An alternative to expensive and bulky hitch-mounted boxes
Written By: André Landry
My wife and I own a 2018 Pleasure Way Ascent TS and we love it. It takes us everywhere we want to go, but at just over 19 feet long, space is at a premium. When we travel, we do a mix of touring, hiking, camping, kayaking and cycling. We also enjoy golfing, but there’s no way we were going to bring two golf bags inside the coach with us. On longer trips, we were also looking at ways to bring more clothes, while not compromising room for food storage.
Figure 1 – Our 2018 PW Ascent TS on one of our adventures
I first started looking at door mounted cargo boxes, because we also like bringing our bikes and that would leave the hitch available for our bike rack. Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything that could accommodate two full golf bags, such as a door mounted box. Then I looked at hitch mounted solutions such as the Stowaway and the Yakima Exo swing base and box, which are great products, but I wasn’t ready to spend that much money, either. Another consideration was that I wanted an independent swing hitch, which we could reuse with our bike rack.
Driving back from a Florida holiday on I-95 North a few years back, I noticed an old Chevy Van camper with something that caught my eye. I was only able to see it for about a minute, before the van took an exit off-ramp. I couldn’t tell if their configuration was mounted directly into the hitch receiver or if it swung out, but I knew right there and then, that I’d found my solution.
What I’m about to show you isn’t my design, but is my build, from store-bought parts.
I have to say, for us this is a perfect solution because it allows us to bring our two bags of golf clubs and then some. It’s light and easy to dismantle, so I can store it away in my basement, when not in use. My rough costs were less than $US750 ($100 for the carrier, $320 for the box on sale, about $300, for the swing hitch, also on sale, and another $30 for the lighting and wire harness).
Figure 2 – Our well-organized setup for fun travels. Enjoying every minute!
Maybe this little project will appeal to you too, so let me tell you more about it.
After seeing that Chevy Van camper, we took a short detour to TSC where I bought a 48” locking truck box, but since we had our golf clubs with us on our Florida trip, I took my whole golf bag inside the store for a test fit! I have to admit that I got a couple of funny looks, but I didn’t care.
Everything fit perfectly, so I bought the box. These truck boxes are all aluminum and come in flat black (my choice), glossy black or metal finish. They hold about 10 cubic feet, which is just right for us. The next stop was at a Harbor Freight close by, where I found the perfect 49” wide aluminum hitch mount carrier, made by Haul Master, to work with the box.
Another important factor for me, was weight. The truck box only weighs about 30 pounds, as does the carrier, but it’s rated to carry up to 500 pounds! Since I had room inside my SUV to bring it back with us as we heading home, I simply put the box on my back seat and the carrier in the trunk.
Figure 3 – Simple cargo solution with full lighting added
I also needed a way to swing all this out of the way, so I bought a swing hitch. Again, I shopped around for what worked best for me.
After looking at several that only opened 90 degrees, I settled on the Kuat Pivot v2, which can open at 90 and 120 degrees.
This is important, because I needed the ability to fully open my rear doors for access to the back of my van. This swing hitch can be bought to open either on the driver side, or on the passenger side. I bought mine on sale, so that was appealing too. Because I have a spare tire mounted on my left rear door, I opted for a swing hitch that opens on the passenger side. This swing hitch is made of heavy-duty steel and is extremely sturdy. It weighs about 40 pounds but is rated for a maximum load of 250 pounds when not swung out.
That load limit drops a bit as the hitch swings open, so we have to pay attention to what we load in the box. Note that the PW Ascent TS is a MB Sprinter, it can handle a tongue weight of up to 500 pounds, but the limiting factor is the swing hitch’s limit at 250 pounds. In my configuration, my typical weight at the hitch, would be less than 150 pounds with two golf bags, golf shoes, some extra clothing, fishing gear and light bulky items, so we’re ok.
Figure 4 – Kuat Pvot v2 swing hitch at 90 degrees
Once we got home, I immediately set out to put all these parts together.
The truck box fits perfectly inside the hitch carrier, and I fastened both together by drilling four holes though the bottom of the hitch carrier and truck box’s base in the corners.
Figure 5 – Showing where I drilled four mounting holes in the box’s base
I used galvanized carriage bolts, a flat and lock washer and turn knobs instead of nuts for ease removal without tools. The turn knobs are only accessible from inside the box, which locks, so everything remains secure.
Figure 6 – No tools needed to attach the box onto the hitch carrier.
Note that the carriage bolts have a square base under the head, so I simply took a small file to turn each of the bottom holes into a square in the underside of the carrier.
I used carriage bolts to prevent tampering and rust. Stainless steel carriage bolts would’ve been another great option.
Figure 7 – Square holes in underside of hitch carrier to accommodate carriage bolt’s head. (Only one of four holes shown)
I knew that as soon as I put a cargo box behind my van, I’d be partially or completely blocking my taillights and license plate, so I had to factor that into my build; but that wasn’t a big deal.
I bought two oval LED taillights, used for trailers and trucks, wired them in and attached them onto the hitch carrier itself. Other than the mounting holes, I didn’t want to drill additional holes in the box. I bought a license plate light from Amazon, and wired that in too. Then I simply drilled two holes into the hitch carrier again, to bolt the license plate onto it. Everything is nice and legal even down to the illuminated plate. I added reflective tape on the sides of the carrier to help see it better from the sides, at night.
