Small Motorcycle Rack

[kelvin51]

I have a honda rebel 250 weighs 380 lbs. I was wondering if it's possible to put a rack on the tongue of a HF trailer.

Kelvin

[kelvin51]

perhaps this rack to be mounted on the back of the camper.

http://www.discountramps.com/tilting_motorcycle_rack.htm

[eatatjoz]

perhaps this rack to be mounted on the back of the camper.

http://www.discountramps.com/tilting_motorcycle_rack.htm

I built something like that for my friend's trail 90 on the back of his AMC Hornet.
It carried it just fine.

I don't know about the tongue of the HF though. I'd want to reinforce it. Someone here said that they can twist pretty easy.
(I have no experience with HF trailers, so don't take my word as Gospel)

[doug hodder]

I could be wrong, but I'd imagine that any modification like that to an HF trailer might not only void any warranty, but open yourself up for some liability issues in the event of any failure and may handle poorly. That's a fair amount of weight to hang that far off the back end. I'd think that a custom frame would be the way to go in a situation like this, just my opinion.

What about a rack on the TV with an extended receiver for the hitch? That way you can just take the bike if you want, without the trailer. I did it on a first year Maverick and hauled a Honda 250 Elsinore on it regularly, didn't pull a trailer though. This all depends on what you're towing with however. Just a thought. Doug

[bobhenry]

The flex in the HF tongue was always a concern to me and it is short to boot, so it will be absolutely necessary to lengthen and reinforce the tongue in my opinion.

I have reinforced the tongue and added 18" and the trailer tows and backs up so much better.

I dare say 24" would not be unrealistic with a bike platform on the front to keep the bikes out of the tow vehicle.

It does add to the tongue weight a bit !

It was not extremely difficult if you have a welder ( person) with a welder (machine) it is a bit easier but can be a drill and bolt project also.

If you do add a 2x2x1/4 square tube it is real nice if you can run it all the way to the rear then with a little shimming a class 2 1 1/4" drawbar can be added to the rear. This mini reciever could allow for a rear removable bike rack or cargo platform behind the trailer





Now get ya one of these

[Chris00WJ]

Im having the same dilemma right now with figuring out how to bring along my 83 Honda CR250 dirtbike.

I originally planned on mounting a hitch receiver to the rear of my teardrop frame, but I dont like the idea of having that much weight at the rear of the teardrop. It would lead to no tongue weight and poor towing.

The other option like you said was mounting the bike on the tongue of the trailer, but as mentioned you'd likely need to strengthen and extend your tongue.

One more option is a dual hitch receiver. It's basically 2 hitches coming out the back of your tow vehicle. The lower one is used for the trailer, the upper one is used to accept a motorbike carrier or custom rack for the bike. It's still alot of weight on the hitch of the tow vehicle, but you dont have to worry about beefing up your trailer frame unless you still need an extension.

My hitch has plenty of weight rating so I think this is the route Im going to end up going. I feel safer having it attached to the tow vehicle than the trailer.

[kennyrayandersen]

The biggest problem, which has been alluded to is that one way or another the weight balance will be off. If you put it in the back you get negative tongue weight – put it is the front and you have the weight of the bike plus the weight of the teardrop tongue. That may not be a huge problem if you have a large truck or something but would certainly be an issue with a small or medium tow vehicle.

The only ones that I’ve seen address this is some equipment haulers open up in the back to load the vehicles, the beds etc. fold up out of the way and the weight distribution isn’t affected so much because you are loading it near the axle. When you get to your destination you unload the toys and unfold the beds etc. These tend to be a little bigger than a standard tear (even a big one). Bikes aren’t too bad (25 Lb each), but motorcycles weigh considerably more.

Containers are loaded on trailers that have the ability to slide (at least some of them do). Using the same principal, it may be that you could design a trailer/tear combo that would allow for a weight shift should the bike be brought along, or not. The tear body could slide aft and the bike loaded in the front (that would probably be the easier route). When carrying the bike and the tear body sliding forward if the bike wasn’t being hauled. You could have permanent angles on the tear body and angles on the trailer that those would slide between with quick disconnect pins to lock them together.