Adding a rear "bike carrier" receiver

Have recently bought a used '07 2720SL. It was a bit neglected, but we got it for a decent price and are getting it cleaned-up (not too difficult) and trying to find a ceiling leak to get it sealed (a bit more challenging).

Anyway, one feature that did not come with this unit that I would really be interested in pursuing is the rear receiver for a bike carrier or similar. Anyone familiar with these things? I took a look underneath the camper at the back end where the receiver would be, but see no part of the frame or anything where something like that would be attached. Do they sell the receiver assemblies for the units that can be added-on later, or is it something that really can only be installed at the factory (in other words, does the phrase "forget it, kid, you're out of luck" apply here)?

Advice welcome and appreciated.

[Bob&Joyce]

Congratulations on your TM find and welcome to the forum. I can partially answer your question, but think I can steer you in the right direction. I bought an '08 2720SL that did not have a factory installed bike carrier receiver from a dealer and part of the deal was that they install the carrier. They ordered the part from Trailmanor and bolted it in place to the steel frame members. The bolts are visible when you remove the rear storage bumper cover. Now, what I don't know is how they installed the carrier - whether they had to drill holes in the frame members, used bolts that were already there, or what; so I can't tell you the degreee of difficulty to do the installation. If you've not had any dealings with the folks at the Trailmanor factory, you are in for a pleasant surprise. They treat you like they really appreciate the folks who buy their products and have always bent over backwards to be helpful, at least that's been my experience. Call Trailmanor and ask to speak to Eddie in parts. Tell him what you have and what you want to do. I'll guarantee you he can tell you how the carrier is installed and supply you the needed parts. I've found the factory service and support to be one of the best parts of owning a TM. Give Eddie a call - he'll hook you up. Hope this helps.

JW
Become a member of this forum and you can do a search about bike carriers and find a ton of answers and info on this subject. As a trial member, you don't get to see everything. The cost is $12 for the year and worth its weight in gold!!
Welcome to the TM family!
Karen

[Barb&Tim]

Karen, he does have full access for 30 days on his trial membership and can search now --

JW, welcome to the board and try a search as Karen suggested, as there is a lot of info on this subject already posted. During your trial membership, look around the board and once you see the wealth of information about your Trailmanor you will want to become a site sponsor.

Try, -->bumper receiver<-- as a search term with "show posts selected" to get you started.

Tim

Thanks folks!
I did try some searches, but by far the vast majority of the posts that turned up had to do with how much weight the receiver can hold, how to distribute the weight of bikes and other things that would be too big or to heavy for the rear receiver to hold, and other issues for folks who have a camper that already has one of the receivers.

Mostly, I'm trying to get an idea of whether they even sell the receivers and mounting kits for these campers or if they can really only be installed by the factory, and if you CAN order them for a camper that didn't come with one, about how much should I expect to pay and how difficult is it to install?

It would seem like the kit (or whatever) to install the receiver would almost have to be something pretty major, since it doesn't look like there's any part of the frame back near where the receiver would sit.

[Barb&Tim]

Here is one, but not sure if it will work for you:

http://www.curtmfg.com/index.cfm?eve...&categoryid=65

Tim

[tgpmd1]

I'm not sure what your TV is, but have you consider putting your bikes on a roof rack? We have a Yakima rack on our Tahoe. We added 78" bars to add extra room. We can take our 17' Olde Town canoe, two bikes and a rocket box (storage unit) on a trip. If we are leaving the canoe home, we can take addt'l bikes and the rocket box. You only need about 10" of room to pack a bike on the rack. We haven't used our receiver bike carrier since we've completed this setup.

[Philip]

Hello JWSwift,

I have a 2008 2720 TM which I have had since new. Shortly after I purchased the TM I purchased a rear hitch from the TM factory and installed it myself. It is no a big job. It is installed on the end of the frame just below the sheet metal pan where you store your electric power cord and dump hoses etc. There are two bolts on each end. The hitch comes with the bolts and the holes are drilled into the hitch mounting plates on each end of the hitch. It is best to clamp the hitch in place(I believe I used vise grips) on the frame and drill one hole in the frame using the hitch mounting plate hole as a guide. Install this bolt and tighten before drilling one hole in the frame for the other hitch mounting plate on the other end of the hitch. Put this bolt in and tighten. Drill another hole in the frame again using the hitch mounting plate as a guide and install/tighten this bolt. Drill the final hole in the frame and install the final bolt. Installing the bolts in this manner will assure that all the holes line up.

The only alterations to the TM you may have to make is cutting a small piece of the thin sheet metal bottom holding the dump hoses to allow the hitch mounting plates to slip between the the end of this sheet metal and the frame on each side. I had enough clearance on one side but not the other.

The hitch and installation is heavy duty and I would not worry about the strength required to carry any bikes and rack. That being said, the bike rack itself can be a real problem as I experienced. I purchased a Thule Revolver model bike rack that can hold four bikes. This style rack allowed me to rotate the bikes away from the rear of the TM without taking the bikes off the rack. I could than open the TM with the bikes rotated to the side of the TM. After buying this rack I started on a three month trip out west to the National Parks with three bikes on the rack. I did notice from the start that there is quite a lot of violent motion at the rear of the trailer. About halfway through the trip, the bike rack failed where the vertical section joins into the horizontal section that goes into the hitch receiver. The bikes fell to the ground and were dragged along the ground for a short time before I was alerted to the problem. Fortunately I was going slow(~15MPH) when this all happened but I still did considerable damage to the bikes.

Perhaps this particular bike rack was just not up to this duty(although Thule has a good reputation), and another desigh/style would work fine. I know some folks here tow bikes behind with no problem.

As for me, I have removed the hitch and do not intend to tow bikes again. I would be willing to sell the hitch. which is like new, if you are still interested. Just let me know.

Take care,

Phil Friess