Oct 152010
Today I installed the front hitch on my truck. I have a number of things I want to take with me this winter and I have been trying to figure out how to carry it all. The main bulky items is my Moped, generator, gas can and fresh water container. I looked at a couple of ways to get them all in the bed of the truck in front of the 5th wheel trailer hitch, make sure they don't shift around and still have clearance so the trailer wouldn't hit them when turning. I wasn't comfortable with any of the solutions I tried.
My first option was to have a custom mount made for the generator so I could carry it on the 5th wheel trailer's pinbox. After a couple of estimates for $600 to $700 I nixed that idea.
I then investigated having a mount made for the back of the trailer to mount either the Moped or the generator. A custom mounting system has to be made because the rear bumper is not strong enough on most trailers to carry extra weight and there isn't an off-the-shelf solution for a bolt on hitch. Again it was $600 to $700 to have that done. Two ideas down.
The last idea was to put a hitch receiver on the front of the truck and then I could get a scooter carrier to mount the Moped on. Front hitches are made by a couple of companies and with the cost of the scooter mount I could do it for less then $300. Bingo!
It wasn't hard to install. The front bumper cover needed to be removed, a couple of holes had to be drilled in the frame and a few bolts used to mount the hitch receiver. Put the bumper cover back on and it's done. Only took about 2 hours. The truck is a 2WD so the hitch is a bit low but I don't off-road so it shouldn't be a problem.
Another project done, still many more to go.
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