Carrying 550 lbs bike and carrier on 500 lb hitch

[DonTom]

without saying go for it or don't - I'm still trying to figure it out myself - I did notice in the pic above about the guy that has his frame bent hitting a bump had his bike on a homemade platform that looks like it could easily weigh over 300lbs. That, on top of, with bags and windshield, the BMW is likely over 600lbs.

Again, not saying it is or isnt a good idea. Just some extra detail for those, like me, researching what risks to take.

Welcome.

You replied to message that was several years old where the person has not been back since. An easy thing for new members to do since you can see the oldest messages by default. Best to look at the dates.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Ex-Calif]

John Canfield mentioned static vs. dynamic loads.

You could probably put 700#+ on the hitch and if you never drove the RV is would sit there for 50 years. So where is the dynamic stress?

Every time you go over a bump the hitch will unload and load imparting a bending stress. If the load is directly over the rear wheels the stress will be less than if the load is 24 inches behind the rear wheels. This is because the arm of the deflection is longer. i.e. 10# stress load over the rear axle would be 240# at the hitch ball.

The engineer maybe calculated this in his design, maybe got it wrong if he did and possibly didn't factor it being on a motor home.

10% stress margin is a very common margin. I personally would not exceed posted hitch loads unless I wanted to be a test pilot.

If I did exceed the hitch loading I would definitely put a thorough inspection of all joints and welds on a recurring inspection cycle. Like every 1000 miles or so.

 

[Domo]

I use a small aluminum trailer. light enough to move around by hand (which is a very important point) and remarkably handy for somewhere to put things you thought of at the last minute. The only thing you give up over the hitch rack is the ability to back up at will and thats usually not a big deal.

If it's a single axle trailer you can back up - just like a boat trailer, etc. However, a rear view camera should be used so you can see what the little trailer is doing while backing as you can jackknife it. Dual axle with articulating front - such as a flat-towed car - are extremely difficult to back up unless you have someone in the car steering with you (which usually results in divorce).

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Static load and dynamic load. I wonder how the hitch manufacturer factors in dynamic loading when they load rate a particular hitch. I think the tongue weight rating on my Horizon is 500 pounds but a tow rating of 10,000 pounds which is weird - should have 10% of trailer weight on the tongue which would be 1,000 pounds.

It's only RV-style trailers that are mostly designed to have a 10% tongue weight. Others, e.g. tow dollies, car haulers, and utility trailers normally have a different trailer wheel base and thus a different tongue weight percentage. Most of those will be quite a bit lower percentage-wise. A simple example would be a 5000 lb suv on a 500 lb tow dolly. The towed weight is 5500 lbs but the tongue weight is going to be in the 75-100 lb range.

 

[Tulecreeper]

It's only RV-style trailers that are mostly designed to have a 10% tongue weight. Others, e.g. tow dollies, car haulers, and utility trailers normally have a different trailer wheel base and thus a different tongue weight percentage. Most of those will be quite a bit lower percentage-wise. A simple example would be a 5000 lb suv on a 500 lb tow dolly. The towed weight is 5500 lbs but the tongue weight is going to be in the 75-100 lb range.

True, I have a 10-foot utility trailer - total length about 14-feet - with a CCC of 2000# and it's empty tongue weight is so little I can lift it with 3 fingers. I have actually forgot a couple times when it wasn't connected and started to step on the back end and the front lifted off the ground as soon as I took my first step.

 

[Gizmo]

Why risk it? This and other forums are filled with images and stories where limits and specs were exceeded where bad things happened. The manufacturer has rated the hitch to certain loads and tolerances. Just because you can does not mean you should. Personally I would not.

 

[CharlesinGA]

A View is built on the Mercedes sprinter chassis. The Sprinter is a unibody construction vehicle, no separate chassis. What Benz did to create frame rails for the cab and chassis used on the view, box vans, ambulances, etc. is to use the existing U shaped channels that are spot welded to the bottom of the flat floor of the van........ these are the rails the suspension and all components are attached to. and since there is no body to attach them to, Benz created an inverted channel similar to the existing one and spot welded it on top. At the front, this new top piece tapers down and is attached over the cab floor under the seats where it ends.

The upfitter then adds cross members the floor sits on top of. The floor of the coach is laminated with sheet aluminum on the bottom, a 2 inch or so layer of dense foam, then half inch plywood on top of the foam. All in all, this raises the floor of the coach possibly as much as 10 inches above the cab floor.

This is a rusted out sprinter van but you can see the intact frame channels. Imagine the same thing inverted and welded on the flanges together as in the pic above.



My point in all of this is in showing how flimsy a Sprinter cab/chassis frame is. Hanging a heavy motorcycle and rack on the trailer hitch would most certainly rip out the hitch attachment, or bend the frame. The lower arrow is by chance pointing to spacers welded into the lower channel for mounting a trailer hitch. Others have already pointed out the G forces involved in going over a bump in the road, that the motorcycle would exert on the hitch and frame.

The View does not have a heavy frame at all, don't do anything crazy with it.

Charles

 

[John Canfield]

What a brilliant idea - an upside down U channel, great water catch . That's really surprising for German engineering. Thanks for the chassis details Charles, that's really helpful.

 

[DutchmenSport]

I did not read all the posts, but my answer is: Don't do it. It's too heavy to endure the G-forces exerted when the back of the camper bounces going down the road.

 

[John Canfield]

This thread has been beat to death and the OP disappeared three years ago so I'm going to close it.