Reality of a front deck toy hauler

Y-Guy wrote:
Before you have the ramp built I'd get your setup to some CAT scales to see what your tongue weight is and what it's going to be with the Harley up front. Most of the weight of that Harley will be transferred right to your hitch. Check your specs for your Burb too. Adding anything won't change if you are beyond your ratings, but might make the drive better.

One of my neighbors had a popup with a forward deck that he towed with a Tundra. He mounted fuel and water cans across the back of the trailer and added a cargo basket. He has able to take off some tongue weight by filling his 5-gallon cans and adding firewood or full cooler to the basket. When he didn't take his toys along, he would remove the basket and the cans. Coming home, he would return with more tongue weight but it worked for him.

Derick wrote:
I know..thats why I'm asking! lol I have been looking at other bikes too to take on my travels. However, none of them are as good at 2 up as my wing. I also have a kawasaki concours, that would be about 200lbs lighter, but harder to strap down.

My 2004 Connie travels with us often in my enclosed trailer. I have a front wheel chock, soft straps going to the lower triple trees and single soft strap going through the rear wheel. The straps on the front are anchored about 3' apart and pull the bike forward and down into the chock - They do not need so tight that they bottom the suspension (I probably have about 1" of compression). The single rear strap pulls backwards and keeps the rear wheel from shifting sideways. I used to use soft straps on each passenger foot peg but found I only need the one in back.

Derick - the trailer is a beam supported at the center of the axle group and the hitch.

Weight carried between those two points will be distributed in the same proportion as the distance of the center of gravity of the weight is to the total distance between hitch and axles.

Start by weighing the trailer trip ready without anything on the deck, and get an accurate hitch or tongue weight.

Measure from the center of the axles at the spring equalizer to the center of the hitch ball.

Measure from the point the bike tires will rest on the deck to the ball.

Calculate the percentage proportion of this distance is vs the total distance from axle group center to the center of the hitch ball. For easy example figuring let’s say it is 40” / 160” = 25%.

25% x total bike weight is what will be transferred to the axles. The remainder goes to the hitch.

So 40%x900lbs = 360lbs to axles
900-360=540lbs to hitch.

Moto ramp calculator: Clicky

Before you have the ramp built I'd get your setup to some CAT scales to see what your tongue weight is and what it's going to be with the Harley up front. Most of the weight of that Harley will be transferred right to your hitch. Check your specs for your Burb too. Adding anything won't change if you are beyond your ratings, but might make the drive better.

Yep, that's the one. I was going to post a link of that too, but you beat me to it. Sunray RV got enveloped into another small RV company, so needless to say there's zero documentation online. Overall, I feel that it's a well built unit, just kind of odd with the front deck. The guy I bought it from said he had his harley on it...but his credibility is nil.

That's a new one on me, never heard of that unit. I did some searching, curious if this is like what you have.

I know..thats why I'm asking! lol I have been looking at other bikes too to take on my travels. However, none of them are as good at 2 up as my wing. I also have a kawasaki concours, that would be about 200lbs lighter, but harder to strap down. I dont see any labels on the decking that would outline the weight capacity, however it does have 1500lbs folding ramps built on to it.

This is a Sunray RV Smokey 23TH. It's 23 ft long in total, but 18 of that is camper.

I dont know what the actual weights are right now. I know it's all in spec as it's pretty bone stock. The WDH is 1200 lbs, I bought the biggest one I could get on amazon and the eaz lift was rated pretty high. Would it be reasonable to cantilever it with some sandbags in the back of the camper? I have a pretty fair amount of stuff in the storage compartment at the rear. But mostly just my water and sewage supplies. Nothing with any real weight.

you're adding like 900 lbs to the tongue! At least that's what my '89 wing weighs. That's a LOT of tongue weight. What's the max tongue with WD hitch rating on you 'burb?

I'm sure there is a weight rating for the front deck. There's no doubt that a Gold Wing near the front is going to add a lot of weight to the hitch. What is your unloaded hitch weight? Depending on where you set the bike you should be able to estimate what weight it will add to the hitch. My guess is it would be marginal, but without any specs it is impossible to say definitely, just speculate.

Derick, few things will help. What RV make/model do you have. Some of the front deck units had pretty high tongue weights to start with. Have you weighed it already setup with your Suburban?