Steve and Karen
Ranger
(This is likely my last involved modification... and windy post... for a while, until we get some considerable miles on this thing and I think of something else to do to it. First trip this weekend. Yay.)
Anywho... before even picking up the 560 this spring , I was intrigued by another UCIF poster who created some ABS pipe storage for his tent poles/ fishing rod etc and mounted it under his trailer. (I've done something similar with ABS on my motorcycle in the empty space between the frame and the side case, for spare parts and fluids). However, not wishing to prostrate myself on questionable terrain under the trailer to access the tube, possibly on a daily basis, or compromise the clearance of the trailer, or lay poles on the mattress, I looked elsewhere on the trailer for some dedicated pole storage.
In my search, I found that So-Cal Teardrops offer a tube bumper with end caps as a build option on their units. However, given its design and very low and close inside position, it appears to be just extra storage for poles and would in reality do little to prevent any damage to the rear of the TD during any sort of an impact.
BTW: The potential for low-speed damage to the rear of the TD became all to apparent to me when we were picking up the trailer at the factory and I had a near miss; it hadn't even left the building! So, after getting home with the trailer unscathed, I decided to combine the need for some tent pole storage with some actual rear end protection. CI's bumper is elegant and highly functional, as just a bumper. But I wanted something that could do double duty.
For my custom fab, Cary offered up the mounting brackets that CI uses for their own optional bumpers, for $85. The two pre-drilled and painted angles came with detailed mounting instructions, as one would expect. They mount easily with 3 lag screws (provided) each up into the frame of the trailer. I then designed a bumper using 4" stainless tube 66" long. What joins the tube to the CI brackets are a pair of laser-cut vertical brackets and another 90 deg 1"angle placed on the inside of the CI bracket, for added welding contact, fastened with two bolts. (I know I risk having the CI copyright police on my tail for the laser cutting, but they do add some panache to the whole thing).
The end caps (also laser-cut) were designed with two interior tabs and secured with a vertical pin and a mini cotter pin. All pieces are stainless and were custom-made at a marine metal fabrication shop where my son conveniently works. The caps sit 1/4" proud of the bumper tube all around as it would have been painstaking and futile to try and get a flush or interior cap mount, or make the caps waterproof. As it is, the tube will drain easily if any water gets in, and any minor discrepancies in centering the cap on the tube are well masked. Further, the bumper doesn't look like a storage place, so I'm not concerned about securing what's inside or putting padlocks on the caps.
I could have gone with a tube that matched the exact width of the trailer itself. However, the 66" length was essentially dictated by the length of my poles: two sets, laid end-to-end fill the entire tube. Any longer (i.e. as wide as the fenders) and the bumper probably would have looked stupid and there'd be wasted space inside. The 4" round profile was dictated by what stock was available in the shop. A slightly larger round diameter, or some very cool elliptical profiles (there's even some teardrop-shaped ones out there!) might have been more practical or aesthetic, but would have been a very costly specialty order with a lot of waste material.
In an undefined impact, its hard to say what the physical consequences will be to the bumper and components: sheared lag bolts, sheared mounting bolts, buckled tube? I don't know. It does however sit 4 1/2" away from the very rear of the trailer itself, so it does provide a substantial "crumple zone", protecting some of the more costly and difficult to repair components of the trailer. Despite this, it does not force you to stand further away from the counter-top than you normally would. However, at the height I do have the bumper, you can't get the crank on the levelling jack nut during the last inch of upward travel of the jack. You can solve this nut access problem with an electric drill and socket attachment (as I have) or less expensively by using a ratcheting closed end 3/4" wrench to raise or lower it during that last/first inch of travel, and using the provided crank for the rest of the work.
Cheers,
Steve
Anywho... before even picking up the 560 this spring , I was intrigued by another UCIF poster who created some ABS pipe storage for his tent poles/ fishing rod etc and mounted it under his trailer. (I've done something similar with ABS on my motorcycle in the empty space between the frame and the side case, for spare parts and fluids). However, not wishing to prostrate myself on questionable terrain under the trailer to access the tube, possibly on a daily basis, or compromise the clearance of the trailer, or lay poles on the mattress, I looked elsewhere on the trailer for some dedicated pole storage.
In my search, I found that So-Cal Teardrops offer a tube bumper with end caps as a build option on their units. However, given its design and very low and close inside position, it appears to be just extra storage for poles and would in reality do little to prevent any damage to the rear of the TD during any sort of an impact.
BTW: The potential for low-speed damage to the rear of the TD became all to apparent to me when we were picking up the trailer at the factory and I had a near miss; it hadn't even left the building! So, after getting home with the trailer unscathed, I decided to combine the need for some tent pole storage with some actual rear end protection. CI's bumper is elegant and highly functional, as just a bumper. But I wanted something that could do double duty.
For my custom fab, Cary offered up the mounting brackets that CI uses for their own optional bumpers, for $85. The two pre-drilled and painted angles came with detailed mounting instructions, as one would expect. They mount easily with 3 lag screws (provided) each up into the frame of the trailer. I then designed a bumper using 4" stainless tube 66" long. What joins the tube to the CI brackets are a pair of laser-cut vertical brackets and another 90 deg 1"angle placed on the inside of the CI bracket, for added welding contact, fastened with two bolts. (I know I risk having the CI copyright police on my tail for the laser cutting, but they do add some panache to the whole thing).
The end caps (also laser-cut) were designed with two interior tabs and secured with a vertical pin and a mini cotter pin. All pieces are stainless and were custom-made at a marine metal fabrication shop where my son conveniently works. The caps sit 1/4" proud of the bumper tube all around as it would have been painstaking and futile to try and get a flush or interior cap mount, or make the caps waterproof. As it is, the tube will drain easily if any water gets in, and any minor discrepancies in centering the cap on the tube are well masked. Further, the bumper doesn't look like a storage place, so I'm not concerned about securing what's inside or putting padlocks on the caps.
I could have gone with a tube that matched the exact width of the trailer itself. However, the 66" length was essentially dictated by the length of my poles: two sets, laid end-to-end fill the entire tube. Any longer (i.e. as wide as the fenders) and the bumper probably would have looked stupid and there'd be wasted space inside. The 4" round profile was dictated by what stock was available in the shop. A slightly larger round diameter, or some very cool elliptical profiles (there's even some teardrop-shaped ones out there!) might have been more practical or aesthetic, but would have been a very costly specialty order with a lot of waste material.
In an undefined impact, its hard to say what the physical consequences will be to the bumper and components: sheared lag bolts, sheared mounting bolts, buckled tube? I don't know. It does however sit 4 1/2" away from the very rear of the trailer itself, so it does provide a substantial "crumple zone", protecting some of the more costly and difficult to repair components of the trailer. Despite this, it does not force you to stand further away from the counter-top than you normally would. However, at the height I do have the bumper, you can't get the crank on the levelling jack nut during the last inch of upward travel of the jack. You can solve this nut access problem with an electric drill and socket attachment (as I have) or less expensively by using a ratcheting closed end 3/4" wrench to raise or lower it during that last/first inch of travel, and using the provided crank for the rest of the work.
Cheers,
Steve
