jalanjackson
Member
Where do you put your bicycles on your fifth wheel when you go on a trip? Most seem to be hanging off the back of the RV, but if you remember riding in the back of the bus, that’s where you will get the most violent shaking. And I even met a gentleman who lost two new bikes and a brand new bike carrier on the side of the road – never to be found because the bike carrier broke. I’ve seen them mounted in front of the truck, but that blocks some of your view never mind taking the brunt of the bug hits and road dirt. I’ve seen them on top of the truck cab, but that’s a bit hard to mount and un-mount the bikes. But what about mounting a bike carrier on the pin box? There you get some protection from road dirt, you get a smooth ride now that you’re over the truck's rear wheels and in addition, utilizing the pin box air bag's shock absorption, and with a small step ladder you can mount and un-mount the bikes pretty easy. Plus, you can take the bike carrier off the fifth wheel and put it on the truck when you un-hitch and want to drive to a bike path. So that’s what I did. I designed a pin box adapter to accept a Hollywood Racks HR1000 Sport Rider 2, $238.49 on Amazon. This bike carrier was perfect for my needs.
The adapter is made out of ¼” flat plate steel, and welded all the joints. I also bought a 90 degree valve stem extension and a stainless steel flexible braided wire valve stem extension to be able to adjust the air pressure in my pin box air bag. And mounted it such that the air fill stem is now on the side of my bike carrier adapter.
Next, I wanted to keep my two-way jumbo level on the front of the pin box. So I designed the adapter front surface large enough to accept the level. Finally, I decide to go with a 1 ¼” square receiver tube by CURT (#49512). Most bike carriers come with the 1 ¼ x 1 ¼ tube and then use an adapter to get to a 2 x 2 tube. The receiver tube was cut to length to meet my specific needs. Note, the receiver tube length will need to be adjusted to give you your specific clearance from the RV and the truck cab. My truck is an 8 foot bed and the fifth wheel is a Bighorn 3455RL.
I'd like to add some pictures here, but didn't see where I could upload them, only a link.
- It weighs 35 Lbs. (w/o the bikes)
- Bike capacity of 45 lbs. per bike, two Bikes/90 lbs. max
- Hitch Size: fits both 1 ¼” and 2”
- Maximum bike wheel base: 60”
The adapter is made out of ¼” flat plate steel, and welded all the joints. I also bought a 90 degree valve stem extension and a stainless steel flexible braided wire valve stem extension to be able to adjust the air pressure in my pin box air bag. And mounted it such that the air fill stem is now on the side of my bike carrier adapter.
Next, I wanted to keep my two-way jumbo level on the front of the pin box. So I designed the adapter front surface large enough to accept the level. Finally, I decide to go with a 1 ¼” square receiver tube by CURT (#49512). Most bike carriers come with the 1 ¼ x 1 ¼ tube and then use an adapter to get to a 2 x 2 tube. The receiver tube was cut to length to meet my specific needs. Note, the receiver tube length will need to be adjusted to give you your specific clearance from the RV and the truck cab. My truck is an 8 foot bed and the fifth wheel is a Bighorn 3455RL.
I'd like to add some pictures here, but didn't see where I could upload them, only a link.
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