Motorcycle carrier On Hitch

I am thinking about buying a trailmanor and was wondering if anyone has mounted a Motorcycle Carrier to the rear hitch they have on some models.
I am not talking about a second trailer, but a hitch carrier that holds the bike sideways on a rail kinda of like the bicycle type. I understand that I might have to add weight to the front to even things out. Has anyone ever extended the front hitch for a extra platform carrier. I have seen this done on other tent style popups. I appreciate any information you can give me. Also, let me know if anyone has a trailmanor for sale in southern california. I am intersted in the shorter models. Thanks for your Help
Buzz

[mjlaupp]

The rear hitch on the 2004 and later TrailManors is rated for 100 pounds. The cycle carrier alone would probably exceed this limit.

Mike

[RockyMtnRay]

Originally Posted by rbbuzz

I am thinking about buying a trailmanor and was wondering if anyone has mounted a Motorcycle Carrier to the rear hitch they have on some models.
I am not talking about a second trailer, but a hitch carrier that holds the bike sideways on a rail kinda of like the bicycle type. I understand that I might have to add weight to the front to even things out. Has anyone ever extended the front hitch for a extra platform carrier. I have seen this done on other tent style popups. I appreciate any information you can give me. Also, let me know if anyone has a trailmanor for sale in southern california. I am intersted in the shorter models. Thanks for your Help
Buzz

TrailManors are very precisely engineered to be highly sway resistant as long as the front/rear weight balance (and location of that weight) is maintained.

Members of this group who have even put a couple of 25 lb bicycles on a carrier behind the trailer bumper have noticed a definite increase in their trailer's propensity to sway...a multi hundred pound motorcycle back there would be a guaranteed disaster, if you could even beef up the frame to handle that amount of weight.

Adding substantial amounts of weight to the front via an extended tongue (as some manufacturers do to produce a toy hauler type popup) would be equally dangerous (the location of the axles relative to total length is very critical)...and would produce extremely high tongue weights.

I'm empathetic to your desire...I periodically bring a Honda XL250 with me on camping trips. But the cycle travels in the bed of my truck where the weight/mass is totally handled by the truck's suspension.

My long term plan is to add an ATV to the bed of the truck for my wife and an offroad motorcycle to a rack on the front of the truck.

With cargo my TM 2720 is almost to the max weight rating for the axle and tires. There is no additional capacity available, even if it would work otherwise.

Thanks for all your help. I can see that this is not a option for me so I will have to keep brainstorming. I need the ability to carry 4 bikes and that is pushing the space in the bed of my truck, but I sure like the Idea of towing a trailer that is not wind grabbing hog like most toyhaulers!
Thanks , Buzz

[briconner]

well, I also tried using some hitch carrier for my bikes and motorcycles. You can easily find those in online shops.. Though I don't know the rates if you are going to have something which is made specially designed for your preferences.

[Wavery]

Originally Posted by briconner

well, I also tried using some hitch carrier for my bikes and motorcycles. You can easily find those in online shops.. Though I don't know the rates if you are going to have something which is made specially designed for your preferences.

This thread is 5-years-old.

[Mr. Adventure]

5 years old, and still a really bad idea. The TM isn't built or balanced for substantial weight back there. If this is really important, put a hitch receiver for it on the front of your tow vehicle.

Originally Posted by Mr. Adventure

5 years old, and still a really bad idea. The TM isn't built or balanced for substantial weight back there. If this is really important, put a hitch receiver for it on the front of your tow vehicle.

That would likely block the headlights.

As I said in an earlier post, I think it is possible to carry a motorcycle behind the tail gate of my truck and in front of the TM.

Use a Super hitch. This is a double receiver, over and under. You can then attach up to a 4 foot long hitch bar. It is intended for towing boats behind a truck with a camper that sticks out the back.

I think a 2 foot extension would be adequate for my 300 pound motorcycle.

You will likely have to modify a motorcycle carrier to be attached to the hitch bar. At least one motorcycle carrier has a hydraulic jack built in so that you can load low and then jack the motorcycle up to get it out of the way.

Extending the hitch bar will make it more likely to drag while using driveways to get into gas stations.

Because of the amount of weight and the fact that it is so far back behind the truck axle, it might require a one tone dually to carry the load, depending on what else you carry.

My initial estimate is that I could set it up for a little less than $2,000.

Not knowing if it would actually work with my 2500HD long bed truck, I have not been inclined to spend that much money. Especially since the bed of the truck would be carrying a 700 pound ATV.

So I gave up. I bought a second truck. One tows the TM. The other tows the ATV trailer. I frequently have 2 ATVs and 4 motorcycles. It would be rare that I had 1 ATV and 1 motorcycle. That would only be when the trip was just my wife and I. I the kids (are they still kids at 27 and 30?) go with us then we take more toys.

It is not possible for me to put both the ATV and the motorcycle in the bed of the truck. It might fit if I load the ATV first and then push it sideways to free up more space on one side. But I am certain that I can not push a 700 pound ATV sideways.

Now I never thought about using rollers. That might work.

Still makes me wonder what my final squat would be.

[Mr. Adventure]

Originally Posted by PopBeavers

That would likely block the headlights.

As I said in an earlier post, I think it is possible to carry a motorcycle behind the tail gate of my truck and in front of the TM.

Use a Super hitch. This is a double receiver, over and under. You can then attach up to a 4 foot long hitch bar. It is intended for towing boats behind a truck with a camper that sticks out the back.

I think a 2 foot extension would be adequate for my 300 pound motorcycle.

You will likely have to modify a motorcycle carrier to be attached to the hitch bar. At least one motorcycle carrier has a hydraulic jack built in so that you can load low and then jack the motorcycle up to get it out of the way.

Extending the hitch bar will make it more likely to drag while using driveways to get into gas stations.

Because of the amount of weight and the fact that it is so far back behind the truck axle, it might require a one tone dually to carry the load, depending on what else you carry.

My initial estimate is that I could set it up for a little less than $2,000.

Not knowing if it would actually work with my 2500HD long bed truck, I have not been inclined to spend that much money. Especially since the bed of the truck would be carrying a 700 pound ATV.

So I gave up. I bought a second truck. One tows the TM. The other tows the ATV trailer. I frequently have 2 ATVs and 4 motorcycles. It would be rare that I had 1 ATV and 1 motorcycle. That would only be when the trip was just my wife and I. I the kids (are they still kids at 27 and 30?) go with us then we take more toys.

It is not possible for me to put both the ATV and the motorcycle in the bed of the truck. It might fit if I load the ATV first and then push it sideways to free up more space on one side. But I am certain that I can not push a 700 pound ATV sideways.

Now I never thought about using rollers. That might work.

Still makes me wonder what my final squat would be.

I'm aware that they make trailer hitch extensions, but I can't get past thinking about how they'd leverage (literally) all of our towing problems in the worst way. I think we want a 4200# trailer with a 600# tongue to hang on a hitch ball as close to the rear axle as possible, not stuck out further with a load hanging there to boot. (If anybody out there's ever actually tried this, please share your experiences with us, because we always enjoy good adventure stories).

The 2 truck solution has a lot of promise. But to scale this up properly maybe what you really need is a proper 5 ton box truck for a tow vehicle. Or, even better, get one of those flat bed tow trucks, set the TrailManor up there so that the shells will have room to open and close, and then you'd be able to tow a big toy hauling trailer behind ("Watch out for that last step to the ground, Honey, it's a long one!").