Front mounted Generator

[ajriding]

I did this on a full-size truck with a flat hitch, but on the mid-size truck the hitch tray was too low so I bought a 8 inch rise/10 inch drop hitch for receiver and put the gen tray on the riser hitch. Now I have ground clearance for any steep drives or off-road camping.
It is solid, I can stand on the tray, so plenty strong for the generator.
On the other truck I ran a heavy electrical cord through the truck frame so there was always power routed, no cords on the ground, or tangles... I will add the cord to this one soon.


Side view new tray.


Front view. Gen has a water-proof cover for travel, not pictured.


just need touch up paint.
I added the "handles" bc I was able to forceably pull the gen out sideways, so the handles are making the sides taller to prevent theft, and also make great balanced handles as the tray itself is heavy.

The generator is a Ryobi 2200, and will run a 9200 A/C unit just fine. It will run the AC for 10.5-11.5 hours on a tank.

Here are the original build pics of old design. I kept the tray since the locking mechanism is pretty involved to remake.


Grandfathers old rusty metal from who knos where or when...


under side, painted


under


lock mech


locked


padded steel strap to lock it in. Tight, snug fit. I have a custom water-proof cover for it also.

[Kevinwa]

I like it!

[Ron3rd]

Nice work

[ajriding]

No issues with rad while towing a trailer up mountains, so the air is getting in there. This is a small set-up so is nowhere near maxing out the cooling capacity anyway. Very small generator, so very small area is being covered. The air has to go somewhere and most of it flows back around the back side and into the rad.
The bumper blocks the rad anyway across the middle, so the gen is not really blocking that much more. It is far enough out to let air flow around it. The rad is set way back from the bumper inside too.
Not ideal for a really big gen on an old truck with poor air flow to begin with.
I would not have done this if cooling were an issue, but thanks

Pianatuna, the E vans have cooling challenges as it is, they are near maxed out for cooling off the showroom floor. I have friend with E series class A and when he puts anything up front he over-heats, he overheats often no matter what...

I can't really tell any mpg difference, it might even be better, but on long drives I can just put gen inside

[pianotuna]

I did a front mount on the RV E-450. I had heating problems so moved it to the back.

[Lwiddis]

Excellent workmanship.

[hornet28]

I wonder about air flow to the radiator

[beemerphile1]

Very nice.