Rear bicycle hitch question

jbbdc

Active Member
The factory bicycle hitch is rated at 150 lbs. I pressed down on the hitch at the receiver with my hand and noticed flex. I applied nowhere near the up/down force that would be experienced with a rack and 2 bikes attached as the trailer bounces down the road.

Has anyone experienced any problems with the factory hitch? For peace of mind I may end up welding an additional cross member between the rail brackets and connect it to the back of the receiver.
 
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Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
When we did carry bikes, it was inside the rig leaning over on the couch with a couple blankets protecting everything. We always arrived with clean & dry bikes. I've read several posts on this and other forums about bike carriers breaking. I've looked at two carriers, one by Curt and another and both stated in the owners literature, not for use on RV trailers.
I've seen others having good results using a carrier that had rails for the bike tires to set in and carry the weight of the bikes. Carriers that hold the bike by the frame were the type to stay away from.
Adding some support gussets to the factory hitch might be a good idea.
 

mobilcastle

Well-known member
The factory bicycle hitch is rated at 150 lbs. I pressed down on the hitch at the receiver with my hand and noticed flex. I applied nowhere near the up/down force that would be experienced with a rack and 2 bikes attached as the trailer bounces down the road.

Has anyone experienced any problems with the factory hitch? For peace of mind I may end up welding an additional cross member between the rail brackets and connect it to the back of the receiver.
I also would reinforce. Is it a 1 1/4 or 2" receiver?
 

sengli

Well-known member
Ours failed the first 50 miles. Left our bikes dragging the ground. It looks nice, but with the "bounce" affect of the longer coaches going down the road on that 1.25" hitch will get you. Several people here have taken them off and had them re-enforced with success. Other have had their own made up. We had two normal bikes ( about 55 lbs total) on there, and it failed on the way home from the dealer! So I personally put a 2.5 reciever on the front of the truck, to haul our bikes. The issue is the span across the rear of the coach is so long and the tubing they use is not re-enforced anywhere enough to stop the bouncing. Great idea, but a poor executuon on lipperts part. So this hitch is basically $250 I will never get back.
 
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Mizmary

Well-known member
The best bike rack we had was one that hung from the RV ladder rather than the hitch. I don't remember how many bikes it held (2?). They did the least damage to the bikes if I remember right. We ruined a couple good hitch bike carriers because they just aren't designed for the bounce you get back there.
 

Greengas

Well-known member
The accesory reciever is an 1 1/4". I hope this helps.

kary

has this been an issue with the bike hitch? How long have they been offered on the landmark? We are scheduled to have one on our san Antonio and will only be carrying two bikes but if they are that prone to failure or if owners are having to get them reinforced to make them safe then we might go another route to carry our bikes.
 

jbbdc

Active Member
Thanks, Kary. Any plans to offer a 2" receiver like DRV? Seems like having some reinforcement engineered in during frame manufacturing shouldn't be too difficult. I know everything comes at a price, but I believe owners would appreciate having a better-built hitch arrangement without worrying if their bikes are going to be taking the next exit without them. I don't believe that those of us shopping in this price range are going to be put off by the extra cost. I know I'd certainly pay extra for it. It's little things like this that keep me thinking I should just buy another DRV and be done with it.
 

KiwiRVer

Active Member
I cannot comment on the factory supplied hitch as we don't have one. Instead we have a 2" receiver which bolts to the bumper. I would say that the actual carrier we use (http://www.cequentconsumerproducts.com/Products/Cargo-Organizing-Bike-Racks) has done about 20,000 miles carrying two bikes so far without problems. I would never consider carrying bikes on the rear ladder it is just not strong enough. I have already replaced several of the plastic end caps on the ladder rungs and I would only get on the roof 10 times a year max (and I only weigh 175lbs.) No way would I have a coupe of bikes bouncing around on my ladder.
 

f250dieseldad

Well-known member
Do yourself a favor, buy folding bikes and put them in the basement. We have tried all kinds of bike racks and nothing but trouble.
 

porthole

Retired
I just watched a DRV with a 2" receiver with 2 bikes on the rack back into the MOR/ryde shop. Even Deb commented that she would not want her bikes bouncing around like that.

Just going over the street bumps the bikes did a wicked bounce.

The factory hitch is rated for 3K tow, but the reducer to fit the 1 1/4" bike racks leave a lot to be desired.
 

jbbdc

Active Member
The bouncing you may have seen on that DRV may actually be the bike rack itself, not the receiver that's flexing excessively. I have a bike rack I use with our SUV and it has enough play in it to bounce around, yet the hitch attached to the SUV is rock-solid. Any bike rack bouncing around puts torsional stress on a hitch. Sturdy hitches can handle it.

