Bike rack

[yendor]

Eric:
I Welded A Reciever On The Back But Only After I Welded A Additional Brace
Along The Back End Of The Tool Box For Additional Support . I Moved The
Spare To The Front Welded It Place & Repositioned The Lp Tanks At An Angle To Match The Spare. This Allowed Me To Retrofit The Bike Rack Right Off The
Bumper Intstead Of Hanging It 12 To 18 Inches As Per The Swagman Original
Design Called For . By Moving The Spare To The Tongue I Was Able To Redistribute The Wieght To Allow For 4 Adult Bikes And The New Holding
Tank System I Designed For My Camper. I Have Noticed Less Drag When Towing With The Spare Up Front And The Tanks To Match. Yendor

[jumpstreet]

Check out rackattack.com. They have many bike rack options.

I just received my new Yakima Kingpin 2 bike rack from Rack Attack. While putting it together I see the directions specifically say not for trailers, campers or RVs. Does anyone know any real reason not to mount this rack on the rear of a TM 3124KB with factory hitch receiver? It seems happy there and projects about a foot behind the TM, then another 18 inches for the bikes.

I'm leaning in the direction that this is just lawyer talk to protect them in case I forget to put in the pin and the rack unfolds while under way and trashes the bikes. (This is a folding rack, which will allow me to open the TM with bikes still attached; also for allowing access to rear storage area without dismounting bikes.)

Anything obvious I'm overlooking here? Any other thoughts?

Thanks for any ideas.

Make sure everything is tight and the bikes can't bounce or sway.

[Mr. Adventure]

Originally Posted by jellis

I'm leaning in the direction that this is just lawyer talk to protect them in case I forget to put in the pin and the rack unfolds while under way and trashes the bikes. (This is a folding rack, which will allow me to open the TM with bikes still attached; also for allowing access to rear storage area without dismounting bikes.)

Anything obvious I'm overlooking here? Any other thoughts?

Anything you hang behind a trailer will unweight the tongue with a pretty good lever arm. In most trailers, 100 pounds there would subtract almost 100 pounds off the hitch ball, and a trailer with an underweight hitch is unstable on the road. Trailer math is hard enough to give us a lot to argue about in this forum, and I'm sure the people selling bike racks just don't want to go there.

TM's generally have a lot of tongue weight for their size. But these things are important to know, so I think I'd probably weigh it to be sure.

You know, I think I've honestly come to the conclusion that bikes on the back of the TM is a no go for me. That hundred pounds bouncing around on the rear bumper is pretty noticeable when towing even with a ratchet strap back to the bumper corners.

Worse yet, they bounced so bad last trip that one of the quick releases hooked to the other bike, loosened and sent the rear wheel to freeway heaven. I'll put the bikes inside the TM from now on.

[TREXHUNTERS]

You can also put bikes in between the TV and TM. Swagman makes a rack that couples over the extension for your weight distribution hitch. It can carry 3 bikes but we generally only put two on.

You will need to check for clearance back to your TM. Ours is an 08 3124kb and is not a problem. Also, you need to have a least 3 inches of bar on your hitch for the coupling to go over. A lot of WDH don't have this standard so you may have to get an extension.

trex

[Mr. Adventure]

Originally Posted by TREXHUNTERS

Ours is an 08 3124kb and is not a problem. Also, you need to have a least 3 inches of bar on your hitch for the coupling to go over. A lot of WDH don't have this standard so you may have to get an extension.

An exension is probably never a good idea for other than a very light trailer, because it gives the trailer tongue more leverage on the tow vehicle for all of the bad things that you don't want the trailer doing (for example, towing instabilitities, over weighting the rear axle, unweighting the front axle, and TV bounce). I'd expect that the makers of Tow vehicles, the hitch shank extensions, and and the WDH's tell you not to do it.

The RV stores sell a bolt-on 2" receiver that's built for a square bumper. I had one of those welded to a trailer tongue once so that I could use a standard hitch receiver bike rack, and that worked pretty well. But you have to be real careful about the clearances, of course.

[Bill]

www.allenracks.com makes a nice line of "trunk-mounted" racks that mount on the trunk lid or tailgate of your SUV. We've used one on our Explorer for years, with good success. Do a SEARCH for Allen on this board for more details.

Bill

I just got an Allen 4 bike rack from eBay. About $100 after shipping. It's solidly built and has a bolt to lock down the receiver and reduce vibration back there. We will be trying it out this weekend on a short 70 mile camping trip. This one swings down so you maybe able to drop it down with the bikes on it and get the TM open. I'll know Friday if that works.

BK