Great Tailgate Idea

What a great utility tailgate idea I saw on the highway. Could not stop him to get any closeups but took this one sitting at a stop light (no I wasn't taking photos while driving) and then he turned onto the freeway and I had to go straight.

I'm looking to mount something that could hold my new generator and then could also serve as a miscellaneous storage area for like a bicycle, etc. Looks like he shortened his ladder to accommodate the full length of the bumper.

My other option/thought is to mount this on a set of receiver tubes that would make the whole thing removeable and not even have a bumper on the coach if you don't need it. just sharing my thoughts and ideas and looking for how you adapted the rear of your coach to carry loads.

I especially like the load on the rear bumper to reduce the load on the nose since so much naturally goes up there with my bedroom and bathroom in the nose of the trailer, basement, nose basement and truck, everything ends up on the nose?????

open for suggestions

Sabre from Forest River have had those for a few years now. Take a look at one on their site. Was told that it can safely hold up to 200lbs.

Looks like the one on the rear of my Elkridge E289.

For what it is worth. I have seen a rear bumper storage shelf similar to this fail and someone lost 2 honda 2000 generators, their connecting cable, cooler, outdoor carpet 2 chairs and a five gallon eagle gas can. This was the day after a Richmond race a few years ago. He had no idea that the shelf broke off. VA State Police were called and took possession of the stuff. Imagine their surprise when they got to their destination or next fuel stop. I wonder what happens to stuff found like that?

Tundra2084 said:

Sabre from Forest River have had those for a few years now. Take a look at one on their site. Was told that it can safely hold up to 200lbs.

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I've looked at those. The only comment I'd make is, if you're not to old to remember, the ride in the back seat of a school bus verses the ride in front of the rear wheels. Anything you put back there is going to be subjected to a LOT of movement.

szewczyk_john said:

For what it is worth. I have seen a rear bumper storage shelf similar to this fail and someone lost 2 honda 2000 generators, their connecting cable, cooler, outdoor carpet 2 chairs and a five gallon eagle gas can. This was the day after a Richmond race a few years ago. He had no idea that the shelf broke off. VA State Police were called and took possession of the stuff. Imagine their surprise when they got to their destination or next fuel stop. I wonder what happens to stuff found like that?

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If it was like the one on my North Trail he was pushing the limit for the weight. Mine said it had a two hundred pound capacity max, but after standing on it a bouncing, I figured a more realistic max was about 150 pounds. I carried my Honda 2000 generators and a utility box and that used up my 150 pounds.

Know someone who had a factory installed one on his FW - lost the rack and everything he had strapped on and can't to this day say where. If it's on a trailer your looking at I would seriously think about having the whole assembly reinforced by a local welder, the factory setup is flimsy at best.

My camping buddy had a welder fabricate this tailgate rack to haul his 250 lb generator. The platform is removable as it slides into two trailer hitch receivers. If I remember the welder ran the hitch receivers back so he could weld & bolt them to the frame rail.

That looks beefy enough to work better than the flimsy store bout racks that I have seen.