The hitch used by Heartland is a Class 1. It's labeled with a max tongue weight of 150 lbs, meaning its tow rating is only 1500 lbs. Most Class 1 hitches are rated at 200/2000, meaning Heartland's hitch choice is even weaker. DRV's factory hitch is 300/3000 with a 2" receiver and 4-pin wiring harness. Easily capable of handling 2 bikes. DRV refers to it as a "boat hitch". They intended it to be used for more than just bikes.

Heartland has some nice features and that's why we're considering them. I recently priced out a Landmark with the options we want and it has an MSRP of $122,000. In this price point I would expect to at least have a bicycle hitch that is robust enough that I shouldn't be able to flex it simply by pushing on it with my hand. Sure, I can weld in some supports to make it more safe...but why should I have to do that on a 6-figure rv.
 

porthole

Retired
My point with the hitch was they even though the hitch was solid, bike racks don't do well on the back of a trailer, especially with the distance between the axle and hitch. All RV bike racks I have seen are only 1 1/4" tubes.

Watch any trailer carrying bikes using only the hitch for support and it is an eye opener.
 

PSF513

Well-known member
I have a BH 3610 that had the frame drilled for the bike rack receiver piece (it is 1.25") when it was manufactured. I bought the receiver bracket from the factory and bolted it on using Grade 8 bolts and nuts (overkill admittedly). We travel with 2 bikes whenever we go and have had no trouble. I can't say I have eever followed my trailer down the road so I have no idea how much it bounces but we still have our bikes and the bike rack. It is far better than tying them to the ladder
 

jbbdc

Active Member
My point with the hitch was they even though the hitch was solid, bike racks don't do well on the back of a trailer, especially with the distance between the axle and hitch. All RV bike racks I have seen are only 1 1/4" tubes.

Watch any trailer carrying bikes using only the hitch for support and it is an eye opener.

My 4 capacity bike rack is for a 2" receiver and it bounces around too much, in my opinion. Since the rack has to be long enough to keep the bikes from hitting the car, it allows for movement simply by its own design and independent of my hitch.

This is where the problem with Heartland's choice of hitch has me concerned. The span of the hitch between the frame rails is too great. There needs to be another attachment point in the middle at the receiver. This would greatly reduce the torsion/twisting caused by the rack and bikes bouncing. I consider Heartland's current hitch unusable for the long term.
 

porthole

Retired
A bike rack on the back of a car or pickup is not subject to the same dynamics of being in the back if a trailer with little to no damping of little suspension travel and a good distance between the rack and the rear axle.

Just a suggestion, but if you are going to carry bikes on that type if rack, that it might be in your best interest to have someone follow you and maybe video the bikes. Making sure you hit some if the normal bumps we hit.

Doesn't matter what brand of trailer or what size hitch, they bounce. And as some on this forum have found out - they can bounce right off or break the rack.

There is someone on this forum with a very low member # and a very high position that can attest to this.
 

mountainlovers76

Mississippi Chapter Leaders
The factory bicycle hitch is rated at 150 lbs. I pressed down on the hitch at the receiver with my hand and noticed flex. I applied nowhere near the up/down force that would be experienced with a rack and 2 bikes attached as the trailer bounces down the road.

Has anyone experienced any problems with the factory hitch? For peace of mind I may end up welding an additional cross member between the rail brackets and connect it to the back of the receiver.

I have the factory hitch on my Key Largo and it is pretty solid. It does not flex when I put my weight on it. I also purchased the Swagman 2 bike rack with the anti-wobble threaded hitch pin. It virtually elminates the bounce, wobble and rattle associated with a simple slip in hitch since it makes the hitch point a solid connection with no play in it at all. Will you still have some flex and bounce, YES, anytime you have a lever sticking out from any hitch it will create flex and bounce when hitting bumps no matter how strong, just simple physics. Granted, anytime you can add more bracing or a heavier hitch that the frame will support you greatly reduce the physics and cut down the flex and bounce. As far as the factory installed hitch, I have only traveled about 400 miles with my new coach but so far the hitch seems to be pretty solid.
 

jbbdc

Active Member
Doesn't matter what brand of trailer or what size hitch, they bounce. And as some on this forum have found out - they can bounce right off or break the rack.

There is someone on this forum with a very low member # and a very high position that can attest to this.

Do you know if this person's rack was the same that's currently being offered by HL?
 
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