I made my own harness out of a 20-foot heavy duty extension, and added a fourth wire to run a ground all the way to the lights. Typically, the ground is through the chassis and is known for causing intermittent connections. You’ll often come up to a trailer in tow, with one or both of the trailer’s lights malfunctioning…this is usually due to poor ground connections.
My wiring harness, which I put into a wire loom to keep everything tidy, is intentionally made of two interconnecting portions; one for the swing hitch and the other for the hitch carrier. The reason is two-fold. Since I dismantle everything for storage when not in use, I wanted the harness to break apart, so to speak, from the swing hitch to the hitch carrier. The other reason is that we also use the swing hitch with our bike rack, so the harness had to be independent of the hitch carrier.
Figure 8 – Box somewhat hides van’s taillights. Adding new taillights on carrier is cheap insurance
I should mention that these hitch carriers are notorious for wobbling. This was something I didn’t want, so I came up with a simple solution. The first thing I noticed was that the hitch carrier’s hitch pin hole was too far forward, meaning that the hitch bar couldn’t sit completely inside my Kuat Pivot v2’s hitch receiver. I made a new hole through the bar, which allowed it to push it all the way in. To fix the wobble, which was now minimized but still there, I made two metals shims from metal roof flashing, and simply lay these in the Kuat’s receiver before putting in the carrier’s hitch bar into the Kuat’s receiver.
Figure 9 – Metal shims help eliminate small gaps between carrier hitch bar and Kuat’s hitch receiver.
And finally, to kill 100% of all remaining movements, I made my own anti-wobble device using a 9” piece of 1”x1” angle iron. I bought a threaded stainless steel hitch pin, with a hex head on one end, and a lock mechanism on the other. I then bought a steel hex nut to match its thread. I then inserted the angle iron inside the carrier’s hitch bar and using the hitch pin’s hole, marked that spot on the angle iron.
I drilled a new hole the same size as the pin and welded the steel nut there, such that I could thread the pin through the Kuat’s hitch receiver into my bolt, with the angle iron sitting inside the hitch bar. The carrier’s hitch bar can now be inserted about 2.5” further into the Kuat’s received, adding stability. The total effect is that I secure the hitch carrier onto the Kuat Swing hitch by squeezing the carrier’s bar against the inside wall of the Kuat’s receiver…and now nothing moves.
Figure 10 – DIY anti-rattle/wobble using angle iron and welding on nuts
Figure 11 – Threaded hitch pin. I actually used the 2nd hole to allow the bar to enter the kuat hitch received 2.5′ further.
If you’re not a welder, or have access to one, you can consider a store-bought anti-rattle like the Curt 22321 device.
Figure 12 – commercially available anti-rattle device
Our setup works great! With 14 inches of height below the hitch carrier, clearance is never a problem when backing up over a concrete parking stop or a sidewalk. There hasn’t been a problem with our takeoff angle either, when exiting parking areas to get onto a street. A side benefit is when we’re camping and buy firewood, we can simply lay firewood bags on top of the box, (which is flat) while we drive to our designated spot, rather than bringing dirty firewood bags inside the van.
To put our golf bags into the box, we have to remove our longest club (the driver) for everything to fit. We simply lay our driver clubs on top of each bag and it’s not an issue. Even though the box has two handles, the box opens with a single hand operation, and it also locks using a key. There’s a dust seal around the inside edge of the box’s lid too, which is convenient.
Figure 13 – Two full golf club bags taking only the bottom half of the box, still room for other things
Since the rear doors of our camper van are a designated emergency exit, I didn’t want to hook up anything in the rear hitch unless it could swing completely out of the way, so the doors could open properly. The same applies when travelling with our bikes. So, a swing hitch was a must. When we turn in for the night, I always open the swing hitch at the 120-degree position to move aside either the cargo box or the bikes.
Figure 14 – Kuat Pivot v2 swing hitch opened 120 degrees
I’ve also been prototyping a bit further, because it would be nice to also bring the bikes along sometime. I’ve come up with a means of installing the bikes on another DIY support, directly above the box. I use a standard bike rack with a locking feature, and my support is locked in place with a padlock.
When I swing the box away, the bikes follow. To open the box, I then rotate the bikes on my DIY support, and I can fully open the box.
At this time, I want to improve my setup because I find the bikes hang too far back. If I get all this working, I’ll make a part 2 of this setup.
Figure 15 – Looking at a way to bring our bikes. It has promise but I have to bring the biked forward a bit before taking this on the road
Remember when I mentioned that it was easy to store away? Well, when our season ends and it’s time to put our van into storage, I don’t leave the cargo box hooked up to the back because space at the RV storage place is very limited, and they charge by the vehicle’s total length. With the box attached, my Ascent’s total length goes from about 20.5’ (due to my rear door mounted spare) to 22.5’.
I also don’t want this bulky thing in my basement for six months! So, I figured out a way to neatly store everything inside the van.Everything fits perfectly. The Kuat Pivot v2 swing hitch goes into the van’s ‘garage’, while the carrier and cargo box go inside. I use cardboard and pool noodles to make sure nothing gets damaged inside the van.
To keep everything tight and secure while I drive to and from the RV storage, I simply use a ratchet strap around the box and loop it around the table post, and nothing moves.
Figure 17 – Note that nothing gets damaged in this setup, everything is totally secured.
Well, there it is.
Now maybe you could build your own and enjoy taking a few more things with you too, on your next trip. Safe travels!
