end was so I could use them to catch bungie cords or whatever inside the basket.
Now, when inserting the basket into the receiver, the 2x4 actually rest on top of the bumper. They do not have any pressure on them, they just rest. With one on each end of the basket, this keeps the basket from rocking like a bonking horse. This completely stabilized the rocking back and forth, took out all the wiggle, and I've been using it this way for 3 years now.
Here's a photo of the basket from a different angle. You can see there are actually 3 arms coming from the basket. The middle is the receiver, the ends are the 2x4's that just rest on top of the bumper.
This works, took out all the rocking too. I painted the wood black to match the bumper and basket. It's not treated wood, and under and extreme stress (if that would ever happen for any reason, the wood would snap before the metal thus preventing any damage. But so far, I've not had to test that theory. I could have used metal to support the ends from rocking, but opted for wood, since I a carpenter and better equipped to fabricate a solution with wood, more than metal.
Here's a photo from a different angle than above:
I have 2 of these. One fits my "cage" but two will not. So that leaves some space for other things. I carry all my sewer hose supplies in it.
Got mine from Wall Mart. They are called "foot lockers"
click here.
But then, if you want something that might fit the entire cage, you might try one of these: Click here too.
Got mine from Wall Mart. They are called "foot lockers"
click here.
But then, if you want something that might fit the entire cage, you might try one of these: Click here too.
rhagfo wrote:
If you really like your grill, don't go hat route. The basket at the back of the trailer is bad enough, but it will likely twist the bumper right off the trailer.
You will need a reciver welded to the trailer frame.
I agree you don't want to end up like this
