Has anyone welded a bike receiver to the rear of the trailer?

mreric · December 2017

has anyone weld a received hitch to mount a bike rack? is this possible?

i know little guys silver shadow have a receiver hitch in the back from the factory. can this also be done on the T@g?

Verna · December 2017

The T@G frame is not approved for a rear receiver, per the factory.

And, I am one who lost my bicycle due to the whiplash effect on the rear of my Silver Shadow. I strongly advice against having a bike rack on the rear of Trailers. Very few bike racks are approved by their manufacturers to be used on the rear of Trailers.

BBsGarage · December 2017

You are probably better off putting them on the roof of the tow vehicle or something like this teardrop-trailers.vanillacommunity.com/discussion/comment/390#Comment_390

Michigan_Mike · December 2017

@mreric said:
Has anyone weld a received hitch to mount a bike rack? is this possible?

I know little guys silver shadow have a receiver hitch in the back from the factory. Can this also be done on the T@G?

I've owned 4 teardrop trailers now and your question comes up frequently. Over the course of around 8 years traveling with these trailers and meeting a lot of people and making new friends we have discussed this issue in depth and have seen some scary results as a result of people transporting the bike racks off the rear of these trailers.

Inasmuch as you'd like to consider welding a tubular or similar support beneath the trailer and adding it to the frame this isn't a good idea for many reasons. Number one and as Verna noted earlier the manufacturer does not allow, nor approve of it as you could compromise the frame, it's integrity and your safety therein. Number two, when you extend bikes from the rear of these trailers it creates extreme down forces and what could be described as a whiplash affect. It is like a fishing pole with extra weight added to it and the road bounce and pounding that is produced via extending bikes off the rear of the trailer substantially increases the loading and over time will create stresses on the metal that cause welds and metal to fatigue, ultimately resulting in failure.

I'm aware of individuals losing bikes on the highway (luckily no other drivers were injured) after welds failed, the bikes dropped down to the road surface and were destroyed from the violent crash and speeds traveled. I also have carried bikes on the back of my former Little Guy teardrop trailers for considerable distances and found welds on the bike rack that failed and had to have the bike rack repaired on two occasions and was shocked when I realized what was taking place. I was also out in the Black Hills region of South Dakota and was traveling the Needles Highway (about 3 years ago), looked in my rear-view mirror and noticed the bikes had shifted. When I pulled into a turn-off parking area I found that the Yakima bike rack bar (shown below) on my wife's bike had failed and that her bike was inches from falling to the pavement. We found a replacement in Spearfish, only to have this bar fail as well. This was perplexing, scared us and it was a wake-up call and this is when I finally decided to cease this practice and listen to the many others who echoed sentiments of not carrying bikes at the rear of these trailers.

As a result of these incidents and discussions and knowing what can and will happen, some of us have become proponents against this practice and were fortunate enough to escape a catastrophic event (e.g., having welds fail, the bikes hitting the pavement and causing someone else to be injured/killed and destroying our bikes in the process) and have sought different solutions to allow others to safely transport their bikes on trips. People who sell the bikes racks for the most part do not have road experience, nor knowledge of what can potentially happen and therefore condone this practice. I shudder every time I see an RV traveling down the highway with bikes on the rear and watching the rack teeter back and forth, bouncing and knowing full well what could happen at any time.

I apologize for the long-winded response here, but believe people need to hear from others with experience and it is my hope that this information could save a life and keep others from having to deal with a serious accident and event and the consequences of injuring others when traveling. So with that said I would suggest that you consider a solution that allows you to carry your bikes between the tow vehicle and the tongue of the trailer. There are various mounting assemblies out there and I have an Arvika bike rack that bolts to the frame of my T@B and allows me access into the front tub of the trailer. These racks are not cheap, but they do work and you can move them into a position that may work for you. I would suggest you contact the manufacturer and discuss your options, or seek something similar as the gentleman below did below with his bike rack. I have also seen people weld receivers beneath vehicles at the front and haul bikes at the front since the dynamics and stress are nothing like the stresses, bouncing and twisting of metal that happens at the rear-end of the trailer.

LuckyJ · December 2017

@Michigan_Mike said:

There are various mounting assemblies out there and I have an Arvika bike rack that bolts to the frame of my T@B and allows me access into the front tub of the trailer. These racks are not cheap, but they do work and you can move them into a position that may work for you. I would suggest you contact the manufacturer and discuss your options, or seek something similar as the gentleman below did below with his bike rack. I have also seen people weld receivers beneath vehicles at the front and haul bikes at the front since the dynamics and stress are nothing like the stresses, bouncing and twisting of metal that happens at the rear-end of the trailer.

