Mule Ears

[jinman]

Any worrries about bending your tailgate?

Rob, the tailgate is really tough and there's no worry at all about bending. If I did not have a hydraulic bedlift, I might have a hard time getting the bed down if the garbage can was stuffed and weighed over 250 lb. I don't think I've ever seen it that full of anything approaching that weight. Anyhow, the ears" on the inside of the tailgate cause the trashcan lip to actually sit on top of the tailgate. most of the weight is straight down rather than twisting. even so, i'd bet those 1/4" bolts would shear off before the tailgate bends. What I didn't show is that I've got some 3/4" diameter washers under the nuts on the back side of the carriage bolts. That spreads any load over a large area. I guess if you have a plastic bed and/or tailgate, you'd want to be cautious, but I don't think I'll ever come close to bending the gate.

Billbill: I never thought of using a pipe because one of my first thoughts was that I wanted to be able to fold this down out of the way and take away the temptation for someone to use it as a handle. The Mule bed has a lip on each side that makes an easy job of hooking bungee cords or any S-hook under that lip. I've never been in a situation where I was short of tie-down points. The round heads on the carriage bolts and the rounded edges I made on the aluminum stock should prevent any scratching or snag points for clothes. At least that's my hope.

 

[PILOON]

I leave a short length of chain on my trash box handles and flip the chain over my trailor hitch ball to haul my trash to the roadside.

Also coonproof my trash box using an appropriate length of bungee cord, pass cord in handles and hook under the bin lip.

 

[prosumequipment]

Like DaVinci said: "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

Well done! That is slick.

 

[mjncad]

A nice elegant solution Jim.