whats your bumper carrying? bikes, spare tires, options

mine doesn't carry anything but dust or dirt. Not even the slinky.

I have a rack I made for our two bikes. I also carry my Honda 2000W gen on the rear bumper. My spare came installed on the rear bumper but I moved it to under the 5er in the front.

thats a good idea mike s. i dont think i have room to putmy spare tire under the camper. i am going to do some more research.

I carry a Harbor Freight hitch rack with a large, loaded Pelican cooler on it, and a couple of bikes on the back of that. The bumper itself will hold a lot of weight.

But, they won't take a lot of torque, being thin-walled - the welds to the frame rails can easily tear. I built up a receiver so it would transfer any torque to the trailer frame.


There are 2x2 box sections underneath to transfer torque so the bumper itself only carries vertical load.

I nearly ripped my bumper off the back of my trailer with our bike rack. When we stopped the bikes were sitting at a 45 degree andgle to the RV. The bike rack actually tore the metal bumper material away from the frame.
I replaced it with much thicker steel and added a piece of angle iron to span from under the frame to under the bumper.

Mine carries 2 posts bottoms for my clothes line and a spare tire in the center

I took my spare off and just keep the tire inside under the bunk storage...also have a 4 bike carrier I put on for traveling...I installed the rv strut brackets from amazon and they work great.

I made my own tire carrying bracket so the weight is on top of the bumper.
Also tucks tire in close to the trailer for more clearance on the bikes.
Had a class 3 hitch added to carry the bikes.

Don't do it. The thin metal tube bumpers have a tough time with loads as low 75#. They will twist and break the welds with loss or damage to everything that is attached. In addition, if they fall off your vehicle and cause an accident, you will be liable if you are caught.

You're much better off purchasing an aftermarket frame mounted hitch that will meet your needs. For example, the one linked below has a capacity of 500#. You could use it to mount the bikes, and then move your spare tire under the trailer with a frame mounted spare tire carrier.


Frame Mounted RV Hitch

Jim

Not a good idea without the mods suggested by old guy.