I thought I'd pass on two home "imagineered" items I've used/added to our Bigfoot 21 TT RB.
Item one is bumper. The original aluminum bumper was not strong enough to hold two bicycles and the spare; it fell off!! Luckily, no harm to anything or anyone except for the bumper which was left behind and damaged beyond repair. We added a 3/8 inch wall 4x4 bumper and I painted it with pickup truck bed paint that has a rough finish. After about a total month of curing (It remained a little soft for a week or two) that stuff seems bulletproof and will protect the bumper. I purchased the square tubing and my local "good guy" custom horse trailer and race car trailer builder/hitch installer (Heacock of Glendale, California) welded up some strong brackets for the bumper. I added some external caps with pop rivets and now feel "good to go".
Jacks: I'm "cheap" or thrifty depending on one's level of tact, and I wanted jacks that support and level the trailer. So...I went out to Pick a Part and spent a couple of hours going through trunks of late model cars that were sent to that recycle yard. After looking through about 30 trunks, (the "basura" inside tells stories, BTW...a sociologist would or could have a field day) I found two new GM jacks from a midsize GM. I had Heacock weld on some tabs and now I'm good to go again. I use these jacks to level and to stabilize. Oh, and the best part: Jacks cost me 8 bucks each and Bruce Heacock charged five bucks each to weld on the tab/pad on top of the jack. This beats 70 per fancy scissors jack and I had more fun looking through stuff...Oh, I think it cost about $3.00 to get into Pick a Part in Sunland, California, but that's part of the adventure...
Hope this can be of help to somebody feeling bumper and/or fiscal frustrations.
Regards to all and thanks,
David Buchman
Los Angeles |