sliding rear bumper improvement

[Happycamper4556]

The other day I seen an improvement made to a Cougar's sliding rear bumper.The gentleman removed the L brackets and welded square tubing to hold up the sliding bumper nearly not only doubling the amount of weight it can hold but making it a lot safer.The L brackets are not safe or strong enough.Thanks for any help at all.

[Canonman]

I had the factory L brackets fail on our first trip out. The dealer replaced them with heavier gauge brackets I think just from some scrap stock they had lying around. It worked OK but I found using a bolt and nut instead of a pin helped with keeping the rack more secure and stable when extended.
Overall, I'd say the whole set up is a total failure. Keystone/Lippert would have been way ahead if they'd have just put a receiver hitch on the frame:facepalm:

[Customer1]

"Sliding rear bumper"? I'm curious what that is, I have a fold down cargo rack.

Edit; I did some research, it appears the newer fold down cargo rack is a better design.