DIY & Mods » tgif: let's RV

5th Wheel Trailer Rear Carrier

Oct 272011

It seems no matter how much storage you have, you always need more. The basement in my 5th wheel was getting full and I was looking for a way to create some extra storage. I've seen a few rear carriers added to rigs and since I already have a receiver hitch on the back it made sense to look into using one.

There are some things you have to look out for when carrying anything on the back of a trailer. You first don't want to put a lot of weight on the rear hitch on most trailers. The frames and construction is just not made to take a lot of weight. A lot of manufacturers will void the frame warranty if you install a rear hitch. You also have to keep in mind that anything you put back there will take a lot of abuse from the bouncing that happens at the rear of a trailer. If you keep that in mind you can still safely carry stuff on the back.

Front Moped Carrier

DIY & Mods, RV Equipment No Responses »

Oct 182011

Last year I had a small moped that I took to Arizona. You can see the setup I had here. This year I got a Yamaha Zuma 125 and needed a new carrier for it. Since this scooter is heavier then the old one I wanted a tilting carrier to make it easier to load. After some searching I found a tilting aluminum scooter carrier from Discount Ramps. The carrier has a built in deck extender, an adjustable wheel chock and could carry 400 lbs. Looked perfect for my needs.

It arrived about a week after ordering. It took about an hour to assemble. There was a bit of damage to the ramp during shipping but it was easy to hammer out the bent side rail and you can't even tell it was bent a bit.

There is 19" from the pin hole to the center of the ramp and that put the scooter too far away from the front of the truck. I pushed the carrier into the receiver further, marked the placement of the pins holes and drilled new holes. I have found that the titanium nitride coated step drills from Harbor Freight work great and made short work of the drilling the 11/16" holes.

Pinbox Mounted Bike Rack

DIY & Mods 2 Responses »

Oct 172011

I've carried my bike with the rack connected to the rear hitch receiver on the trailer but it really beats the hell out of the bike. If you ever follow a trailer with bikes on the back you know how much they bounce around. I don't mind it so much if I'm only going to a local campground. I just don't want it bouncing around for the 3000 mile round trip to Florida.

I found a few ideas on mounting a receiver on the front pin box. There is a lot less movement at the pinbox and since it's visible in your mirror you can keep an eye on it. Sure it will get a few bugs on it after the trip and I'll put up with that knowing it will arrive safely.

I went down to the local Harbor Freight store and purchased a 12" long 2" receiver tube. I then attachdd the bike rack to the receiver tube and held it up in place to find out where to mount the tube. This wasn't wasy to do by myself since the tube and rack weighed about 50 lbs. and I had to hold it chest high and I looked around to see if there was enough clearance. I'd suggest using 2 people if possible.

Modification To Make Your TV Mount More Secure

DIY & Mods, Maintenance & Repairs No Responses »

Oct 122011

After each trip I almost always check out the trailer closely to see if any problems have cropped up. One thing I noticed a couple of trips ago was the television mount. It is a swing arm mount that has a pin in it to keep the arm in place while traveling. While it keeps the arm in place I always thought that the TV just wiggled a lot more then it should.

Closer inspection showed that metal inserts in the TV that the mount screws to were pulling out of the TV. I figured I'd keep an eye on it to see if that is the way it was when new or if it got worse. After last weeks trip it appeared that the metal inserts were pulled out even more. It was time to figure out how to solve this before I found the TV smashed on the floor after a trip. Here is what I did.

RV Awning Light Hanger

DIY & Mods No Responses »

Oct 102011

I really like awning lights that hang from the awning. I have some rope lights that give off just enough light to give a nice glow to the patio without attracting bugs. The problem is the can be a pain to take down quickly if you have to retract the awning I got this idea from someone on the Woodalls forums and thought I show you how I did it.

I took two pieces of aluminum angle and cut them about 2" long. I then drilled two 1/8" mounting holes in the aluminum angle and a 5/16" hole in the other leg for the wire attachement point.

