Custom Camper Receiver Hitch 

That Wilton receiver vise, you spoke about, DID NOT DO WELL, over at FIREBALL TOOLS! Great build 😎🍻

My wife worked at an RV dealer for awhile, you would be amazed at how poorly they are built. I highly suggest taking some 1/16th plate and lining the wheel wells. If you ever have a flat tire going down the road, it will literally destroy the bottom of the camper through the fender and everything. Thankfully we had insurance on a borrowed trailer because they had to replace all the wiring for the slide out and replace the whole furnace. Almost $10,000. Nice build Adam, you will definitely like having a bumper vise and a place to slide a grill into a receiver too. Take your 1/2" cordless impact for tires and it speeds up setting the leveling jacks. China Freight has the puzzle piece foam anti fatigue matts that work great for storing in the camper too for when you have to work on the ground. Good luck, have fun and cheers

You should have cut that square tube bumper off and started from there ! Too many times people add those carriers onto trailers and 1- they loose rear clearance on the bottom of the trailer and 2- the carrier wobbles itself so much that fully loaded it sparks when dragging down the road ! I've seen in national parks if they are to low to the ground they make the owners remove the carrier as a precaution to stop sparking a wildfire !!

Great job! I'd say this looks like factory bolted on the back of your trailer, but, really, it's probably got better fitment and welds than the trailer itself because of your commitment to quality work.

Always remember when loading a trailer, tongue weight is your friend. The lighter the tongue load the more the trailer wants to control the truck, never a good deal.

Hello Adam, I always like to incorporate a couple of steel wheels on each side of the receiver. This keeps the camper from hanging up going in/out of driveways or ferry ramps etc. Having worked on a car ferry the number of times they hang is a pain and can damage the undercarriage with the low clearance. Take care. Doug

Lmao! Only Abom would need a vice on his travel trailer! I love it the idea!!

Jayson just reviewed one of the Wilton vises and found out it s junk . Love the hitch setup .Great Video Adam

Great job Adam.. One thing you might want to check on is some strip LED lights.. they have real good heavy duty weatherproof strips now,, your local trailer shop should be able to help with that..I know you can already see the rear tail lights on your trailer and you could on your truck when you had it on your truck a couple of weeks back, but it also helps to alert somebody that you have the cargo tray on the back.. you could wire it up with the same plug you have on your truck that way it'll be interchangeable... Just a suggestion 😊

Well, here come the "Well, why didn't ya do it this way or should have done - - " It looks good Adam, nice job on it! Keep them coming

people have said this already but i figure it's important. Need to watch the weight you're putting back there as to not upset the tongue weight. Also sharp inclines for driveways, gas stations, etc will be close to bottoming it out. You could cut the middle of your crossbar out and move the receiver tube up. Give you an extra couple inches if it does bottom out. Might be fine though. Something to just watch out for. Either way, fine work!

You need a giant Abom sticker for the back of that camper. That big empty space is just calling out for one

Adam, Working with Rv's for years and adding racks. I would add 2 braces on both sides of the rack to prevent the teeter totter effect for happening. It may not do it now but you add weight and it will. I have seen it way too many times and the 2 small braces on the ends attached to the bumper will stop it and will keep the cargo where it should be and not sliding across the road. I have used 1 inch tubing and a matching receiver on the bumper.

They aren't bumpers. They are sewer hose storage. That's it

Hi Adam. You better think about adding some heavy duty casters to your addition, as I will bet a dollar to a doughnut that you are going to be dragging on driveways. Love your videos!

Perfect sounding pass with the 7018 Adam, well done! Nice and hot, burned in to the joint well, solid welding my friend!

Hi Adam, as others have said on here, you have to be mindful of weight distribution. The trailer you are towing needs to be balanced, or it will be unstable going down the road. Too much weight on the rear of the trailer, and the tail will want to wag the dog!

If you put the spare and the bikes on the front it would help offset the weight you'll have on the back. And it will drag on ramps and such. I've been RV'ing for 30 years, they all drag at one time or another just watch your tongue weight and be safe.

One of the best features of the Abom79 channel is the end where Adam gives us a good look at the final product. I have seen twenty minute videos of a woodworking project that end without showing what was being made, and I still have no idea. In one case there was a hint in the background, and it turned out that the curved dovetailed part was the seat and back of a bar stool. I love being shown the final finished item.

Nice build! It's fun to see you working on the kind of stuff I might actually make at home.

A few D rings would be nice on there for rigging the bikes and other stuff.

