Carrying a motorcycle?

[Undercover Poe]

This topic may have been beat to death so if it has, I apologize. Just picked up this Acadia 29LT last night. I would have loved to get a toy hauler but double the money for less camper didn’t seem to be a good deal for us. Has anyone made successful mods to their forest rover camper to firmly attach a moto to the front or rear? Or am I going to have to load my F-250 truck bed like a peasant? Also was thinking with the bump out I have enough room to get the bikes inside, then turn it parallel to the camper longwise and then put the bump out in? Anyone putting bikes inside? If so How do you secure it? Pics for your ref. Bike weight approx 250lbs

[MtBiker]

Truck bed.

[nayther]

probably too heavy to put on the back, will take off too much tongue weight. I'm hauling my 280# CRF450x on the back of my fifth wheel on a single rail rack that's been heavily modified. Works great but probably not for you; had a friend do it and he knew it was there, really unbalanced the trailer.



Hauling the bike in the bed is not "like a peasant", at least not in So Cal, very common. What else you going to do with the bed of the truck unless you put a cover or shell on it?

[kenandterry]

I think you should consider bringing the bike in the bed of the truck, and here’s a few reasons why.....

1. Bikes sometimes carry fumes from the engine, and now those fumes will be in your living area.
2. Your floor design is probably not set up correctly to install proper secure points to tie down the bike.
3. If you didn’t need the bike for an overnight stop....you probably can’t use your trailer for the layout you have, and you’d have to unload it. You aren’t a toy hauler like you’ve noted already.
4. Loading and unloading through the entrance door will probably not be user friendly considering the steps and door, and then a 90 degree turn once inside will grow tiresome.
5. Your bike looks clean in the photo.....will it be that way every time you want to put it in the trailer?
6. You have a pick up....why not in there instead?
7. Where would the bike be parked once you’re set up on location anyway?

[SlowrideHD]

I don't know how heavy your frame is. I built a heavy duty 2 inch receiver under the rear of my fifth wheel and then built a very heavy cargo carrier to fit. I also added side supports that attach to the frame that prevents the carrier from rocking back and forth. This carrier will easily support 400 lbs. I am in the process now of adding tail and brake lights to the carrier just in case bikes or other cargo would be obstructing the turn and brake lights on the camper. I've already added the pollack plug in light circuit to the back of the camper to hook up the lights. The change in the weight that will be aft of my axles is inconsequential in my case but may be an issue with your loadout to control tongue weight.

[Big Sky KLX]

I have been around dirt bikes all my life, and currently have two of them. In all of my years, I have never heard anyone utter the phrase "hauling your bike in the back of the truck like a peasant"

What? What does that even mean?

Pretty much the invention of trucks was to load stuff in the back of them.

[SilhouettePenny]

Why not build something like this.....

[SilhouettePenny]

And attach like so....

[SilhouettePenny]

End result for bicycles but you could modify for motor scooter.....

[BigH]

You can buy a new toyhauler of comparable size to the camper you bought for about 18k here...you got a heck of deal if you paid half of that...well done.

I don't think there is any chance you can 'farm' something up to attach the bike to the back of the trailer without upsetting the balance of that rig. By the time you fab a hitch, you would be adding ~350lbs to the wrong end of that trailer...decreasing your tongue weight by a significant amount and placing that weight so far behind the rear axle would enable a pendulum affect making for dangerous towing.

How are you going to get that motorcycle through the narrow door of the camper? I'm a beast and like doing it the physical way sometimes but that job looks as if it would take two 'beasts'...I hope your camping buddy is sturdy.

I'm also not sure about your description of 'peasant' when loading into the back of the truck ? I've loaded everything from a KLR to touring motorcycles in the back of my trucks over the years. Buy a nice ramp and put a portable self-standing motorcycle chock in the front of the bed...easy one person loading/securing.

[Flybob]

Truck Bed. I would not add that kind of weight on the back of that frame.

[My17Ram]

That little dirt bike should fit in the back of just about any pickup, I’d forget about putting it inside or on the trailer.

[My17Ram]

Originally Posted by My17Ram

That little dirt bike should fit in the back of just about any pickup, I’d forget about putting it inside or on the trailer.

Didn’t realize at the time but I must have looked like a peasant all the way from Ohio to Montana and back this summer, for 4800 miles.

