Keystone Cougar Bumper Falls Off (almost)

[TakingThe5th]

Yesterday I pulled out the bike rack on our 2013 Keystone Cougar and found that the bumper was starting to fall off. The welds joining frame to bumper were good but the metal around the lower portion of the bumper had multiple cracks on both sides. I knew this was a recent development because I could no longer get a stinky slinky out of the bumper. We have used the bike rack twice in the past to carry two bikes so we have not exceeded the 200 lbs weight limit, not by a long shot.

The spare tire mount is bolted to the bumper and I suspect that the tire mount caused the problem. When I shake the tire I can see a correlation to the damage. All the bolts are tight. The bumper does not appear to have been hit and there is no other damage.

I'm now traveling with the tire removed and will have it braced better and welded when I get home. Glad I found it before I lost two bikes, a spare tire, two stinky slinkies and a bumper. It could have been worse - I might have heard that someone ran over two bikes, a spare tire, two slinky stickies and a bumper last night.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Decades-old horror stories decided things for me. My tow axle connects to Quicksilver with a 10 TON pintle hitch. A little noisy but no way s it going to come off. Thanks for reminding me why I went through all the trouble 🙂

[Gdetrailer]

TakingThe5th wrote:
Yesterday I pulled out the bike rack on our 2013 Keystone Cougar and found that the bumper was starting to fall off. The welds joining frame to bumper were good but the metal around the lower portion of the bumper had multiple cracks on both sides. I knew this was a recent development because I could no longer get a stinky slinky out of the bumper. We have used the bike rack twice in the past to carry two bikes so we have not exceeded the 200 lbs weight limit, not by a long shot.

The spare tire mount is bolted to the bumper and I suspect that the tire mount caused the problem. When I shake the tire I can see a correlation to the damage. All the bolts are tight. The bumper does not appear to have been hit and there is no other damage.

I'm now traveling with the tire removed and will have it braced better and welded when I get home. Glad I found it before I lost two bikes, a spare tire, two stinky slinkies and a bumper. It could have been worse - I might have heard that someone ran over two bikes, a spare tire, two slinky stickies and a bumper last night.

You have officially joined the Been there Done That club..

I am a longstanding member of 10 yrs when I nearly lost my bumper due to installing a bike rack... So you are in good company.

As you have noticed it isn't a failure of the WELDS but the adjacent METAL BESIDE THE WELDS.

The problem is the bumper material is TOO THIN, yep, the standard RV bumper is made out of 14 ga steel, that is only 1/16" thick, simply can not stand real large twisting forces that a bike rack gives..

My current TT I needed to replace the original bumper since it was rusted out (20+ years old at the time) so I opted for new 4"x4" 1/8" thick square tubing.. Burned quite a few sticks to ensure it is there to stay.. Even though I have improved the bumper, I refuse to put ANYTHING on that bumper that can give a twisting motion like a bike rack or tire mount.

Get it welded up and FIND ANOTHER WAY TO HAUL YOUR BIKES.

I built a bike rack which sits over top my truck bed topper, no more worry's of lost items..

There is a outfit from Canada which makes a bike rack that mounts on your trailer tongue over top the propane tanks.

Looks like this..



I can't remember the name of that outfit, someone will most likely chime in with that..

An alternate to that unit is a 2" hitch "adapter" which adds a 2" hitch receiver over top your propane tanks..

Looks like this..







I found that one at HERE AT ETRAILER for $199..

Then you can use a standard 2" hitch bike rack!

Expensive but it WOULD BE MY CHOICE if I didn't have my truck bed topper version..

Don't listen to the folks who say they have been using their bumper mounted racks for years, they too will eventually have the bumper fail if it is not been upgraded..

[jodeb720]

a few years ago, my bike rack started to develop the same cracks you're describing on you FW.

Ultimately, I had the rack removed and I had a custom setup fabricated by a welder that I can now carry my dirt bikes on. I couldn't be happier; However, it wasn't cheap either.

It's the bouncing that causes fatigue on the metal and ultimately causes the failure. Unfortunately, there isn't anyway you can brace the rack to stop the bouncing.

In the end, I mounted my slinky under the rig in a PVC Pipe in front of the axle and carry the spare in teh back of my truck. I can put it on the rack, but usually I have motorcycles and bicycles on teh back and there isn't enough room for all of it.

[jalichty]

I didn't get a hitch installed by the dealer, but did get one installed by a professional welder. In addition to the hitch, he also put in various support pieces and the hitch snugs right up to the bumper, thereby making it very solid. I have no doubt the spare tire holder will never cause the bumper to fall off the FW.

[RoyB]

Sure has been many past posts on using the very weak build design of the trailer so called bumpers...

Hate to hear yours is starting to fail but glad you have caught it early before doing damage to someone else...

I even worry about my spare tire mount installed by the manufacturer...

Roy Ken