Cougar Cargo Tray Needs Additional Support

[gepaine]

I have a 2011 Cougar 24RKS TT with the slide out cargo tray on the rear. It is supported by two "L" brackets (one on each side) that also have a hole in them to accept the pin that locks the tray in the out or in position. I have been concerned that the support bracket my not be "beefy" enough to withstand the bouncing of the loaded tray as we travel down the road. (FYI: I do not overload the cargo tray.) The weld that holds the bracket to the trailer frame does not look very substantial, and one of the brackets is beginning to bend.

I took the trailer to a welding shop to have an additional bracket welded in place, but was told it couldn't be welded that close to the underside of the trailer because the foam insulation in the Arctic pack would probably catch on fire.

(1) I have an idea for fabricating a bolt-on support, but thought someone may have already done this. If anyone has, can you provide pictures?

(2) If you have a Keystone trailer with a slide out cargo tray, you might want to consider reinforcing the support brackets.

Thanks

[hankpage]

I noticed the angle supports bending also just before a trip. Did not have time to re-weld so this was my "Band-Aid" repair.

Using beam clamps, threaded rods and uni-strut I supported the rack

The rack slides on the head of an adjustable carriage-bolt on each side

This was four years ago and still holding up well. I only carry two mountain bikes on the rack (spare tire in bed of truck) and it seems to be working well,so I most likely will never weld it. All materials are standard hardware supplies available in electrical section of any "Home store". Hope this helps, Hank

[dspriggs]

I finally decided never to travel with the rack extended; which means it is a useless feature. The rack seems to be designed with too much flexibility which leads to a lot of vibration and possible failure points. In our case we had the spare tire rack fail twice in the same year.

During the second failure I was being followed by another RV'r who said he witnessed excessive vibration of the rack while just driving down the road and that that seemed to cause the failure.

I have discussed this with both the RV dealer and with Keystone. Keystone paid to replace the second tire rack and the dealer came up with a way to beef up the rack, but neither of them had any suggestion as to the vibration problem on the extended rack. If Keystone ever comes up with a fix, I'll consider using the "feature" again.

[ocho nueve]

Yikes! Thanks for the heads up. I will definitely reinforce that L bracket before our first trip.

[hankpage]

Originally Posted by ocho nueve

Yikes! Thanks for the heads up. I will definitely reinforce that L bracket before our first trip.

The most important thing is to get the spare tire off the bumper!!!!

[gepaine]

Hi Hank,

Thanks for the reply with pictures. That gives me more options to consider. However, getting the spare tire off the bumper is not going to happen. I have no other place to put it. But I have wondered if the stated 200 pound capacity of the cargo tray included the weight of the spare or was in addition to the spare. I really doubt that Keystone did a lot of engineering to come up with the 200 pound capacity. It was probably just a number somebody tossed out without a lot of thought. (Like the guy who designed the existing "L" bracket supports.)

[hankpage]

If that is your only choice try turning the tire-mount around to reduce the leverage of the tire on the rack. Or better yet mount the tire laying down on the rack so there is no motion. I'm just thinking out loud but anything will be better than the factory supplied mount. It just moves too much.

[Mighty Ming]

Mounted mine under the front of the trailer. As you can see I used a SUV spare tire mount that mounts under the vehicle (got mine at a wrecking yard for 20 bucks)To remove it I just crank it down. I modified it so I can attach my 18v drill to the crank with an extension. The poles I used are what they use for stop signs etc. got this idea from another forum. See pics.


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[gepaine]

I ended up going with support brackets welded together from 1/4 inch steel plate. They were made to my specs by a local welding shop. ($80 total plus tax.) The tray rails ride on carriage bolts and the brackets are bolted to the trailer's I-beam frame with 5/16 inch self-tapping screws and lock washers. (You may notice that spacers were used with the carriage bolts. This was necessary due to a miscalculation on my part.)

Also, I planned on using self-tapping screws because I didn't want to drop the arctic package covering or cut through it to get to the backside of the I-beam to install nuts.

FYI: Dropping the covering really is not an option at the rear of the trailer since the covering wraps about 12 inches up the backside of the trailer - behind the fiberglass exterior. The screws for the covering are between the covering and the fiberglass - about 6 to 8 inches up from the bottom of the fiberglass. If you have real small fingers and a lot of patience, you might be able to get the screws out and back in.

Later on I realized that I did not know what was behind the I-beam (wiring, gas lines, etc.), and did not want to blindly drill holes thru the I-beam. I cut small flaps in the bottom covering to inspect behind the I-beam. Wires for the driver side tail light ran close to where I was going to drill, but there was plenty of clearance. There was nothing in the way on the passenger side. I could have went with nuts and bolts now, but since I already had the self-tapping screws, I used them. The I-beam is only about 5/32 to 3/16 inch thick so I had to be careful not to over tighten the screws and strip out the threads. (I think the torque spec is about 1/4 turn before they strip out. )

Here are some pictures of the support brackets as well as the cargo tray fully loaded with bikes and generator box:

[ausarb]

Originally Posted by hankpage

I noticed the angle supports bending also just before a trip. Did not have time to re-weld so this was my "Band-Aid" repair.

This was four years ago and still holding up well. I only carry two mountain bikes on the rack (spare tire in bed of truck) and it seems to be working well,so I most likely will never weld it. All materials are standard hardware supplies available in electrical section of any "Home store". Hope this helps, Hank

Hank, do you have these pictures still? The link is dead and I'd really like to see what you did so I can shamelessly copy.

[LM3929]

I would like to copy it as well.

Lorne M

[hankpage]

Originally Posted by ausarb

Hank, do you have these pictures still? The link is dead and I'd really like to see what you did so I can shamelessly copy.

That's one I missed updating when Webshots went bye-bye. I thought I got them all but. check it again.
Any industrial, plumbing or electrical supply should have the parts or Grainger or McMaster Carr online.

[theasphaltrv'er]

We have an 07' Cougar TT and have the slide out bike carrier rack. Have carried 2 Honda 2000's on it along with the spare tire secured to the bumper and have had no problems. Don't know what they changed thru the years but our was made to last.

[Western Traveler]

Some threads need occasional bumping for the great info they contain. When I saw this one in January it went on my to do list.

Here is the mod I did while handling my battery security dilemma. We used 1/4" instead of whatever that thin material is that Keystone used. BTW there was no problem welding both sides next to the coroplast, a simple shield was used.

[TheBeans]

When we did our walkthrough at the dealer (which was handled by a very knowledgeable young man from Service/Parts/Repair) he told us that the tray will hold 200 pounds but that you have to deduct 60-65 lbs from that total due to the spare tire, which eats up some of that weight. He said two bikes should be fine, as long as they are secured. We don't always take our bikes with us, but it will be interesting to see how it handles this spring-time when we take it out for it's shake-down run.