Bike rack recommendation for front of tow vehicle

[Riverdogrj]

I have a receiver on the front of my tow vehicle & want to purchase a bike rack to mount. I want to make sure the bikes ride low enough so as not to obstruct my view. I am thinking of purchasing a tray style so the wheels sit in a tray & therefore ride a bit lower.

Can anyone give me a recommendation as to what works for them?

[Riverdogrj]

JBarca - thanks John. I have been looking at that specific rack & have emailed Swagman for spec's on it. My receiver is recessed about 6 behind the front bumper. So I need to know from them how far the cross bar is from the hitch-pin hole.

I was at a local Swagman dealer who carries the XC2 but not the XC2 RV, which is the model you are showing me. I have the measurement on how far the rear wheel tray sits from the crossbar on the XC2. So if I get the other measurement from Swagman I can then assess if the bike will clear the bumper when it is in place. Clear as mud?? Sorry if I didn't articulate that very clear, but I think I'm getting close on what to buy if I get their measurement.

Thanks again for your help & happy RVing!

[JBarca]

Riverdogrj wrote:
Jbarca - great response & I appreciate it. I do like the mount above the trailer tongue, so I may go with the Swagman & make a similar mod. I see the Swagman you have has 2" square tubing & not the 1 1/4 inch with adapter to two inch. Perhaps this is the Swagman RV XC2?? I like that it comes straight out, as the others I have seen have a curved lift right out of the receiver.

H'mm, I tried to search for mine. They may have discontiuned it as just a 2". But...

The bumper mount I believe is the same rack just it has the bumper bracket that has a 5/8 pin. If you buy this version, then just do not use the bumper bracket. I went with this so I could stick the rack in the truck for day trips plus put it on the camper

http://www.amazon.com/Swagman-64663-Bike-Rack/dp/B003YJK252/ref=sr_1_13?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid...

Here on the swagmen site. You can see you can unpin the 2" tube from the bumper mount
http://www.swagman.net/products/platform-racks/traveler-xc-2-rv/

Good luck

John

PS. If you do not have access to a weld shop, Top Rails in Canada makes a TT A Frame rack. Nice rack just costs more. For me I like building stuff... had the left over anlge and flat bar laying around, only needed time

[Riverdogrj]

Jbarca - great response & I appreciate it. I do like the mount above the trailer tongue, so I may go with the Swagman & make a similar mod. I see the Swagman you have has 2" square tubing & not the 1 1/4 inch with adapter to two inch. Perhaps this is the Swagman RV XC2?? I like that it comes straight out, as the others I have seen have a curved lift right out of the receiver.

[Charliegu58]

Front mounted hitch for my truck is on order. Once installed, I am looking at the platform bike carrier by rage power sports. This way if it's just DW and I, the rack can carry just 2 bikes, but when we have the grand kids,(1/2 the time), add the extension to carry four bikes... But I waiting first to install hitch before making final decision.
http://www.ragepowersports.com/bicycle-products/2-2-platform-bike-carrier/

[dragr1]

JBarca wrote:

dragr1 wrote:
I really like that trailer tongue rack Jbarca!

Here is the full post Bike rack for front of TT

You HD Ram should be able to handle the added TW. Just do you have another 100# for the spring bars?

Yep-remember our conversation-I need another 100 pounds on the tongue weight.

[JBarca]

dragr1 wrote:
I really like that trailer tongue rack Jbarca!

Here is the full post Bike rack for front of TT

You HD Ram should be able to handle the added TW. Just do you have another 100# for the spring bars?

[dragr1]

I really like that trailer tongue rack JBarca!

[dragr1]

I really like that trailer tongue rack Jbarca!

[JBarca]

Riverdogrj wrote:
I have a receiver on the front of my tow vehicle & want to purchase a bike rack to mount. I want to make sure the bikes ride low enough so as not to obstruct my view. I am thinking of purchasing a tray style so the wheels sit in a tray & therefore ride a bit lower.

Can anyone give me a recommendation as to what works for them?

Hi,

Carrying bikes can always be an issue... When I had my 2003 K2500 Suburban I had a front bike rack. The bikes rode great up there. But...there where some down sides. Your GM should be close to what mine was, just you might have more ground clearance.

Here are some pics




The anti wiggle device. Some taped holes and jam nuts for jam screws




Issues I had.

I had to deal with the rack to lower the DW's bike so the head lights would shine over the tires. Sooner or later you will end up with bike on the front at night and have to deal with this. If the tires block the lights, it will really mess up the driving lights.

The wiggle of the rack. My receiver new... had a qty of play in it that the rack wobbled. I fixed that with the tap bolts in the side to take the play out. You really do not want a lot of wiggle.

Tanny heat. My GM rose 2 degrees due to the bikes blocking air flow. You have the same pan temp gauge I think as I did. 2 bikes is about it. Had a fellow RV'er with 4 on his K2500 Burb and he got in trouble one nasty hot summer day towing. He ended up taking the bikes apart and putting them in the camper and back of truck to get home.

And then there is the final one, the signal lights. You may want to check your state. There are DOT lighting laws that talk about seeing the turn signals etc straight on and at an angle. If I would of kept that truck and setup I was going to add auxiliary signals. I never made it to that point. Technically I'm fairly sure I was in trouble on one of the lighting standards.

When the new camper and truck came I was back to, how do I haul these things... The truck bed and tono was filled already.

So I made a TT A frame rack. My truck could take the added TW and I used the same Swagmen tire rack I had on the Burb. For me, this is by far the best setup I have had






Hope this helps and good luck

John

[dapozer]

http://www.1upusa.com/product-quikracksilverdouble.html

IMO the best rack out there. Very versatile and can add on with ease.

[Dick_B]

We use Saris Cycle On (old style for a 2 inch receiver) where the bike tires ride in troughs; on the front of our Suburban. With our last vehicle we used a 4 inch drop between the receiver and the rack to get the bikes lower.

[CatInSnoho]

We have a Swagman S64650, similar to the one in the link posted above. We put the handlebars of my bike on the driver's side and handlebars of my husband's bike on the passenger side since his handlebars are taller. We have used it for 3 or 4 years with no problems whatsoever. Very happy with the hitch. The bikes never get in the way and I like being able to keep an eye on them rather the possibility of losing one off the back of the fifth wheel and not knowing it.

[GordonThree]

sorry double postered

[GordonThree]

I'm interested in this too. The front hitch for my Dodge Ram requires cutting the air dam which I'm not willing to do, but I did find bolt on grill guard or bull-bars, that replace the front recovery hooks (bolted to the frame).

Anyone carried a bike on a bull bar / grill guard? Seems the bull bars would be too low, but I dunno.