Hi I'm Doug with Travels and Travails.
Today we're gonna show you how to
install the Stromberg Carlson trailer
tray on the front of our 2013 Casita
Independence. Installation of the
Stromberg Carlson trailer tray is very
simple and straightforward it just
requires basic hand tools; sockets and
wrenches, and since the components are
made in China it does require metric
wrenches and sockets, but sizes are close
enough for an SAE socket wrench that
would probably work. One of the other
tools you'll need is a drill.
Installation of the trailer tray
requires that you moved the hard propane
tank cover that comes with your Casita
trailer as it will no longer be able to
be removed or installed with the tray in
place. Once you install the tray you will
not be able to access the LP tanks with
the cover left on. The manufacturer
recommends either removing the tank
cover permanently, installing a soft
vinyl cover, or installing a hard plastic
cover with an opening to remove the tanks.
We chose to leave the cover off. In case
you've never removed the hard plastic
cover on your propane tanks on your
casita trailer, there is a bungee strap
on the underside you have to remove in
order to slide the cover off. Clamp the
lower support mount to the a frame of
the trailer using the lower mount using
the two holes nearest the outside of
your A frame. Attached loosely to allow
for adjustment.
Attach the trailer plates to the sides
of the trailer tray using no hardware. In
order to accommodate the nuts on the
Andersen hitch, we had to raise the lower
pocket mounting location. Okay, the
problem I ran into with this
installation is that the frame brackets
will interfere with the Andersen hitch
because if you put it the way it's
intended to go it's going to make this
nut no longer accessible for justing the
tension on the hitch, which you have to do
every time you hook up the car. So this
is the normal direction that it's
intended to mount to the frame. It has a
lip right here on the bottom, so it's not
possible to put this on upside down. The inside frame bracket though, however it
doesn't matter which direction so it can
be reversed. So this is the normal
orientation out of the box. We're going
to reverse it
so we'll know the location of the added
hole we have to make. So when adding this
extra hole the bottom of each leg of the
bracket, start with a pilot hole a
smaller bit and then work your way up to
3/8 for the final size and that applies
to whether using a drill press or a hand
drill.
Since we raise the lower bracket up, it's
gonna require cutting four inches off
the top of this leg.
Whenever I'm cutting something like this
I like to use some masking tape where
the cut is that way it doesn't damage
the painted surface.
For our installation with up three holes
expose on the rear of the plate.
For his step, I want to make sure this shelf is as level as possible - level to
the trailer not the ground. So I did
level the trailer. So this bubble level
is the same as the floor of the trailer.
It seems a little cumbersome the height
that the tray trying to get the
generator on an office a little heavy
I'm also it's gonna be a little bit more
difficult to put gas in it. So one of the
things we noticed this being so high I
think it's because it's made to also
make clearance for the taller propane
tanks used on some trailers. These are
the five gallon tanks and some trailers
are equipped with the seven and a half
gallon tanks which are quite a bit
taller. It easily supports the weight at
the generator. The height for getting it
on and off is a little bit uncomfortable.
I'm five nine and I still almost need a
ladder to comfortably get it on and off.
Also it seems like it'd be a little
cumbersome to fill the gas at this
height; so I think we're gonna see what
it takes to lower it down maybe another
four inches. You do have to drill -  the
legs don't have any holes in them yet,
but there is a hole in the outer bracket
as a guide. So once I got everything in
position I tighten the set screw on the
side to hold everything in place and I
removed the leg and the brackets so I
could get in there with a drill and
drill all the way through for this bolt
at the top and the bottom. That's the set
screw. The tray is in position at a
comfortable height. I lowered it six
inches from the standard height which I
came up with the six inches because
that's the difference between a thirty
gallon propane tank and a twenty. So what
I did was I cut this leg down on both
ends. Only cut four inches off at the
bottom that's to compensate for the
raise in the bracket. And then I cut six
inches off at the top. That's really
important to not cut more than four
inches off at the bottom where it binds
in the bracket. Doug also removed six
inches off the top of the lower support
mount to accommodate our lower propane
tanks. If you have any questions please
leave them in the comments below. Check
out our next video to follow the
adventure.
