Motorcycle carrier

With your 228" wheelbase or 19' and putting 1200 lbs at least 6' behind the rear axle it's a fairly easy lever/math calculation...almost 400 lbs. I never doubted it still handled well but something on the rear was way overloaded. Many single axle DPs do not have enough extra axle/tire capacity to add 1600 more pounds...1200+400.

Anyone thinking of doing this measure your wheel base and how far it will be to the aprox center of the cycle from the rear axle and do the math. That ratio will be how much extra weight over the weight of the lift and cycle you will put on the rear axle. Can your rig handle that much extra weight??? The longer the rig the better the ratio.

Ivylog wrote:
Fire Up/Scott, how many times are you going to keep putting out this BS...100 lbs off the front axle and why did you switch to putting it in the back of your PU? 1200 lbs that far off the back is going to take 400 lbs off the front BUT more importantly...it going to put 1600 lbs on the rear axle and 04 36GD only came with a 17500 rear axle. Obviously you never weighed your rig to see how overloaded your rear axle was...or did you and that's why you went with a PU??? Yes, you got away with it but to tell someone that 1200 lbs on the back of a single rear axle DP is no big deal is downright dangerous.

I pick up 1500 lbs off the back of my DP BUT it's a tag axle and it's heavy on the front axle so this actually helps with not overloading the front axle. Click on "How I Tow" above in my first post.

Well,
I figure'd you'd chime in with your rhetoric. You always do. Since you DON'T OWN MY COACH, and, haven't DONE IT ON MY COACH, you obviously have NO CLUE as to what ACTUALLY HAPPENED on MY COACH, when I ran that lift. If you want to argue, argue away, you'll be arguing with yourself. I did weigh the coach, before I even installed the lift. I knew WAY advance that I was going to be over weight on the rear axle. I knew what all the GVW, GAW and all the figures were before starting.

I had info on just what those axles can ACTUALLY HANDLE so, I was not overly concerned. I knew what that frame and sub-frame could handle to, so, You can believe what you want in terms of CALCULATIONS but, what my front end weighed BEFORE the lift and bike were installed and, what it weighed AFTER was barely over 100lbs and, I measured 1/16th" difference in height.

The one and only reason the Hydralift is still not on the coach is because of the tires. I have no control over the capability of the tires. They were overloaded. If I'd have blown any of the rear duals, the remaining one would be double overloaded. THAT'S why we now do things different.

We did it, it worked, no one died. The coach ran perfect down the road, PERIOD!
Scott

FWIW I've enjoyed a factory installed Hydralift on my fifth wheel for several years. The lift is as reliable as a hammer and Hydralift has good support. I'd recommend the wheel chock and extra tie down point accessories.

Fire Up/Scott, how many times are you going to keep putting out this BS...100 lbs off the front axle and why did you switch to putting it in the back of your PU? 1200 lbs that far off the back is going to take 400 lbs off the front BUT more importantly...it going to put 1600 lbs on the rear axle and 04 36GD only came with a 17500 rear axle. Obviously you never weighed your rig to see how overloaded your rear axle was...or did you and that's why you went with a PU??? Yes, you got away with it but to tell someone that 1200 lbs on the back of a single rear axle DP is no big deal is downright dangerous.

I pick up 1500 lbs off the back of my DP BUT it's a tag axle and it's heavy on the front axle so this actually helps with not overloading the front axle. Click on "How I Tow" above in my first post.

onebluesdufus wrote:
I am considering a hydralift motorcycle carrier. Does anyone out there have one now that can give some advice?
Thanks

onebluedufus,
I did just what you're thinking about. And yes, we need to know your make/model/engine/chassis etc. in order to give a more accurate answer. Hydralifts are by far, the best lift/carrier on the market, no doubt about that. But, they (Hydralift) are proud of their unit. They are the most costly of all of them too. There is the least amount of moving parts and, the most stable of all of them.

I have seen Hydralifts on gas coaches out there. In fact, we just saw one in Grizzly RV park, just outside of West YellowStone. I rode my bicycle by his spot, several times,just to strike up a conversation about his system but, he was never out so, I could not get any good anwers as to using one on a gasser.

I mounted/installed the Hydralift on our coach, an '04 Itasca Horizon, 36GD with the CAT 330HP C-7. That system worked absolutely flawless. We carried an '08 Honda GL 1800 Goldwing which, tops the scales at very close to 900 lbs. The lift itself hovers at close to 300 lbs. Contrary to all WHO'VE NOT DONE ANYTHING LIKE THIS, and who say all the bad things that will happen to your coach, none of them ever happened on mine. No ill handling effects, no wandering, no porpoising, no light steering, NOTHING. I lost a whopping 100 lbs. off my front end, WOW!

Heck, I just removed that boat anchor 100 lb. Sony TV and installed
an 8.5 lb. LED TV so, big deal. Anyway, like has been stated, more info of your coach is needed for good answers.
Scott

10forty2 wrote:
I considered it, but for the money I decided to go with an enclosed trailer for my Road King. Another thing to consider is that the rear of the coach where the bike will ride gets a whirlwind effect from the air turbulence and picks up all the road debris and dirt that will eventually end up sandblasting your beautiful bike. and, if you cover it, the flapping from the wind will do just as much, if not more, damage.

X2

I considered it, but for the money I decided to go with an enclosed trailer for my Road King. Another thing to consider is that the rear of the coach where the bike will ride gets a whirlwind effect from the air turbulence and picks up all the road debris and dirt that will eventually end up sandblasting your beautiful bike. and, if you cover it, the flapping from the wind will do just as much, if not more, damage.

These lifts are not good for "gasser" motorhomes. Weights of the bike, lift itself plus the height when traveling can (and probably will) overload the rear axle...then you got problems.
DPs can mostly handle things.

My motorhome...when researching this (I have a 750 pound Harley "dresser", i found i was within 300 pounds of my rear axle limit (OK....JUST OK) but I would LOSE 600+ pounds off my front-end. So.....can't afford a DP, when i want the bike at my destination, I put it on a trailer.

I have the formula for weights somewhere around....if you want it, PM me...and if I can find it, will PM you back.

It would help to know what rig you have and the weight of the cycle.

I have heard good things about the Hydralift, but you need to ensure you won't overload the coach. BTW, I have a Cruiserlift I'm selling for a fraction of the cost of a Hydralift..