@Michigan_Mike I have to confest, that even if they are sold and legal, I personaly would not install a hicth extension on a midsize vehicule like that. It might not be obvious, but it move the center of gravity much further away from the rear axle. Increasing the lever effect on the rear of the vehicule. This lever effect will be operating in all direction. Up and down and left and right. So this could or sudently reduce the stability of the vehicule. Add to this the extra weight of the bicycle and probably any other item like a gen and other items in the nose box. This is why heavier trailer have a fifth wheel set-up, that brings the weight right above the rear axle. The hith extension, is the exact oposite.

I know most experience traveler will think about the weight distribution of the trailer, but not all of them will really pay attention, and it will only increasing the lever effect.

The lever effect, will also increase the stress on the receiver and the bolting point on the frame of the tow vehicule. And provque jerking within the entire assembly (multiple pieces, more movement within the pieces).

But weight distribution issues, can happen with any set-up and I am positive about the fact the the further away the ball is, the lower the weight you hitch and you TV can take. Tongue weigth capacity is at the receiver, not 1 feet behind.

Placing a bike receiver on the front of a TV, is someting that the paramedic in me does not like at all. I know it is not illegal and even used by many and also by some city bus, but hitting a pedestrian with a front rack /bikes assembly increase the risk of much higher trauma than w/o the rack. That is for a regular TV that would present a much smouther surface. I know that of pick-up and other truck like a jeep, this might not be different that the bikes, but still, the surface would be smouther.

As for roof rack, one of the two bike I lost and the one I never found was on an unmodified roof rack.luckily, no one was hurt in the process (i think I never found it but I have reported it to the police and I have serach for it). I also almost lost a sea kayak on a windy day. The rack assembly si ply broke on over the bars. The other bike I lost but At low speed, was from a standard bike rack behind a car (but some circonstance helped in this process and no one were hurt and the bike had very minor damage).

So basically, to any off us, be carefull out there. Things might have been ok for you and me with some set-up. But can never be to prudent, no matter how many hundreads thousands of miles we have travel with our trailers. (RVs or utility/off road).

That also inclueds me.

God speed.

mreric · December 2017

thank you all for all the answers. this was a topic that i did not really see in this forum. everything that you guys have mention makes senses. looks like i might be stuck using my roof rack on my TV. I was really hoping not to do that.

i do like the tongue mount idea. but i dont want to increase my tongue weight at this moment.

Michigan_Mike · December 2017

It's a tough decision but wanted to let you know the pitfalls and some of the things that have happened. We had a friend who lost her bike and her son's bike out in East Glacier NP when the bike rack failed, throwing the bikes and rack violently to the roadway, destroying both bikes. Luckily there was no vehicle behind them.

Here are some unlucky folks below. The guy in the pickup truck was on the receiving end of a bike rack that fell off the vehicle in front of him.

WilliamA · December 2017

I have avoided making comments but feel it's appropriate here. As to roof racks, I've done more than enough data collection to convince myself they are a bad idea in general. My mpg experiments show the relatively large difference they make. That tells me that to make such a large difference, they must have tremendous drag.

As to receiver extensions... Take a moment to look up the trailer tongue weight video and watch it. Measure the hitch slop in your stubby receiver from side to side. Now, add a couple of feet to the length of the hitch. That tiny side to side slop now can be an inch or more. The trailer will be more skittish because the pivot is further from the axle the longer the hitch. Additionally, the up/down, back and forth slop will make a trailer into a demon posessed. The trailer will also push much harder because the lever is much longer. If you brake hard in a turn, the additional leverage off the centerline may overpower the tow vehicle's rear tire grip causing a jacknife. Additionally (as if I haven't frightened you enough) 160 lbs of tongue weight at 6 inches will (not can, WILL) be the equivalent of 4 times that at the hitch root (directly below the bumper) if the hitch is 24 inches long. Dynamic pressures on various hitch points will quickly become enormous...

"Give me a lever
And a place to stand
And I shall move the Earth" Archimedes

Nothing ever fails
Right up to the point
that it fails...

WilliamA

TomD · December 2017

William wisdom. Priceless. Pay attention.👍

nmmike · December 2017

WilliamA
I agree that roof racks on ur TV or the trailer are both bad ideas,, i have run into a garage years ago with my bikes up top and damaged my vehicle plus you must constantly visually inspect and monitor the rack including all attachments and whatever equipment is up there,, plus, plus , you have to worry about theft. Luckily I have a Tacoma and am thinking about just tossing the bike in the bed, removing the front wheel and securely cabling the bike and the wheel to the factory bed rings with a steel cable and lock.

I have purchased a fantastic fan cover but was thinking about selling it so that I could have a rack on top but now I am thinking about installing the cover.

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Has anyone welded a bike receiver to the rear of the trailer?

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