Rear bumper swing arm with camper ?

[jasonwantsout]

For the jack & spare, jerrycans, axe & shovel, et.al. What have you found pro & con, and would any item made for my truck fit with the camper on, or are there special considerations/mods to be made ? Or is it better to go on top ? I am thinking I want the least amount of vertical for better handling and power/mileage. but going behind would cut my departure angle(?).

Thanks all.

 

[rando]

What vehicle is this going on?

In general I would say this is a bad idea for several reasons:
1. A rear bumper and swing out is a large amount of extra and not very useful weight.
2. It is a large amount of weight to put way out behind the rear axel.
3. You then have to open the swing out every time you want in to the camper (been there, done that, was annoying) .
4. If the gate were to close (wind, side hill, pesky kids) while you were in the camper, you would be stuck.

 

[ntsqd]

I built ours so that you could still get into the camper with the tire swing closed. It was tight, but doable. I included a spring-loaded pin that latched the swinger in the open position so that wind etc. couldn't close it accidentally. There's no getting around the weight issue, but if it is under the rear of the bed normally then you're not moving it all that far further aft.

 

[Ronin]

This is the bumper I had made for my previous rig that got totaled by an oak tree. Access to the rear door was ez having dual swing arms.

 

[jasonwantsout]

Thanks all for input, It's a '96 Ranger. Was thinking 2 swing arms Like that Ronin, thanks for the visual..

 

[DavidGraves]

Howdy

It is very easy to strap down and secure items like a shovel etc. under the FWC overhang on each side of your truck bed....towstarps etc fit in the forward trapdoors really well,,,,is your truck an access cab ? Lots of space there.

Putting weight at the very rear of your truck can look VERY COOL and be really detrimental to tire wear, emergency braking and avoidance on asphalt and trailside handling off road.

Try to figure what you really need or want for a given trip and see where it will stow as close to mid chassis as you can.

Don't mean to preach but I guess I am.

Happy trails and roads.

David Graves

 

[rando]

Have to agree with David here. The dual swing out I had on the back of my previous pop-top Landcruiser was over 200lbs for the bumper and arms alone - once you added a spare, gas cans etc it was well over 300lbs and was almost 3' behind the axel meaning the effective weight on the rear axel was probably close to 400lbs or so. It did look cool though.

I am not familiar with the Ranger, but can you not keep the tire under the bed in the usual location? Several folks here have mounted gerry can holders to their jack brackets - is that an option for you?

Not to be too much of a grinch, but, while having a camper on a smaller truck is super convenient you do have to be careful about weight and where that weight is. I have a rule on my Tacoma to question each addition - is it worth the money and is it worth the weight? There has to be a very significant practical benefit to justify the weight.

 

[jasonwantsout]

Thanks David and Rando, more to consider. Weight that far back and departure angles with the extension I had thought about, hadn't thought of handling issues though. Also aware of weighting the truck - 96 Ford ranger XLT 4L, 4x4, lifted. It is always in the front of my mind. I am yet to mount a camper, plan on an ATC Bobcat, but want to get as much info from those who have been there to aid my decision making. Measure twice, cut once. Greatly appreciate all the experience and suggestions being passed along. And given the option, I'd much rather have the spare in an easier to access location.

 

[rando]

In the past decade or so of wandering I have had precisely 1 flat tire, but have had to get into my various campers 10's of thousands of times.

Every one's priorities are different, but my choice is not making camper access anymore difficult over making spare tire easier to access (not even considering the weight and handling issues). Just something to think about.

 

[ntsqd]

It differs, perhaps considerably, because we're talking about a Mini Truck rather than a full size, but the difference in handling between spare under the rear and spare on a swinger was not at all noticeable to me on our CTD. We have gone from spare under to spare on a swinger, to spare back under because the new to us camper extends out the rear of the bed. Definitely notice the heavier camper, not the location of the spare. Position of the spare does not impress at all. If anything the spare on the swinger was helpful, not hurtful. I am not at all happy about having the spare under the truck, but there is nowhere else to put it.

 

[Adventurer]

Couldn't you put it on the roof of the camper, as I think with a Yakima or thule, etc., you have spare tire carrier options, or a front mounted hitch carrier?

 

[oldhotrod]

Look at which mounted tire carriers, they add little weight, are easily removed and adaptable to different needs...rigid, wilco and Westcott designs all have different takes on the hitch mount

 

[Your Mileage May Vary]

I'm not an engineer, but in one of my past lives I raced on track and in rally. Whenever we needed to add weight, we'd keep it as low as possible, as central as possible, and always between the wheels. Adding weight, in itself, is detrimental to handling, acceleration, deceleration, normal wear, and increases failures of various components. Placing added weight outside the wheels compounds issues with braking stability and handling, as it adds to the pendulum effect. One might not notice much difference in normal everyday driving, but would certainly notice the difference when approaching the limits of the vehicle, such as taking evasive maneuvers to prevent a crash or if they need to come a quick stop on a slippery curve. Everything else being equal, adding weight past the rear tires would lead to oversteering at lower speeds and increased chance of loss of control.

 

[Randonneur]

I have thought about this for a while myself since I often carry two mountain bikes on a 1-UPUSA rack attached to the receiver hitch on my 2017 Tacoma/ Fleet FWC. I would have preferred a swing arm system for the rack but the 1-UPUSA rack folds down out of the way to give access to the rear kinda sorta if you place the steps to the side. Somebody mentioned that they use the space along the side for mounting shovels and other recovery gear-- do you have any photos of this that you can share? Where did you drill into the camper and with what?
Thanks!