Hauling Bicycles with Heartland Trailers - what are you doing?

jbeletti

Well-known member
How are you Heartland trailer owners hauling your bicycles? I am toying with several ideas but am not really happy with any of them. What works well for you?

Thanks,

Jim
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Gary,

I did not end up doing anthing yet. We have successfully not used the bikes even once this year! We are bad.

I am curious on the rack that mounts to the king-pin hitch but I am not wild about drilling any holes in my TrailAir hitch.

Pretty sure I could put one bike on its wheels across the bed of the truck up against the tool box. Then lay another bike on a tarp on the bed. Not ideal, but I may end up doing that in October for a trip to Marseilles State Park with friends, a bit south of Chicago.

How about you - any solutions you like?

Jim
 

garyf

Member
Jim,

I currently have a Cardinal trailer that has a rear bumper and I have a bike carrier mounted to the bumper. When I looked at the Landmarks, I noticed that there was no factory option for a hitch and no rear bumper to mount a bike rack. The dealer mentioned they can weld a hitch to the Landmark frame. One other option I heave thought about was carrying the bikes on the front of the tow vehicle (a front hitch would have to be added to the truck). I saw one person who did what you noted where they welded a hitch to the kingpin. So far, I don't have a solution that I really like yet.

Gary
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Gary,

I've considered the front hitch option and I think I favor that over putting a hitch on the back of the trailer. What I need to do is sit a couple bikes up on milk crates next to the grill of the truck and see what it looks like from the cab. I read that it takes some getting used to. I also wonder about home much they cover the beam of the headlights and turn signals.

Let's keep in touch on this as we effect our own solutions.

Jim
 

Tom of Ypsi

Well-known member
Jim, I am carrying my bikes on the rear ladder. Although I do not like this idea, can't see them in my mirrors, there has been no problems. The rear tail- brake lights are covered very little and I can remedy that by hanging bikes higher if I wanted to. I had the same set up on my last 5ver (Titanium) and had no problems there either.
 

fireflipper

EX-Travel Bug
Fireflipper

Hi Jim

I too have the ladder mount bike rack. I am not really thrilled with the idea of the wieght on the ladder, but after about ten thousand miles I have had no problems. When I was at the factory, Scott stated that they had engineered a rear hitch for the Landmarks, and that it could be welded to the frame, as long as it was not used to carry more than the wieght of a couple of bikes.
By the way he said the hitch was going to be an option.

Glenn
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Glenn,

I'm with you on the comfort level using the rear ladder. It works, but is it weakening the ladder, the screws that hold it on the trailer etc. For me, at 250#, it is scary going up that ladder. I realize 2 bikes might weight 50# - but lots of vertical loading when it is bouncing on the roads I have traveled.

I'll see if we can get more information on this bike rack option and also see if it is an service orderable item for retrofitting to an existing Heartland.

I was in the area on business today so I stopped by the factory this afternoon. I'll post a bit on that later tonight.
 

bking

Active Member
I just returned from a trip to Virginia Beach and than South Carolina. I stored our 2 bikes on top of each other in the truck bed between the cab and hitch. I had to take the front tires off. I put some boards underneath the bottom bike to protect the truck bed and placed a large thick cardboard box between the bikes. I used bungee cords to "tie" them down going from the bottom corners of the bed across the bikes to the hitch rail. They did not ride above the top of the bed side and did not move during the 2200 mile trip. There were no problems turning with the 5th wheel. They did not interfere with the
movement of the hitch plate either.

I don't like the ladder hitch. The ladder just doesn's seem that strong to support bikes bouncing around on a long trip. I've read in other forums where ladders have been damaged.

I also don't like the front bumper setup in that it likely interferes with air flow to the radiator and restricts head light beam at night. I asked my bike shop about this and they did not know of any front truck carriers offered by the normal bike carrier companies (Yakima, etc.)

Earlier this week I asked my dealer about a rear hitch and he is checking with the factory. I'm glad to hear Heartland may have a rear hitch option.

Bob
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Bob,

Thanks for your input on this.

In your truck bed, do you have room to stand a bike upright on its wheels, up against the cab or tool box?

If so, you may want to take a look at this.

I may get a pair of these and try them. Not too keen on drilling holes on the bed to mount them but maybe mounting one of these fork holders to a treated 2x6 that I can wedge across the bed. I know I could put one bike up on my tool box and still have the cap of the trailer clear the bike on a 90 degree turn. Oh well - still kicking around ideas. Guess I have all winter to ponder it now.

Take care,

Jim

orsracksdirect_1861_808115
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Bike stored on top of truck bed tool box and inside trailer

Take a look at the attached images to see how I tried storing bikes for our trip to Illini State Park in Marseilles, IL this weekend.

When I headed out Friday, I put my bike on the bed inside the trailer and Nancy's bike in the dinette slide strapped to the sofa.

For the trip home today (Sunday), I put my bike on top of the tool box in my truck bed. It rode really well there. When making the tightest of turns in the campground, I had plenty of clearance between the bike and the trailer.

