Forum Discussion

sarahboro33's avatar
sarahboro33
Explorer
Jul 28, 2020

Hitch extension with Dual Moto Carrier

So I'm looking for help! I'll have a TC in the bed, tailgate down, and am looking for an extension that will allow my dual motorcycle hauler to clear the TC rear door when and am worried about the tongue weight using a 18+ inch hitch extension. The hitch is a standard rear 1250lbs tongue and 12500 lbs towing hitch on a 2015 F250 6.7L CC. The hauler is about 18 inches shy of clearing within a workable distance. As far as the hauler and weight of the bikes on the racks: the hauler is ~85lbs, KTM is 235lbs and Sur Ron is ~85 lbs with battery removed, and ~50lbs inv. gen. for a rough total weight of 455lbs. I am definitely wanting to put the KTM on the rack closest to the hitch. Does anyone have any recommendations or knowledge as far as how much that hitch extension is going to need to be able to hold? I have viewed some other posts regarding hitch extensions in the forum and most are also dealing with a lot more tongue and trailer weight as I believe I am right near the limit for needing to buy a $500+ extension with my weights and am hoping to save a little. Thanks in advance!
Truck Campers
  • Grit_dog's avatar
    Grit_dog
    Navigator
    Jul 29, 2020
    So someone’s bike rack snapped years ago...
    That’s a sure fire reason to not haul dirt bikes.....

    Y’all do realize that there are thousands of dirbike racks in use, right?
    And putting one on a hitch extension does not affect the bike rack.
    Only thing In question possibly is the hitch and/or extension, but this is not an extreme case.
    500lbs on a 2’ extension on a 2.5” square hitch is not going to break anything. Been there done that.
  • Geo_Boy's avatar
    Geo_Boy
    Explorer II
    Jul 29, 2020
    Why not just tow a simple open trailer built to handle your bikes?
  • Mote's avatar
    Mote
    Explorer
    Jul 29, 2020
    With all that weight bouncing up and down as your going down the road I'd want to be sure it's done correctly. Since I'm not familiar with what kind of additional load the bouncing would cause I would call Torklift and talk to their engineers. I'm sure they can suggest a safe solution. Then can decide how much you want to spend.
    We had a bumper mounted bike rack on a 5th wheel years ago. It road fine until one day we came across a big dip in the road. I wasn't ready for it and took it too fast. The sudden down force on the rack going thru that dip snapped the bike rack off the camper. My wife was behind us and a semi truck behind her. Thankfully they all got stopped in time but there was a lot of tires smoking from the semi trailer.
  • Bert_the_Welder's avatar
    Bert_the_Welder
    Explorer II
    Jul 29, 2020
    I wonder if capacity ratings, like the chart in the link provided by OldFart, are applicable to a free hanging load? I'd think a free hanging load acts upon the receiver in a different way then a trailer with wheels on the ground and attached via a tongue.
  • Grit_dog's avatar
    Grit_dog
    Navigator
    Jul 29, 2020
    I wouldn’t hesitate to put 500lbs on an 18” solid bar hitch extension on that hitch.
    I run about 30” of solid bar extension on my 2” Ram 2500 hitch with 500lbs or more of tongue weight.
  • Bedlam's avatar
    Bedlam
    Moderator
    Jul 28, 2020
    You are looking at putting roughly 500 lbs of dead weight on an 18" extension, but the carrier width also adds to that leverage. Is your receiver rated for 1250 lbs of tongue weight without a WDH? If it is, you may be able to add tensioned chains from the carrier to the outboard sections of your receiver to reduce twisting forces.

    Does your truck have sufficient capacity to hang that additional weight off the rear with the camper loaded? If it does not you need to look at using the front or upgrading your wheels and suspension for the additional rear axle load.
  • Lwiddis's avatar
    Lwiddis
    Explorer II
    Jul 28, 2020
    Being right near the weight limit would convince me to go heavy duty.

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