# 312Bh Bumper - Dissapointed !



## joeymac

Well I had my first disappointing experience with my 312BH. So my neighbor comes over Thursday night and offers to let me borrow his bike rack which attaches to a receiver and a clamp on trailer hitch. So I u-bolt the hitch to the bumper and slide the bike rack into the hitch, and load the two adult bikes onto it and one child's bike. We leave Friday morning for Santa Claus, IN about 2 ½ hrs from our home in Northern KY. We arrive at Lake Rudolph Camp ground safe and sound. I go behind the trailer to unload the bike and notice that the spare tire seems to be leaning forward. I start to inspect the welds on the right side of the bumper, everything looks ok, I go to the left side and discover that the metal is actually shearing away. The welds held but the metal bumper is pulling away from the frame. I am so disappointed. At least it didn't totally fail while on the road. It is still salvageable with a good weld job. 
On Saturday another Outback owner stops by to talk to me. He has a 300BH. He tells me he wants to warn me about the bike rack mounted on the bumper. He proceeds to tell me about how he mounted a bike rack to his bumper and his bumper almost ripped off the frame. He said his spare tire was 2 inches from dragging the ground. We commiserated about how disappointed we were with the construction of the bumper and how thin the metal was. Again, the welds held, and the metal bumper sheared which in his case was almost a catastrophic failure. You see so many other campers with this setup, you don't think twice about doing it for yourself. He explained he called Keystone and they told him they would not cover it under warranty, and that he shouldn't have attached a bike rack to the bumper. He replied then you should have affixed a warning sticker to the bumper explaining that you can't attached a bike rack to it. He said his dealer is going to remedy the situation for him. They ordered him a thicker bumper and are going to weld it on along with some reinforced brackets to keep it from happening again. As for me, my bumper is salvageable so I am going to have it spot welded and then have some reinforcement brackets added so this doesn't happen again. 
I still can't believe this happened. I am very fortunate that we didn't have a total failure while on the road; this could have killed someone if this would have broken off at highway speeds. Very disappointing that a) that Outback would put an inferior bumper on their product and







Keystone wouldn't cover the fix. I am going to call my dealer on Monday to see if they will do the same thing they did for the other Outback owner. Just trying to get this information out so it doesn't happen to anyone else.
I attached a picture to show the damage.


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## outback loft

I went through making sure my bumper was up to installing a rack on there. The bumper itself is not strong enough at all, I reinforced the bumper and I put the rack on top of the bumper and the rack is bolted through the frame of the trailer. But the bumper would have done the same thing yours has done as well.

On my last trailer I had to replace the bumper due to it being rusted, but when I replaced it and welded a 1/4" wall box tube in its place. I then installed a 2" receiver through the tubing that I had a rack installed on.


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## clarkely

Hopefully you enjoyed the rest of your 312 - Great Floor plan









Sorry to hear of your disappointment, however the problem you encountered is not unique to Keystone or Outback, putting a bumper mount bike rack on is a no-no on just about every brand. If you search the bike rack topic on any camping forum you will see it discussed....... If you use a hitch leverage style rack you will have problems, there are racks that sit on top of the bumper that two bikes sit in trays, almost directly on top of the bumper..... they do not have the torquing leverage action of a regular hitch mount rack.......

with multiple bikes leveraged out on a rack...... it will tear....... From the manufactures strandpoint they need to consider how making a rack on the back could affect there liability exposure in the event someone puts a lot off the back and affects stability and potentially add to sway.....

On my last trailer i made the same mistake....... i bent the bumper back up and then rewleded and you never knew anything ever happened. If you can get the dealer to do it...... your ahead of the game.

Enjoy that new trailer and many happy miles!!


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## Chuggs

Yeah...I'm kinda disappointed too. I was hoping to add a 2" receiver and make a custom generator rack. Eventually, I'd like to put a EU3000Is or similar back there for camping off the grid in summer heat.

Any pictures you might have after the bumper fix would be appreciated. I can weld...but would like to look at some examples to get some ideas before I start messing stuff up.


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## outback loft

Chuggs said:


> Yeah...I'm kinda disappointed too. I was hoping to add a 2" receiver and make a custom generator rack. Eventually, I'd like to put a EU3000Is or similar back there for camping off the grid in summer heat.
> 
> Any pictures you might have after the bumper fix would be appreciated. I can weld...but would like to look at some examples to get some ideas before I start messing stuff up.


I will try to remember some pictures when I head out next week. I basically just added more attachment points where feasible. I have a 3000 watt Kipor, a 6 gallon gas can, and and 6 gallon water can on the rack, but have also had firewood on there as well.


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## Texas Scott

We had a like event with one of our past trailers. Turns out the Steel in the stock bumbers for most of the industry is only rated for around one hundred pounds. If you go with thicker steel your sewer hose won't fit(I use a PVC sewer hose holder anyway). On this new outback I had a biggger stronger reciever welded on by a local firm. It cost $500 but it is attached straight to the frame and is bullet proof. I have a 295RE. Good luck on your mod.

Scott


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## CamperAndy

Wish you would have asked before you got disappointed there would have been 200 posts warning you not to do it. There is also a warranty disclaimer in the owners manual about attaching any loads to the trailer.


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## Calvin&Hobbes

X2 with Camper Andy. These "bumpers" would be better described as "sewer pipe holders". I am actually considering placing my spare in my storage compartment, because I've been told it rocks pretty good on the rough New England roads.


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## thefulminator

Sorry to hear about the problem. As has been previously stated, do some searching on this site before you make alterations or additions to your Outback. There is a lot of good knowledge here.

The bumper, despite how flimsy it is, does exactly what it was designed to do. It keeps you from doing damage to the box of the trailer and hold the sewer pipe and spare tire. It is not designed to have the amount of torsion applied to it that something cantilevered like a bike rack applies. When I was about to purchase my Outback, I called Keystone and asked about using a bumper mounted bike rack. They said under no circumstances should a bike rack be use on the rear bumper and that if I had anything welded to the frame that it would void the frame warranty. Now that I am out of warranty, I have considered adding structure but haven't acted on it yet.


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## Oregon_Camper

I had a hitch installed on my previous 28RSS and that worked great. Think it cost about $200 and I could carry bikes or our rack loaded with stuff.

Sorry about your experience...wish you had asked us, you would have been told not to attempt that.

Click here for pictures of the hitch on my previous Outback
http://home.comcast.net/~tannerjim1/Mods/hitch_on_outback.htm


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## joeymac

Thanks Everyone! I didn't think to check the forum for bike rack issues because I have seen soooooo many trailers with bike racks attached to the bumper. I assumed that it would be ok. You know what assuming does ! Anyway, I am going to get the bumper fixed and then wait to do a modification because I am still under warranty. Once out of warranty, game on.
Thinking of mounting two hitches, one to each of the frame cantilevers and then attaching a platform rack to store the bike on. 
I still stand by the fact that Keystone needs to put a warning sticker on the bumper. 
I will say that I did notice more sway with the bikes back there then on the way home when the bikes were in the bed of the truck&#8230;..Hum&#8230;Not sure if one has to do with the other, just saying.


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## CdnOutback

I have a friend that had a SOB and the dealer installed one of those bumper racks onto it for him. He was headed out to the lake one weekend and cars started honking as they passed him and people were pointing back.. He pulled over and the 4 bikes were down on the ground. He went back to his dealer, hopping mad, and they replaced the bikes and he never did that again.


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