spare tire and bike rack

cyclone12 wrote:
Really considering putting the bike rack on the pin box. Is there any other uses when parked like a clothes line.

I have used mine to dry big towels at the lake and beach. Here are a couple of pics of mine folded up and out of the way. Plus anything hanging on it keeps it from being walked into! You can see here that I have removed the 3rd bike rack. Only carried two with me on that trip.

Really considering putting the bike rack on the pin box. Is there any other uses when parked like a clothes line.

cyclone12 wrote:
How far away do you weld the receiver hitch to the pin box? Any problem with the bikes hitting the front of the trailer or the truck?

It is trial and error unfortunately. I mocked up my design and held it in place by magnets and then pulled the truck under the pin so I could stand in it. I then measured the rack I was going to use, then measured the width of the handle bars of the bikes I would be carrying and took the measurements of the widest. I then put the rack into the receiver tube, and took some more measurements. I then took a look at how close to the nose of the camper I wanted the handle bars. IF you look at this pic, you can see it is about 6 inches away.

Reason is, that is my son's bike and it is smaller than the rest, that is the way that rack is designed to hold them. Smallest to the largest starting at the back. It is really not that hard to get the measurement done although you will need someone else to help you. First off though, I took a 2x2 aobut 10 feet long and got the farthest poin to the nose by standing it 90* to the poin to the nose of teh camper. Then measured back to the pin box. That was the actual starting point. As you can see I have a long bed, and it gets about 8 inches from the back glass. Lots of people have done this very mod and used a 'hanging' rack where the bike hang on it, and used short beds! Here are a couple of pics that I just went out and shot about the size of the receiver. Forgive me, but she hasn't had her bath lately:B

How far away do you weld the receiver hitch to the pin box? Any problem with the bikes hitting the front of the trailer or the truck?

I removed the crappy thin metal bumper from my 5th wheel and bought a thicker walled 4x4 square tube to replace it. I then weled a 2" receiver hitch to that and to a 2"x2" sqaure tube that is welded to the inside fram rails about 12" or so back.

Then I mount my rear view camera right above where the bikes go so i can watch them on my dvd screen in my dash.

Also the bike rack i have stated on it no 5th wheel or travel trailer mounting. As the one i have bends down to be used on htach backs and such and has alot of movement. So i welded the hell out of it and reinforced with some 1" x 1" square tubing also, thing is complelty solid now and also topped it off with Hitch heavy duty clamp to take all the slop of it out.

http://www.tigerindustrial.com/TH/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=52&zenid=9e940d45b4662f4ed568d8e65f8371dd


It is very solid now and i dont worry at all about having the bikesback there.

Hitch clamp was 24.95
All the metal was around $105 bucks with lots of extra left over.

Installed a Curt 13703 ADJUSTABLE RV HITCH on our RV. Bolted to the box frame extension that the rear bumper is attached to. Lost some ground clearance but now I can use the bike rack that I have - fits in the 2" receiver and holds 2 bikes.

Purchased the hitch from etrailer.com

I carry kayaks on my truck so mounting it on the rear of the trailer was the was to go for me. I had plenty of room in my truck box but this will be allot easier to carry the bikes.

cyclone12 wrote:
Do you have any pictures on your modifications to mount the bikes on the pin box?

If this is what you are asking, here you go My pin box bike rack
Held in place by 4 grade 8 1/2" bolts.

I had a receiver hitch put on the rear, welded to the frame.

I modified the spare carrier to hold the tire directly above the bumper. More room for bikes, no torsional stress on the bumper.

Do you have any pictures on your modifications to mount the bikes on the pin box?

gkenworth wrote:
I'm in the process of modifying my bike rack to fit on the pin box (hope to post pics soon). Too many horror stories about broken bike racks and destroyed bikes, (including my brothers). Lots of traditional bike rack warn not to put them behind fw / tt. If I did have to put them behind the fw, I would put them on a cargo rack, and install a back up camera to moniter them.

That is exactly what I did. Now I can see them at all times and they never move.