I then pop riveted the aluminum angle to the outside of the awning arm. The 2" length is long enough to give a good stable base for the mount. What you have to watch here is the placement. It needs to be high enough so your entrance door will not hit it but low enough so it will not get caught by the awning material when the awning is retracted. For me this was having the wire support hole about 2" below the empty awning roller.

Level Up Automatic Leveling System Install

DIY & Mods, RV Equipment No Responses »

Oct 032011

One of the biggest pain in the butts when camping is leveling your coach. Since I travel alone it can really really be a pain. You back into your spot, get out the level, guess at how many blocks you need to level it and place the blocks behind your wheels. You then back up on them all the while hoping you have them positioned correctly wo you don't fal off or drive too far back so you drive off them. Get out, check the level and then maybe have to add or take out blocks to get it level, drive off the blocks and start again. And in each of these steps I have to get out of the truck. By the time I'm done I need a nap!

I have investigated a couple of system on-line and they all have advantages and disadvantages so there is no clearly best system out there that I could see. I attended the recent Crossroads rally and Lippert was offering a special on their Level Up hydraulic automatic leveling system. The 6 point system is normally about $5000 and the special was for $3500. If I was able to ever afford one, now was the time. After a few calls to Lippert and a bit of negotiating I was able to get the price down to $3200. It was time to pull the trigger.

U.S. Map Tabletop

DIY & Mods No Responses »

Sep 272011

I like to be reminded of the different places I've been to on my travels and got this idea from somewhere on the Internet. The idea is simple, find a map of the U.S. the size of the dining room tabletop and use a piece of plexiglass to cover it. You can then use highlighters to draw out your the routes you have taken on your trips.

I used plexiglass instead of glass because it is lighter and there is no chance of breaking while in transit. I'll have to use place mats and coasters to keep from scratching the plexiglass but that's OK.

I found a suitable map at maps.com Click Here to Purchase Maps.com USA products!. They have hundreds of different styles and sizes of maps. I then went down to the local glass shop and had them cut a piece of 1/8" plexiglass for me. I had it cut 1/4" smaller then the actual size of the table and they rounded the edges. This helps prevent snagging the plexiglass with your clothes.

Electric Fireplace Installation

DIY & Mods No Responses »

Sep 262011

I've always carried a couple of portable electric heaters with me when I travel. When camped with hook ups it's nice to be able to plug them on those chilly nights and mornings plus it saves on propane costs. What I don't like is that they take up counter and floor space and always seem to be in the way.

I decided I wanted to install an electric fireplace. Not only will it give off some heat, it will be built in and create some ambiance to boot. The only place I could put it was in the bottom of the entertainment center where there was a shallow storage area. It took me about a week to find one that would fit in the limited space and I found it at Northern Tool.

Entrance Step Stool Project

DIY & Mods No Responses »

Sep 202011

If you've ever camped in rustic campgrounds you've found that because of uneven ground that the bottom step to your entrance door can be a long ways to the ground. I've run into this a couple times already this year. You can buy folding steps from your local RV shop but at $70 to $100 your pocketbook can take a hit.

I could make a wood one but it would be heavy and awkward to store. I then found that Harbor Freight had an aluminum folding step stool for $25 on sale. I took a look and found out the step was 13" above the ground. More then what is needed but I figured I could shorten the legs and make it work.

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Custom Flow Tailgate Install

DIY & Mods, RV Equipment No Responses »

Jun 062011

In my previous post I talked about the terrible weather I had camping Memorial Day weekend. What I failed to mention was that during my efforts to get unstuck I damaged my V tailgate when it caught on the edge of the pinbox when pulling out from the trailer. It was a cheap Carlson tube tailgate so that didn't bother me so much as I hate not having some type of tailgate on the truck.

I don't like using the stock tailgate because if I am at more then just a little angle I can not lower the tailgate to unhitch without it hitting the trailer. Since I normally camp alone, that is a problem. My only solution is a V tailgate. This time I wanted something with a little more quality so started searching around. Reading different forums the Custom Flow tailgate came with many recommendations. As I researched prices, it was a good value too. I order the Custom Flow 5th Wheel Tailgate from Amazon for $320 including shipping and it arrived 3 days later via UPS.