Bumper mount bike rack
We have a 2017 coachmen freedom express 236bhs. We recently purchased a hitch adapter so we could use our bike carrier behind the rv. Does anyone else use one? How do you know if the bumper is strong enough?
Forum Discussion
- Search the forum(s). There are dozens - if not hundreds - of posts on this topic. Bottom line is this: you will end up dragging your bikes and rack down the road by one remaining weld on the end of the bumper or just by the locking cable you used for security. As stated above, have a true hitch receiver welded or bolted to the frame.
Rob Sarah8 wrote:
How do you know if the bumper is strong enough?
It's not. You want the receiver the bike rack is mounted to welded or bolted to the trailer frame. Another option might be these 4-SQUARE Safety Struts. Neither of course will offset unloading of the trailer tongue, ergo the reason many of us would instead recommend carrying the bikes over the trailer's tongue with a system like the Canadian made Arvika Bike Rack System.- 99.9% of the time no, RV bumpers are not strong enough.
Ask your RV manufacturer, only the manufacturer can really answer your question.
Most RV bumpers are nothing more than 14ga sheet metal (1/16" thick), which is only two ga sizes heavier than your automobile sheet metal.
And inspite of a lot of folk who will be chiming in I NEARLY lost a pair of bikes when my bumper started tearing away from the welds. So don't believe the folks that say "I have done it for x amount of years and never lost one", not all bumpers are 14 ga, and that person may have a 1/8" thick bumper.. But yours may not.