I may invest in some bike tire holders and bolt them to the lid of the tool box. The kick stand down on the block of wood was okay for my test but is not ideal. I also like the idea of not taking the front tire off (as you would using a fork mount).

Still want a bumper hitch for my Landmark!

Jim
 

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cdbMidland

Past Michigan Chapter Leader
Jim, I like your idea of mounting it on the toolbox. My truck has a short bed with the Pullrite Superglide hitch and that should work out well. I don't have a permanently mounted toolbox, but rather a couple of tote bins that could ride better in the 5er and I can then put the bikes right behind the cab. Thanks for the idea.
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Saw a Velo Rack for King Pin today

While I was dropping my Landmark off at an RV repair shop around the corner from the Heartland factory, inside this shop, I saw a Bighorn with a VeloRack 5th wheel kingpin bike rack (2 bikes) on it.

The owners are from Canada and I got a chance to chat with them a bit. They bought the rack in Canada and had it installed there too. Later, they noticed that the inside bike's handle bar end was rubbing on the trailer front cap.

They planned to return the rack for a refund but their dealer told them he could make it right. He proceeded to create a bit of a custom mount that extended the rack's mount outward, kicking the bike holder trays out in the process. He also added triangle gussets and additional beads of weld to certain parts.

Painted the new pieces black to match and it looks and works well.

If anyone plans to add a VeloRack to their kingpin, be aware that you may have to fabricate an extended mount or use only one bike position or use a youth bike with narrow handle bars on the inside tray.

I may try to get a picture of it tomorrow.

Jim
 

DPOWER

Dave and Cindy P
Bike Rack Trailer Hitch

We have our order in for a Bighorn as of 9-14-05, there is a similar model at Thompsons where we ordered our new 3400RL so I've been measuring and studing for all the changes I seem to always make. One is the trailer hitch, I like the bikes in the back, cover stays on better out of the wind, a lot easier to load, and they are out of the way when your not going to use them. I did have a couple of ladder mounted bikes come a sliding down the road at me in Texas last year, not a pretty sight. Not much good after they stopped either, lucky everyone missed. It looks to me like the rear landing legs could be moved ahead about six to eight inches and the 2" square tube they are attached to lenghtened to extend all the way to the rear of the frame, the extra length tubing would actually strengthen the frame amd there would be ample room to mount a 2" reciever hitch for bikes only. I have the hitch all fabricated ready to install. The 3400 that I'm looking at has the spare tire right in front of the landing leggs but I understand the new ones are further foward, It looks like it would be easy to move anyway. I'll take some picture when I get my Bighorn and get the hitch mounted, hopefully I can figure out how, I'm a fair fabricator and designer, 40 years of it plus, but not much of a computorer, didn't even have calculaters when I went to high school
 

Tom of Ypsi

Well-known member
Hi DPOWER and welcome to this site. I have a Landmark with the electric rear stabilizer jacks and I am wondering if there would be any other way to put a rear hitch on without trying to move the jacks. I have not really crawled under my coach to see but I am assuming moving the jacks would be a major project. I sure wish we would get some feedback from the factory to see if they have researched this any further.
Tom
 

DPOWER

Dave and Cindy P
Bike Hitch

Moving the rear legs looks to be fairly simple, it looks like there are four welds about an inch long on the tubing to the frame that the legs are bolted to. The wiring is plenty long to move 6 to 8 inches. Just crib up the landing gear, cut the welds loose with a cut off wheel on a grinder, slid the landing gear forward and reweld it. You shouldn't even have to unbolt it from the tubing. I'm going to replace the tubing with a little heavier wall and run it full length from the end of the frame to the front side of the landing gear for strength. On the hitch one member has pictures of it looks like they just welded flat stock material to the inside of the 2 inch tubing so they are trusting the weld on the tubing to the frame that is not there to put weight on but to hold the gear on. With the extra space behind the legs there will be plenty of room to get a hitch to the frame and make it good and solid. Still not heavy enough to tow with but good for bikes or scooters.

I made slight mistake in my last post my new Bighorn was order 10-16 not 9-16, whats a month when your retired. This forum is great, I had no idea how much I had to do before I started reading.

Thanks to all for all the info and reading it really is a big help.

Dave
 

phranc

Well-known member
i Met a guy at Bar Harbor KOA last summer,who owned a Landmark, that hauled his bikes by just taking off the front wheel and putting bike into storage compartment(front wheel also). Worked well for him..
 
Jim
I have a bike rack that I bought from Camping World. It hangs over a rear ladder rung and felcros in place. The bikes hang from their center post and felcro in place. This makes it easier to remove the bikes to access the ladder.
 
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jbeletti

Well-known member
Thanks mcgeefixit. I'm pretty set on not putting my bikes on the ladder. I am more inclined to use a kingpin mount or even something on my truck.

BTW, I saw your post on the Ask The Factory forum about issues you're having with your Bighorn. You will get a factory response. But know also that you always have the option of calling the factory directly to work things out. May be a faster way to get a response as well. Best of luck to you and I hope everything gets resolved so you can again be a happy camper.

Take care,

Jim
 
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