Bike carrier

[Bears_Den]

For those of you who use a bike carrier on the rear bumper of your TT. What did you do to reenforce your bumper? Did you add a a receiver under the bumper welded to the frame? I’ve read plenty of posts of how the rear bumper isn’t strong enough to carry bikes so I’m looking for suggestions. No substitute for experience. Thanks for your help.

[ford_truck_guy]

Bears Den wrote:
rhagfo, I was looking at those, apparently they are so popular that on the sites I’ve looked at, they’re on back order. Just trying to see what other ideas people have. I can actually carry them in the bed of my truck but I’d have to figure out where to put other things that go in the bed when we camp.

My daughter was looking at them as well.... I was looking through marketplace and stumbled into someone selling a brand new one still in the box for 1/2 price..... Sent the money and UPS label for them to ship, 3 days later we had it...

Jack-It

[Grit_dog]

Like everything else, it depends.
Number of bikes, size, weight, etc.
If you have a ladder on the back, you could hang a couple bikes off of a ladder mounted rack too.

[mittshel]

One last note. I recommend keeping bikes locked whenever you are not on them. Betsy.

[ktmrfs]

Bears Den wrote:
For those of you who use a bike carrier on the rear bumper of your TT. What did you do to reenforce your bumper? Did you add a a receiver under the bumper welded to the frame? I’ve read plenty of posts of how the rear bumper isn’t strong enough to carry bikes so I’m looking for suggestions. No substitute for experience. Thanks for your help.

I cut off the factory bumper and mount.
Using 2" reciever tubing made a sliding rear rack with a 4" ID, 3/16" bumper and "stinger" tubing. Tubing is welded to the frame for about 24"
Used hitch pins to have two positions for the rear rack placement
welded on a 2" reciever tube to the bumper and a 1 1/2" reciever tube to the bumper
bike rack slides into the appropriate reciever.

[afidel]

Front mounted hitch and a low mounted bike carrier was our solution. It's not perfect, it's scraped on occasion and it makes you that much longer so getting into tight spaces has required removing the rack on more than one occasion. However both rear mounted carriers and above the tank carriers have their own issues so like most things it's the compromises that work best for you.

[ScottG]

Your bumper will carry the weight if you reinforce where it attaches to the trailers frame.
In this pic, the piece of angle iron that is cut off at an angle, spans underneath the existing frame to the underside if the bumper itself and keeps the bumper from being able to rotate and tear lose.

I carried nearly 100# of bikes over 13 years with this setup and never had any problem after this mod. Before that I ripped this bumper off with just a couple of light bikes.



Note, I'm not responsible for the factory booger weld on the right!

[Sjm9911]

And also remember that some of the ones that split the hitch for towing and holding bikes can reduce you tow capacity by like 50 percent.

[Bears_Den]

Thanks everyone, got a little research to do.

[Sjm9911]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0711YJ3TW?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

[Sjm9911]

You can get an over the tailgate bike carrier. So, half the bike is in the bwd of the truck and the bikes ride upright. This leaves you with space in the truck bed also.

[Thermoguy]

If you have bikes on the back of a trailer, do not use the bumper, have a hitch welded to the frame. Also, do not use a standard car type bike carrier, make sure you get one designed for trailers. They need to not be able to articulate, fixed position. I have a Yakima 4 bike rack designed for the back of a trailer. We mostly carry 3 bikes but have carried 4. Have never had a problem.

[Lwiddis]

Bumper brackets have never worried me when I’m behind a TT with them carrying a bicycle rack with bicycles. The lack of strength of the bumper does however. Note the reenforcement warning on this Amazon page.

[IAMICHABOD]

For a no weld alternative my son-in-law used a bolt on bumper brackets that worked out very well,these are the best on the market.

Like This One

[GrandpaKip]

Frame mounted cargo rack. We carry a bike, sewer tote, spare tire, ladder and patio rug on it.