Question about hitch carriers and tongue weight

[jhawley]

thats seem like a shit show ready to happen.
just spend the 30 bucks to rent the uhaul trailer when you need it or just go with a folding harbor freight 4x8. not sure of you living arrangements but mine has been living in the side of my garage next to my our cars for years

[OneCheekRider]

I bought my hitch rack when living in Medford to avoid the crazy toll charges when hauling just 1 bike (vs using my trailer). I still use the hitch rack to this day 10+ years later despite having 2 trailers at my disposal. I've put some heavy bikes on mine even when I used to own a Jeep Liberty. If the tongue weight rating of the hitch you purchase meets or exceeds the tongue weight of your setup, I say send it. You can always add some inexpensive ready-lift airbags that you manually inflate.

I should add I haul bikes constantly. If you're just hauling on occasion, maybe just do a uhaul rental and save some storage space.

[OreoGaborio]

Hate to highjack the thread but does anyone have any luck with DUAL hitch carriers for dirt bikes?

I've got a high hitch and a 600lb tongue weight limit... I like my single bike hitch carrier but it'd be super nice to be able to throw both dirty bikes on the back & go instead of hitching up "Big Red".

[Spooler]

thats seem like a shit show ready to happen.
just spend the 30 bucks to rent the uhaul trailer when you need it or just go with a folding harbor freight 4x8. not sure of you living arrangements but mine has been living in the side of my garage next to my our cars for years

My garage can hold 4 bikes and nothing else of any size, or three bikes and a work bench, which is my current situation. No other place to keep a trailer, I may go the uhaul route for now.

[OreoGaborio]

Just bought the double hitch carrier by Black Widow off of www.DiscountRamps.com.... $360 delivered after 10% discount for joining (and unsubscribing) from their mailing list... We'll see if that thing's substantial enough to get my CRF250 and Sylwia's XT250 down to Pennsylvania next weekend. If not, guess we'll be luggin Big Red.

[smokinjoe]

I think you could pull off the hitch carrier thing but I would throw some air shocks on the back of the vehicle to avoid dragging hard parts. I have a couple hitch carriers and when I carry a bike I pump the air shocks up over 100lbs and it makes a huge difference. You can deflate them for regular driving and they are like $100 for a pair. Also get a stabilizer for the carrier for sure. they usually have 4 bolts to make the carrier not sway around. Dont use a carrier without one.

[OreoGaborio]

Yep, that's exactly the route I took.

And the trip to PA went off with out a.............................................. problem.

The Black Widow hitch carrier, CRF and XT all together weighed in at almost exactly 600lbs on the dot, which is the tongue limit of my hitch. (A touch over, actually, but it was close enough to comfortably send it.)

I test loaded everything a few days before and it woulda worked out just fine as is, but seeing as I had already put an AirLift 1000 kit on my last Pathfinder and liked the results, I ordered up another and had it installed within about an hour or so of being delivered. I'd have to take more measurements, but I think the bags kept the rear about 1/2 an inch higher than without. And if memory serves me correctly, kept everything from bottoming out on the bigger bumps.

Unfortunately a loaded carrier still drags at the end of my driveway with how it's sloped at the street, but I can work around it.