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Old 07-21-2014, 12:55 PM   #1
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GS 272 Bike rack

Hello all, I have done the internet search thing. Can't quite figure out the best way to instal a bike rack, with our infamous no bumper! Any good solutions or pics would be great thanks!!
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Old 07-21-2014, 01:42 PM   #2
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well, you can pony up some money and get a tongue mounted bike rack, like Toppoprails or Support-Rack setups. expensive and hard to find but a good option.

or have a welding shop fab a braced 2" receiver welded to the rear of the frame. course, doing this mod, voids the frames warranty.
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Old 07-21-2014, 02:41 PM   #3
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Great thanks, I was hoping there would be some attachment I could hook onto the spare with. And throw the spare In the truck. Being a 2005 should I be concerned with the warranty? Thanks again
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Old 07-21-2014, 03:46 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wxbee View Post
Hello all, I have done the internet search thing. Can't quite figure out the best way to instal a bike rack, with our infamous no bumper! Any good solutions or pics would be great thanks!!
Don't know what you are towing with, but if you have a pick up this might be an option. Mounts to the front tow hooks. No drilling or welding.

Bodiak Hitches
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Old 07-21-2014, 04:05 PM   #5
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a pic of the rear of your trailer might help.
i thought you said that your trailer had no bumper.
how is the spare attached if you have no bumper?
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Old 07-21-2014, 06:04 PM   #6
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I haven't had the chance to really see how it's attached as I'm traveling on business right now. But here is a pic of a unit I found same as mine except the ladder. I know for sure it's not a typical receiver hitch set up.
Going to look into front mount on truck as well, wonder if airflow is ever a problem? Thanks again for all the input! Click image for larger version

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Old 07-21-2014, 06:11 PM   #7
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Regarding the Bodiak product, the reviews are quite favorable. Most folks are towing larger TT's and 5ers. I only have two bikes and there has been no problem with airflow, visibility or noticeable interference with the headlights

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Old 07-21-2014, 06:19 PM   #8
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however that spare is mounted, attaching a bouncing loaded bike rack on the tire, would not be a good thing.
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Old 07-31-2014, 07:22 PM   #9
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GS 272 bike rack

I'll help clear up a few things: "Wxbee" you really DO NOT want to attach a bike rack to the part of your camper that the spare tire rack is bolted to. I'll show you why in the photos I'll attach here. I had my g'son's two bikes in the rack and had gone maybe fifteen (15) miles from home when this happened. Thankfully someone stopped me to tell me that I had a problem. The flat plate that FR uses on both the camper and the spare tire rack are 3/16" thick really cheap grade steel. My background of 38 years in industrial maintenance and I have never seen steel this soft. The company I retired from has a metallurgy lab and thankfully I pulled a few strings and had a piece of the spare tire mount sent to them after my incident. They reported that the steel used in the spare tire mount was a very soft grade of steel. The photos will show you how soft. "bikendan", there is no rear bumper on the Surveyor or Grand Surveyor (which I have) models within some years. Notice in the photo that Wxbee posted there is a grey colored area below the license plate and this goes behind the spare tire. All of that is plastic. Just a plastic rear fascia, no structural integrity at all. There is a rectangular piece of steel tubing that comes from the frame of the camper, extends out of the plastic fascia and has the 3/16" x 6" x 6" plate welded to it. The spare tire carrier bolts to this. I thought I had a bright idea and modified my spare tire carrier to carry two bikes, and carry the spare tire in my truck. As you will see--it was a terrible idea.
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Old 08-01-2014, 07:23 AM   #10
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Wow, Thurman. I can't thank you enough for the info. I was about to do the exact same thing. Back to the drawing board I guess? Have you come up with any other design? Are thoes back up lights on your TT? You seem like a handy guy, have you put a battery disconnect on, if so where? I'm in the process now.
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Old 08-01-2014, 09:15 AM   #11
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Oh you're welcome for the info and I'm sure the photos are much better than anyone trying to describe what happened. When I first walked to the back of the camper and saw that I had a hard time believing it. Actually the last bike put on had the rear tire barely hitting the pavement at times and had scrubbed a lot of the tire off. The g'son did ride the bike during that week so he was happy. I put the bikes on top of the coolers in the truck for the rest of the ride to the campground and when we went home. I have since cut the plate off of the camper right where it was welded to the rectangular tubing. The tubing appears to be some decent material (I may be fooled again) so I have purchases some 3/8" thick CRS (cold rolled steel) and will make new plates for the camper and the bike rack. I'm looking at adding a brace going to the back wall of the camper but I'm reluctant to do that. I'm thinking that there will still be a lot of "bouncing" of the bikes on the rack as we go down the highway and I certainly don't want to find part of the back wall broken out. Yes those are back-up lights on the camper. Sometimes when we get back from camping it will be dark and there are no street lights our where I live. I added these so I could see to back down my driveway and into the back yard. They work pretty good. I just wish I could have found a way to feed the wires through the back wall so as to hide them, but then- -what the heck. The photo you posted looks very much like my unit with the exception of my unit has the bath in the rear right-hand corner. IF you're black and grey water dump valves are somewhat too far under the camper (as mine were) and feel mushy when you attempt to close them---boy do I have a proven idea for you. I got fed up with mine. I took two of the underbelly panels off to see how they worked and was shocked. They had cables from the handles to the valves to operate the valves. These cables must have been about six feet long and only needed to be about 30" long. The cables were folded into two loops each so when you pushed to close the valves the cables would move around and the valves would not completely close. I ripped all of this out back to the valves and re-did it my way. I certainly works better now. And yes I did put a battery disconnect on my unit. I got one that you have to partially "unscrew" right at the positive battery post to separate the cable. At first there was a problem with getting to the disconnect because of that darned plastic cover FR designed on the Grand Surveyor and Surveyor series. But--I used a hole saw to cut two hole in my cover. One to reach the battery disconnect and one to reach the gas bottles. It's not pretty but I got tired of having to partially remove that cover so often. Happy camping
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Old 08-06-2014, 11:17 PM   #12
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Thurman, great info thanks! I definitely need to take the time and rework the dump valves. After last trip I opened the cover and got a nice surprise. As in one of them isn't completely closing.. Thoes under panels come off pretty easy?
I should probably use that same disconnect. I was actually trying to disconnect it from trailer.. but have it hooked up to harbor freight solar panel to charge while in storage. Again thanks for all the great info.
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Old 08-18-2014, 10:50 AM   #13
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Wow to Thurman. Lot of work if you have the time and ability. Not adding much to the discussion in my case...I have the 2004 GS-260, but it does have the 4" square tube back bumper and spare tire (which doesn't seem to hold newer/better sewer line connectors/caps). I've been taking the cover on and off to connect/disconnect a small solar collecor when parked in outdoor storage, but I think I'm missing a shut off somewhere in my process, because my battery seems to drain quickly instead of supporting the electric tongue crank, slide motor etc... Do I need to turn off a breaker in the panel under the rear-located stove?
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Old 10-02-2014, 03:29 PM   #14
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I've seen RVers attach a trailer hitch to the front of their vehicle then buy a rack to slide in that was able to carry up to four bicycles. I did ask one person who did that and was told that he didn't have trouble with air flow or overheating.
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Old 10-02-2014, 04:14 PM   #15
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Here is a link to my bike rack.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ver-56187.html

I built my own after I couldn't find what I wanted.
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