Need to find a left handed hammer at your next swap meet.

Getting a head of an highly skilled thief can become a very difficult race, once they see your axe... .. . It's amazing the trouble someone will go through to help themselves to whatever you happen to have locked in your receiver tube. I've installed a 1/4"-20 Allen lock bolt up from the bottom just forward of the pin as insurance. At first it was just for security so it went through a clearanced hole in the receiver and simply added a step to perhaps make someone give up. A few iterations later is a left hand thread version with a shear point right below the head and it clamps the hitch stock to stop any wiggling around. It took many years, 43 actually, but during an overnight canoe trip an entire parking lot was targeted. So much for the dogs. I bet they were easy to pay off with a tasty snack. We however didn't loose our equalizer hitch. A torched off pin lock and a snapped off left hand thread lock bolt. As always i enjoy watching your videos. Peace

Typical luggage for Adam is probably 5 vises and a drill press when coming back from a vacation, so it's no wonder he needs a sturdier cargo carrier mount. 😁 Nice job and it looks really good.

Jason from fireball tool needs to send you the first vice prototype for the improved trailer hitch vice of his design!

i'm bettin that after a few trips you will use two hitches in the carrier the balance out the twisting on the single hitch, i see it all the time on these types of hitches. peace bro!

Anything made by Adam has to be quality. You are inspiring. Now off to make one of these for my camper! Abom Style!

If you weld caps onto the ends of that bumper it will almost double the strength of it. It will really surprise you how much stronger it will be.

Echoing all the other comments -- excellent fab, design and welding work. I'm afraid with that much weight hanging off the rear of that trailer you'll be too negative on the tongue weight. maybe fab up something so that you can put that cargo carrier over the tongue of the trailer. like a shelf over your propane tanks.. something like that.

If it makes it across I 10 and I 12 across La. It will make it anywhere. Just a old truckers view.

I made many of the 2 inch couplers over the years I called class 23, LOL. They are on all our service trucks and of course my pick up. 3/8 wall sq. tube with solid 2 in couplers. They have never failed. They have regularly pulled up to 20,000 lb loads in the logging ind. I make them with various ball couplers and both pintle hooks and rings along with a step and bench of sorts for the back of the trucks. The fellas love them. Great post bud.

That looks great Adam! A well designed and executed plan!!

You are always so precise. This time i think you have not thought long enough about the weight distribution.

Looks good. But if it were me..I would tie it to the factory bumper at the ends of your 2x4. Driving that down the road a few thousand miles will really take its toll. A couple L brackets to bolt to the factory bumper would box everything out together and make the factory bumper better for holding your bikes and spare.

I love watching you work. I wish I had your skill. That being said... Am I the only person watching this video that had the mental image of the Clampitt's in the opening of The Beverly Hillbillies? Don't go too overboard with a bunch of stuff hanging off the back of the trailer. Mount bikes on the front of the truck and mount your spare tire to the tongue.

If there are any cobbler shops in your area, you can take webbing in to them & have them sew up some custom straps to tie down your grill & other items. Maybe some D-rings added, etc.

Well done Adam. I was a little confused when you said you decided to buy a 60” bolt on hitch but then continued to fabricate one. Then you mentioned to frame with being ~67” and it all became clear. Your fabricated hitch is much better and could actually be used to tow a fishing boat too if that’s legal in your state.

*_No broken tool's, no swearing, no skinned knuckles bleeding, no black eye's, no hair on fire_* , what a lousy video. Great job Adam, and like the other person below said, wasn't a fair weight test, with the new Adam. Your looking good. Do continue to take care of yourself.

Nice job Adam. I made a heavy duty bumper to replace the stock one for a friends RV similar to this. The only issue we had is the waste tube would no longer store in the bumper like it would on the original, so we added some PVC piping underneath for the waste line to go in.

Hi Adam, That bumper is only good to hold your sewer hose inside and a spare tire, Is the tube and the receiver completely sealed to keep moisture out and between the tube and the receiver You may want to put a set of drag wheels on the ends of the tube, There are some very nasty driveways that YOU WILL come across. Thanks >Joe Baltimore MD

Hey Adam, why not relocate the spare tire to the neck?

The only problem I would foresee is wiggle ( side to side ) mine did that until I installed tension straps on the foreword corners to the bumper. That eliminates the rack from teetering back and forth, other then that it looks great !

Love these videos but speaking of deburring always a good idea to also deburr the part you AREN’T using; the leftovers as it were, so you don’t slice your hand when you go back next time to use it for something else!

