seby19
Peru, IN
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Is a welded hitch on the back of a 30' TT ok to support a 4 bike rack?
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Water-Bug
home
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It should be, but to be sure check the tongue weight limit of the hitch. Then, add up the weights of all the bikes and add about 15 lbs for the rack. I can't imagine that the total would be much over 200 lbs.
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Earthroamer82
Virginia Beach, VA
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X2 what Water-Bug says.
Another option, is a bike rack that mounts to your A-frame. I personnally would love one myself, but have yet to find one on the internet.
TV: 2011 Toyota Tundra 5.7 V-8 TRD with Prodigy 2 brake controller
TT: 2011 Keystone Springdale SSR 3030BH with E4 Equal-i-zer hitch
Myself, DW, (2)DS, and one Big Boxer
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Dick_B
Palos Heights, IL USA
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I wouldn't do it on my rig; too much overhung load for the rough roads and bouncing back end of the TT. Maybe try two bikes back there and two in front of the tow vehicle as we have done for years with a fabricated receiver.
Dick_B
2003 SunnyBrook 27FKS
2011 3/4 T Chevrolet Suburban
Equal-i-zer Hitch
One wife, two bikes (both Electric Schwinn's with motor assist)
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rpegram
Eastern NC
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I am seriously considering adding a hitch on the rear of our new Jayco for a bike rack that fits a 2" receiver. It would be attached to the frame and not solely attached to the bumper. Jayco offers a cargo rack for the rear as an option, so I believe the frame on their trailers is designed to support this additional weight. I saw one at a RV show a couple of weeks ago and it appeared to slide under the bumper when not needed and was made so the tires of three bikes had somewhere to sit and then you tie them down and make them secure.
If someone has an picture of this rack and how it actually works, I'd love to see it.
2011 Jayco 26RLS
'92 26' Starcraft TT
'96 Dodge 3500 CC, 12 valve Cummins
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eddie3260
Florence, al
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Earthroamer82 wrote:X2 what Water-Bug says.
Another option, is a bike rack that mounts to your A-frame. I personnally would love one myself, but have yet to find one on the internet.
http://www.toppoprails.com/trailer.htm
I bought one little over a year ago and it works great. Assembly instructions were horrible, but using the pictures it put together pretty easy.
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eddie3260
Florence, al
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I've seen many bike racks mounted to the back of TT's with no problems. Something to consider, even though you may have a rating of 200 pounds and only 150 pounds of bikes, once you start bouncing the bikes around you are going to multiply the G force acting on the load which may put you well over the limit.
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JJBIRISH
Butler, PA, USA
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Hauling 4 bikes on the back of a trailer is a incredibly bad idea for a lot of reasons, although it is a popular idea…
First of all most 4 bike racks will eventually fail because of the harsh ride at the rear of a trailer, but they may be fine on the back of the truck or a car…
The built in racks have a 200 pound limit and are attached to both frame rails (not a center attachment like a receiver)… they also support the bike by the wheels and not the crossbar… it also keeps the load close to the trailer… this reduces the bounce and wobble of the load and makes it easier to secure the load…
You need to call Jayco and see how much load your frame can carry before doing anything you will later regret , and remember the all the weight of the welded hitch, and the rack are a part of that bike load to…
You will get many willing to tell you its no problem they do it all the time, I would take that advice with a grain of salt… their situation and yours will be unique enough to ignore those recommendations…
One thing no one tells you and they don’t want to hear is these/your trailer has a marginal at best running gear and frame… the frame is so light duty that they need to build camber into the frame rails to prevent the camper weight from causing it to sag, and overloading the chassis at the rear is a problem for the chassis… at a minimum you increase the risk of tire failure, spring failure, spring shackle failure, welding cracks anywhere in the chassis, and frame failure itself…
 
DO NOT TAKE MY WORD on it, I am no expert… but please call Jayco the manufacture, (not a dealer) and get straight information that is related to your specific trailer…
Also remember anyone that says sure its ok, I do it all the time, is not going to offer to cover your loss and liability if they were wrong…
In the end it is your nickel, your trailer, your risk, your reward, or your liability if your bikes hit a passing motorist… spent that nickel wisely…
Love my mass produced, entry level, built by Lazy American Workers, Hornet
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camp-n-family
Canada
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You can do it but as others have said it can be dangerous. The bikes tend to bounce a lot on the back of a trailer adding stress to the hitch and frame. I had a hitch welded onto my 19' hybrid for bikes too. The frame was reinforced with angle iron and gussets and it was welded along the bumper as well. Thought it worked great until one day I noticed the welds between the bumper and frame had cracked. The bouncing also broke 3 of the rubber tie straps after a trip and one bike had fallen off the rack. The only saving grace was the fact that I had them locked together with a heavy bike lock so it was still hanging on.
I still use a rack on my current 26' TT but made some changes. I had heavy guage square tube welded between the frame rails in two places and angle iron welded to the bumper to strengthen it. I have a 3' reciever tube that is welded to all 3 points to distribute the load better. I also changed the style of bike rack from one with double arms and rubber staps to a single clamp down style. The bikes can't move in the rack and it is solid. You also want to make sure that there is no slack in the reciever. The hitch must fit tight. Best way I found to achieve this was to drill a hole in the side of the reciever and weld a nut to it, that way you can thread a bolt through and tighten the rack in the reciever. I've used this set up for a couple of years on some very rough roads with no problems or worries.
'07 Toyota Tundra Crewmax Limited
'06 Forest River Flagstaff 26BH
Hitched by Hensley, Viewed by McKesh
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tomman58
Southeast Michigan
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rpegram wrote:I am seriously considering adding a hitch on the rear of our new Jayco for a bike rack that fits a 2" receiver. It would be attached to the frame and not solely attached to the bumper. Jayco offers a cargo rack for the rear as an option, so I believe the frame on their trailers is designed to support this additional weight. I saw one at a RV show a couple of weeks ago and it appeared to slide under the bumper when not needed and was made so the tires of three bikes had somewhere to sit and then you tie them down and make them secure.
If someone has an picture of this rack and how it actually works, I'd love to see it.
You can Google up the rack on a Jayco owners blog site. I was going to add it the rack to mine but didn't like comments by my dealer or folks that had it.
On the rack issue on the bumper I've had a rack that surrounds the the spare on my Jaycos. I have no less than 100,000 miles put on those 2 jayco trailers and never had a problem. My dealer put a customers rack on a used non-Jayco and it broke off before they could move it up front for delivery. go figure.
Even though the spare isn't on the back of the 2012 I'm either going to use a receiver that bolts to the bumper or just use my old trusty rack designed for the spare but now with out one. BTW I also have an Aluminium tool box that sits offset on my bumper and have had no problems with it either.
2008 Silverado D/A,CC 4x4 ,3.73,IBC LTZ+
2012 Jayco 322 FKS
2 Trek bikes
Honda EU2000i
It must be time to go, the suns out and I've got a full tank of diesel!
Lifes short enough without bitch'n about it!
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