White Hawk Rear Bike Hitch

[Whitem29710]

Hi Folks,

I decided to add a rear hitch for a bike rack to our 2015 White Hawk 28BHKS. I welded the receiver to the bottom of the rear bumper. I also welded 2 cross member supports (angle iron) from the rear of receiver to the rear stabilizer cross frame support. Finally, I moved the spare tire holder (and tire) closer to the rear wall of the camper and lowered it so the tire was about 1 inch from the top of the bumper. The spare tire holder is still mounted to the bumper with U-bolts. I'm not happy with the stock spare tire holder mounting bracket (where it bolts to the wheel). It allows the tire to move around even when I torque the lug nuts down? Oh well - I will fix that another day. I weight tested the bike rack with 200 lbs of load at the end of the bike rack and only get slight deflection of the bumper. I won't be carrying anywhere near that load. She seems pretty stout. Hope this post helps others in this forum. I will post additional photos showing more detail shortly. Thanks

Mike

[oldmanAZ]

Welcome to the forum.

Thanks for sharing your bike hitch. Lots of folks considering this mod.

One of the things to be aware of, in addition to static loads, is the constant bouncing that the bikes and the mount are subjected to when attached to the rear of an RV. Please keep an eye on things to be sure welds etc. stay intact.

[kluza2786]

Thanks for the information. I want to add a bike rack to our White Hawk 29REKS and am debating about whether to go with a rear mount or with a front mount above the A-frame. I'm concerned about the amount of bouncing that a rear mount will give - kind of like being on the end of a diving board.

[oldmanAZ]

Originally Posted by kluza2786

Thanks for the information. I want to add a bike rack to our White Hawk 29REKS and am debating about whether to go with a rear mount or with a front mount above the A-frame. I'm concerned about the amount of bouncing that a rear mount will give - kind of like being on the end of a diving board.

A lot like the end of the diving board.... but in this case you want your bikes to hang on and not go 'over board'.

Unless there is a factory hitch on the rear, it usually takes a significant amount of planning and reinforcement to safely hang the bikes on the rear bumper. The 'quick and dirty' hitches clamped on the bumper often have a sad ending.

By the way, welcome to the forum.

[kluza2786]

Originally Posted by oldmanAZ

A lot like the end of the diving board.... but in this case you want your bikes to hang on and not go 'over board'.

Unless there is a factory hitch on the rear, it usually takes a significant amount of planning and reinforcement to safely hang the bikes on the rear bumper. The 'quick and dirty' hitches clamped on the bumper often have a sad ending.

By the way, welcome to the forum.

A friend of mine had that happen with his 5th wheel. He was going down the road and someone behind him started flashing their lights. When he pulled over his bolt-on adaptor had failed resulting in catastrophic damage to the bike. Fortunately it was still dragging behind the trailer and hadn't broken loose resulting in a car wreck.