Now that’s an Abom quality product right there!👍👍 looks good, much better then the poor quality stuff that’s available to the general public!👍

Only good thing about those stock bumpers is its a good place to hide your drain line for dumping the grey and black water tanks...

Just started a welding class at the local community college. I am a retired research scientist, and had never done any metal work before. Adam inspired me. We are in our 4th week, and *every* student is _already_ doing much better beads than shown at 26:15 Where did that company get there welder?!? They must of grabbed some homeless person and said "Have at it."

The only thing my left hand is good for, is to place items in my right hand, so I can do something with them. Still waiting to see if you’ll ever need casters on the bottom of the bumper.... Great job!!!

Adam - Keep a close eye on your trailer tongue weight. When you add weight to the back, it reduces your tongue weight. It's important to have some tongue weight and maintain proper balance to avoid swaying.

Hey Adam, now you need to make a front hitch for your truck. You can attach all kinds of stuff there and also makes getting your trailer into tight spots super easy. I made several of them for myself and friends, they don't need to be heavy construction since they are only used to move your trailer very short distances at little more than idle speeds. Love your videos and am always looking forward to new ones.

Them step drill bits are great. But has anyone ever tried to sharpen one,maybe you could give it a try for us.

Hey Adam, one idea I had for the spare tire is to integrate it into the bike rack and have them as one piece. Love the videos and posts and keep up the good work!

I guess many people don’t pay attention to what you say Adam or they watch videos on mute since so many thing you’re going to drag that rack across the country. The concrete slab is elevated above ground level by almost 18”.

great job!! I like to de-burr all my cut metal because my father comes in and likes to touch things in the middle of my builds... for the high bike mount I would strap it down to cargo carrier to prevent handlebar dents, dings.

Looks good.....but don't hang weight off the back. You will get the death wobble going down the road and end up on your side or roof. If you can put it on your draw bar.

Adam please get rid of those widow maker Jack's and upgrade so its easier for you to set up aka upgrade to a leveling system for your camper I think we all would love to see a abom79 HD grade travel trailer leveling system

Keep tongue weight in mind when modifying trailers. Be safe.

Buy a weld-on spindle, along with a complete hub assembly to mount your spare tire to. Spare hub for roadside bearing failures.

I didn’t notice the elevated concrete until you mentioned it. Good thing it’s not that low to the ground.

While I like the work you’ve done as always, hanging too much weight right out the back is one of the classic mistakes people make with this style of camper. The pendulum effect is made much worse by doing these things. I have almost no weight behind the axles, like a truck trailer. Hope you have no issues with it, but have heard on more than one occasion right after a wreck - ‘It never gave me any dramas until now’ when it goes, it goes and you’ll be lucky to stop it.

Check out the Fireball vise test video before you get one of those Wilton hitch vises. Very disappointing. You need to get a big Abom Adventures Route 79 logo on the back of the camper.

Rack hitch, wheel hitch, bike hitch, vice hitch... By the end of the year it'll also have hitches for argon, oxy and acetylene tanks and a rotary mount for lightweight mill, drill press, sander and band saw :D

Very nice! Design, layout, fab, and finish are perfect. Do yourself a favor and fab up 3 brackets & steel rolling pins to protect the underside of the hitch & rack when pulling into a steep driveway or ramp.

Adam, I'm kind of disappointed you didn't put that RV in your mill when you did the work on it.

Adam I was reading some of these comments 😂. Wow is all I can say. People think you are going put 1000 pound gorillas on that platform. As far to much weight to far from the axles is crap. I put one just like yours on My 38' toy hauler I had and I put my coolers and stuff on it. I think I put about 400 pounds max in mine and the tongue weight changed about 35 pounds. I did have problems once pulling out of a gas station one time in Alabama. I pulled that trailer for 12 years until 3 years ago and never had a problem. It will be fine. But remember it is a shin breaker, you will forget like I did several times and walk behind the trailer starting a trip an bust you shin on it, and you too will do the dance of foul language.

I've been a long time subscriber and love the channel, but you know what happens with too much extra weight on the rear end of a trailer....

Oh god. I can already hear people saying "that's wrong" lol... Good work Abom

Good job, Adam. This project was right up my alley. I love doing stuff like this.

I made a vice bracket for my work truck years ago, very handy.

Make sure you pay attention to how much weight you have beyond the rear axle and what that does tongue weight.

Great vid. Thanks Adam.

