bicycles on the 5er hitch.

dewey02 wrote:
Whew, that looks like a bowl of spaghetti hanging from that rack! Wheels cocked every direction, bikes at all sorts of angles.
I prefer to have a bike rack that supports the bikes from below by the tires/rims. They sit level and don't swing or bounce into each other.
But perhaps it wouldn't work for 3 or 4 bikes or a 5er mount.

Heh, that's my rig and that's my site. I absolutely hate this style of bike rack. I love the pin box mount and I love having the bikes up there- but despise hanging the bikes like they are. If nothing else, I'd ditch my wife's bike because the space between the bars is so close that I have to do ugly things to even get it on the rack.

But, it's what I have and what works for now. I do want the kind of bike rack that you described. I don't see any reason why it shouldn't work up on the king pin hitch.

Swagman XTC2

JeepCB wrote:

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
For those of you with bikes mounted in the front, how big a pain is it to clean off the bugs?

X2 I was thinking about doing the same thing and was wondering too!

No harder than cleaning off the road spray on rear bumper mounted units. That and mostly below the roof line.

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
For those of you with bikes mounted in the front, how big a pain is it to clean off the bugs?

X2 I was thinking about doing the same thing and was wondering too!

klr650goldwing wrote:
Thanks everyone. This is exactly the information I was looking for.

Glad we could help. :)

Thanks everyone. This is exactly the information I was looking for.

IBcarguy wrote:
Nice mod. I have a short bed truck and things get close when cranking it tight. I wonder if adding bikes would make that even worse.

You could first make a light weight mockup of small dimension lumber to approximate the outlines of the hitch, rack, and bikes and try it. The trailer is about 8' wide. But the bikes are only about 5' long. So they would not extend all the way across to the corners of the trailer. They may swing around short of the cab on a turn. But I would try some kind of test first, unless someone comes back with real world experience with a short bed.

Nice mod. I have a short bed truck and things get close when cranking it tight. I wonder if adding bikes would make that even worse.

I have an air ride pin box and did not want to drill holes in it. So I made a mount that uses the pin box bolts. No concern about angles since the pin box bolts are already horizontal. $20 receiver from Harbor Freight and some spare angle iron makes it pretty cheap.



Mount is close to but not touching the top of pin box.



I have carried 3 adult bike. Should be able to carry a 4th. Only 2 in this pic.

For those of you with bikes mounted in the front, how big a pain is it to clean off the bugs?