Motorcycle on back of Fifth wheel

[randy777]

I have a Honda dual use motorcycle which weighs about 325 lbs. I would like to take it along on our trips for running around. Found ramp on Discountramps.com but they advise against using them on fifth wheels or trailers. I have a heavy-duty hitch bolted to the frame. Does anyone else do this?

Randy

[harley_hitchike]

check with a mfg. called mighty hauler they say they can install on a 5th wheel .I'm sure there are exceptions .www.mightyhauler.com

[BarneyS]

Funny you should mention that. One of our long term members JBarca just discovered that his trailer had a bent frame behind the axles. He posted about it with many pictures here. and shows how you can check your own vehicle in his posts.

John has the ability and resources to fix it and will probably have it like new in a week or so judging by his past performance on things like this. He is an amazing guy! 🙂
Barney

[otrfun]

The one thing that hasn't been mentioned is the potential for slow, long-term, permanent bending of a trailer's frame from repeated dynamic loading.

Sure, everything's just fine for a while, then all of a sudden alignment issues with windows, doors, slides, and cabinets rear their ugly head. No doubt it's happened before . . . and folks never connected the dots.

[D_E_Bishop]

RoyB, thanks, I kind of like that for a solution to our problem. The DW will soon have to have a scooter and keeps wanting one of those break apart jobs where the heaviest part is less than 50 pounds. I don't like filling up the towed with that when we're on the road. There are a lot of times when I would like a scooter too, but not to carry two inside the towed for sure.

Both cars we have came with tow bars and with the Idaho Tote style would add negligible weight to the hitch and little more to the overall weight.

[Justaguy]

In NC or SC you can't sue for someone's retirement or primary residence. Ran into this a few years back when a senior citizen ran a red light and severely injured my wife. Her 6 weeks in the hospital was about 10X the amount of liability insurance he had. Don't think its right, but that was the law

because he had no income, I was pretty much on the hook for anything his insurance didn't cover.


Yeah, it is a mess. Check your state's regulations. Lots of nuances when it comes to protecting employer sponsored retirement accounts, 401k's, IRA's and Roth IRA's. There is a huge difference depending on what state you live in. I have even seen where they argue in court over what state the 401k, IRA's are administered in. This was done in an attempt to pierce the protection of assets in one state versus another...not the same in all states. But in any case one should have an umbrella policy with plenty of coverage.

[flyairam]

See pics at the bottom of this post:
https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/28437838/print/true.cfm

It's an Arctic Fox weighing 15,500 pounds, 3500 pounds pin weight, the Yamaha Zuma 125 weighs 265 pounds and is a perfect run-around vehicle my wife can drive, is fun, and economical.

The receiver hitch on the arctic fox is factory installed, made of massive I-beam steel, and rated for much more weight than I'm carrying.

[mbrower]

Justaguy wrote:
This just doesn't sound like a good idea. If you do do it, make sure you have some serious coin in your umbrella policy. I think it would be pretty hard to defend this in a court should someone get hurt or killed. Mods that are not tested and/or part of accepted practices will sink your retirement at lightning speed should someone die as a result, either directly or indirectly, from one of these modifications. It would be a good idea to go over your insurance policy with an agent to see if you would even be covered after modifying your rig. (Just my 2 cents)

In NC or SC you can't sue for someone's retirement or primary residence. Ran into this a few years back when a senior citizen ran a red light and severely injured my wife. Her 6 weeks in the hospital was about 10X the amount of liability insurance he had. Don't think its right, but that was the law

because he had no income, I was pretty much on the hook for anything his insurance didn't cover.

[Justaguy]

This just doesn't sound like a good idea. If you do do it, make sure you have some serious coin in your umbrella policy. I think it would be pretty hard to defend this in a court should someone get hurt or killed. Mods that are not tested and/or part of accepted practices will sink your retirement at lightning speed should someone die as a result, either directly or indirectly, from one of these modifications. It would be a good idea to go over your insurance policy with an agent to see if you would even be covered after modifying your rig. (Just my 2 cents)

[klr650goldwing]

I researched this subject at length a few months ago. My research indicated that some snow plows mounted to the front of a truck weigh over 1000 lbs. So, I opted to carry the bike on the front of the TV. I'm just in the process of fabricating the front hitch and the carrier. I bought the front hitch from E-trailer and welded two extra receivers on to that hitch. Next I bought a motorcycle carrier and modified it to fit the two receivers. This project is almost done, but I haven't actually hauled a bike yet. So, even though all my research indicated, to me, that the front was a better option, I can't talk personally about hauling a bike yet.

We are retiring this coming June and in September will head out on an extended trip. We will be carrying the bike then. I'll be making a couple of test runs prior to that.

All that said I won't be hauling the goldwing. The bike will be a smaller dual sport.

Good luck.

[MFL]

randy777 wrote:
I already have a very strong class 4 hitch bolted to the frame. I used to pull a flat bed trailer with 3 quads. Total weight almost 2000 lbs. I'm more nervous about the bike being thrown off by a strong bump. I was thinking about putting a video camera to watch the bike.

Like mentioned in earlier post, no matter the hitch strength, you need wider, extended tie down points, to better hold the bike. My carrier, like most, is designed for limited space. The tie downs are too straight up/down to hold a bike securely on back of a bouncing FW. I could have strapped to my ladder & spare tire, but you can imagine how that would go!

Yes, a camera would be a no brainer, if you give this a try! If I took my bike along often, I'd get the front receiver for truck, from E-trailer, and haul bike there. Better ride, plus can be easily seen by the driver.

Jerry

[fj12ryder]

randy777 wrote:
I already have a very strong class 4 hitch bolted to the frame. I used to pull a flat bed trailer with 3 quads. Total weight almost 2000 lbs. I'm more nervous about the bike being thrown off by a strong bump. I was thinking about putting a video camera to watch the bike.

It wouldn't be smart to try to haul anything back there without having some kind of watch on it. A camera would only be the smart thing to do. Like I mentioned before, making sure it is securely fastened down and going no where is paramount. You can't be too careful.

[mbrower]

I would add a third axle like the RV owner did if I were going to carry a motorcycle on the back of the fiver in addition to the beefing up the frame.

Look Here

[randy777]

I already have a very strong class 4 hitch bolted to the frame. I used to pull a flat bed trailer with 3 quads. Total weight almost 2000 lbs. I'm more nervous about the bike being thrown off by a strong bump. I was thinking about putting a video camera to watch the bike.

[campinrooter]

No Way Jose!!!!!