I think this might be the first video I have seen from you but I wanted to say that you do absolutely beautiful work and I enjoy your thought process and how you explain things

Nice job, it sure helps having the tools to play with. Lol

Hey Adam, why not just slightly modify the bike rack to accept the spare tire or modify the spare tire holder to fit to the bike rack? Two birds, one stone kind of thing. If you’re doing the modifying, do both on one. Just thinking

What you called a pry bar is actually a alignment bar for doing just as you did with it... aligning bolt holes with the tapered shaft.. Looks good tho.. sure hope you don’t throw sparks when going over humped up roads....

if the weight is too much it will cause the trailer to sway dont ask me how i know lol

Nicely done Adam - your welds look great.

Make your own stainless vice! Would make a good project.

Nothing too strong ever broke...

Skipping deburring also creates weak points in your paint, lacquer, etc. Those sharp edges cut through the finish and that failure avalanches in lost paint and rust/corrosion.

Looks good. If you do extend the bike rack up, it will become a pendulum. Maybe attach it to the existing carrier and figure out some kind of sway control. But then there will be the forward-aft sway. Anyway, you are there and I am not so I've no idea what reality is .

Good project 👍

harbor freight has the receiver tubes for $12, cargo carrier in alum for 85 id see if you can mount the spare on the front v of the trailer . Also look into a front trailer hitch reciever for the pickup and yoi can mount the bikes up there even when not pulling the camper

Adam. Another great video. Having been camper (Caravan in the UK) owners before we saw the light and went sailing, we were a bit concerned about the nose weight being altered on the Kodiak? Thats a lot of weight behind the axles mate multiplied by the distance from the pivot point between the axel's as standard. Check out the nose weight to your hitch before your travels. There will be a setting, load that is best in the specs. You guys are gona have some fun travels in the camper. You may just get the urge to think about buying a sail boat and extending your travels as we did when we retired. 😁 Keep doing what your doing your an inspiration to so many young folks on YT. We need more engineers and machinist's. Boys and girls that make things not just think about it. Ant, Cid and the pooch crew. SV Impavidus.. xx

Great work, as always Abom! Be careful about too much weight too far aft. Make sure you add equal weight up front on the tongue. Too much weight shift toward the back and the trailer will start to fish-tail. Make sure you keep a good 200-300 lbs on the tongue - more is better.

Kudos. A Bad Obsession Motorsport sticker on the door.

I applaud your use of the Pelican cooler. Best value on the market IMHO. Safe travels! (oh, and Kristi says hi :))...

My only question, and perhaps I missed the explanation, why not just replace the thin wall tube bumper with something a bit more stout? I would've cut a hole in the tube to fit the hitch receiver into it for a super clean look. All why beefing up the attachment points, etc.

Adam, great work, you could also cut that thin square tube off and mount a 1/4" wall tube on. Put your hose in a PVC holder.

Adam; Great to watch your videos. The only thing I can see that may be an issue for you once your basket is installed and filled with the important items - cooler and grill, you might want to be careful not to cover up the trailer license plate. Where I come from - Alberta, Canada, the RCMP don't look kindly to that. Hope that is not an issue where you live. Keep up the great videos.

Damn, Adam!!! That's some great looking work, my friend!! Well done sir!👍

Absolute pleasure to watch CLEAN, detailed work come to fruition. Nice job!

You'll find those quality issues all through the camper if you look close enough. It's amazing how poorly those things are built. Your next project should be making new caps for the bumper because those plastic ones are going to fall out in the first 100 miles.

Very nicely done.

Deburring parts goes with taking pride in what you do !!

Looks great! Solid build man.

Adam. You could cut another short piece of the flat bar and drill it to match the bolt spacing, and mount it on the other side of the frame to "sandwich" the frame member.

Great job . I only things I think of might be a skid shield for the hitch , also you might check if your front tongue weight is affected much Bill

Great job on the new receiver mount. About the spare tire mount; I'd watch moving it up too much because the extended radius could work on the bumper at the mount. My son uses one of those cargo extentions on his car and it works great! Keep up the good work, Greg.

Rig up your spare higher up or on top along with another as your camper looked like a duely on the back if one goes both might?

Like said below, I would have taken that cheapie bumper/sewer hose holder off and chucked it. A piece of 5 o r6 " black ABS drain line with a cap and a screw cap, mounted above the new bumper you made. Drill a couple drain holes just for general principles. Then build what you like, and a lot closer to the rear wall of the trailer. Also what was said below, mount the bicycles on the tongue. I would re-build the mountings for that luggage carrier too. See you at the Bar-Z. Jon