[TowPro]

I made a mount to carry a KtM620 on back of 5th wheel once. It threw off Ballance of camper and caused sway. Now if you can make a 5er sway you got be issues.
Put it in bed if truck.

[Undercover Poe]

How about putting a hitch on the front of my 3/4 ton truck to carry a bike? I want to avoid having to unhook when I get where I’m going.

[The Evil Twin]

Originally Posted by Undercover Poe

How about putting a hitch on the front of my 3/4 ton truck to carry a bike? I want to avoid having to unhook when I get where I’m going.

IMHO, putting it up front may not be a good idea. The dirty bike might block the headlights and cooling flow to the radiator. I understand the not wanting to unhook part, but the bed is probably the best bet. We often load a scooter or 2 in the bed if there are two bikes in the back of the TH.

[REL]

That may work...I have several friends who do that with dirt bikes...One had a Hummer with a bike on the front and back...he did get pulled over once and was issued a warning by a state cop ( don't remember what state...Md Pa or VA.) and was told it was illegal. Just this weekend a friend pulled into the race with his high top conversion van with a Husky TE 250 on the back and a Honda CRF 250 on the front.
Your XR400 wet is probably close to 275.

[EdJunior]

Agree with the "what's up with the peasant" remarks. This is what the trucks were built for. Of course the 5th wheel takes that out of the equation, but when I had the TT, the bike went on quite a few trips with me.

[stephensatt]

Yeh I loaded my Kawasaki Versys-X 300 into the bed of my Nissan Titan, and its a super pain and I finally got sick of it after two years, and went and bought a toy hauler which is what led me to this forum. I now have a NOBO 19.1 and we carpeted the inside of the garage and its pretty cozy now. The carpet can be rolled up to put bikes in the back.

I would look into these 2" receiver carriers. They have quite a few on the market for light weight motorcycle. The real trick will be modding the frame to work with a 2" receiver on your trailer.

Here is a general link for a bunch of them reviewed but they are all pretty similar. I did consider doing this with my 17ft Casita travel trailer however, its an ultra light and the frame just isn't good enough. But the frames on dual axle trailers are about 3 times thicker than the Casita frame which is actually 2" angle iron front to rear, just good enough for the trailer and nothing more.

This is the link:

https://www.carbibles.com/motorcycle-hitch-carrier/

So my thinking is, you will need to build a welded frame out of 3" angle bar, and that will need to be bolted to the rear of your camper frame very similiar to 2" in trailer hitches already on the backs of pickup trucks and it will need to extend probably at least 3 to 4 ft lengthwise parallel to the trailer frame.

It will need to be pretty stout, able to hold 500ft tongue weight and I would have that frame with the 2" receiver go quite a bit under the trailer and attach with hardened bolts to the frame on both sides, so you are really creating a trailer hitch for the trailer.

If its a dual axle trailer, I think you will be fine with a dirt bike as the tongue weight is not so bad, however, I was specifically told by the manufacturer of the Casita that they don't rate the bumper beyond 100lbs hence you will need to built a metal frame .

You may be able to actually find a truck 2" receiver frame and mod it to bolt to the two main beams running the length of your trailer.

Just my ideas. Enough bolts and metal you can do anything, and you said it an F-250 and I was putting this amount of weight plus a 380 lbs bike in the back of my half ton Nissan Titan and I didn't have any issues.

[nayther]

Originally Posted by Undercover Poe

How about putting a hitch on the front of my 3/4 ton truck to carry a bike? I want to avoid having to unhook when I get where I’m going.

either in the truck bed, on the tongue or the front of the truck. adding a receiver for under 300# on the front is a no brainer too, there's not enough on that 230 Honda to block much air flow. Used to haul a CT70 on front of Dad's truck camper, no cooling degradation ever.


I would not put much on the rear of the trailer, like said will upset the balance. Have a friend that did it that way on his Jayco, said it was sketchy and horrible if he added some firewood to the rack. My fifth wheel came from the factory with a fold down rack rated for max. of 300#. Instead I added a receiver and rail type carrier and it works fine, just under 300# with my 450 dual sport. I do feel a slight difference with the bike on but not enough to be concerned with. I added a rearview camera too so I can see my treasure, it wiggles around a bit but acceptable, lots of mods to my carrier.