The totally outrageous bike rack at the rear thread

[madmaxmutt]

I know you cannot put bikes on the back. . . .

I have and Eagle HT with rear hitch. I have read lots of things about how bad it is to have bikes on the back, but most seem to be bumper mount issues. And yet, I still see lots of people doing it. I want a hitch mounted bike rack for my Eagle HT. It will need to support 3 bikes, and one is an E-bike. They total a little over 100lbs. I am still a little jealous of the Cougar fold down trays.

So, what are other Jayco Eagle owners using?
tray type or rack type?
Brand?
Model?
How many bikes?
weight ratings?

My favorite so far was a grill tray I saw at Buc'ees, but I failed to pull the trigger on that one. It would have required some mods for bikes, but it appeared really sturdy compared to most I see.

[crockettlarry]

Following

[Fyrehuntr]

There are a few options available for a hitch mounted bike carrier on the back of a fifth wheel. Make sure you do your research. Most RV rear hitch mounted bike carriers are not rated for the hitch mount on the rear of a travel trailer or fifth wheel. These carriers work fine on RVs such as class a and class c (motorhomes), but not on travel trailers or fifth wheels. This is due to the better suspension found on motorhomes. Most fifth wheels and travel trailers do not have shocks in the suspension design like motorhomes do. There is a significant amount of bounce at the rear of travel trailers and fifth wheels which use standard trailer suspension. A bike rack needs to be rated for using it on the rear of a trailer. I use a Swagman E-Spec 2-Electric Bike Platform Rack for 2" Hitches. I have two electric bikes that weigh about 60lbs each. I remove the batteries to reduce the weight. I also use a Formosa bike cover which works really good. It covers both bikes and the rack. It does block the taillights of the fifth wheel somewhat, so I use magnetic trailer lights on the tube bumper from HF. Etrailer.com is a really good source of information. I purchased my bike carrier from them. They are very helpful and quick to reply if you send them questions via email. The bike carrier i mentioned carries 2 bikes. The hitch on my 5er is rated for 300lbs. The bike carrier weighs 60lbs and is rated to carry 2 bikes at 70lbs each. Your post stated you have 3 bikes. Not sure how to add a 3rd bike. The carrier I use is only for 2 bikes.

You may have better luck using a cargo carrier type of rear rack and adding the bike carrying adapters to it. I would place the heaviest bike closest to the 5er to reduce cantilever induced bending as much as possible.

Hope this helps!

[2naEagle]

Originally Posted by madmaxmutt

Brand?
Model?

https://www.swagman.net/product/swag...unt-bike-rack/

[ShotgunZ71]

I use the Swagman Trailhead 4 on my Eagle. Works great and folds when not in use.

[oh355mbqs]

We started with a rack style from Yakima that was RV rated. It didn't survive the 2nd trip and 1 of the arms was bent down. I thought the rack style was hard to load. I returned that rack and got a refund from Yakima. I convinced myself that a platform style would be easier to load. The only 4 position platform style I could find was this.... https://www.strombergcarlson.com/pro...-model-bc-204/ Purchased it about 1 year ago, have used it for several local trips, nothing more than about 500 miles, so far so good. I use the factory hitch on the back of our 2017 Eagle 355MBQS.

[Oma/opa]

Back when we towed a trailer, I installed a front mount 2" receiver on my truck and installed the bike rack up front. Never had any problems

[Lake Huron]

On my previous trailer I had a factory installed swing out grill that I wanted to utilize and have a bike rack. I welded 2" receiver tubes to the frame. I drilled the receiver tubes and welded nuts to them on the front side to thread a bolt and a jam nut to keep it from bouncing off the pin pivot point. I welded 2" square tube to a 3/16" thick wall 4" square tube for my bumper and mounted my Swagman 4 bike carrier to it. Worked great. It was so solid you could pull a tractor trailer out of a ditch if you had to. I put a little too much overkill in it because it was heavy.

[Lake Huron]

Sorry the last is upside down. I've never had that happen before.

[Lake Huron]

Our current Northpoint had a single receiver already installed. So I fabricated a new one that is a bit lighter but still solid because of some overkill. Again, it works great and the bikes stay on there solid. No bouncing around either. I did the same with this receiver by drilling the bottom front side and using a bolt and jam nut to keep it from bouncing. I had to double stack the receiver to keep it the same height as the factory bumper. I back cut it and capped both ends. This one I sent out to powdercoat instead of painting it. I sunk a post behind my shed and mounted a piece of receiver tube so I now have a place to store it at the house.

[Lake Huron]

Ugh, now the first one is upside down.
I cant win.

[parallax]

Put those bike up front. Worked for me.

[Shokyle1]

The eagle ht with the factory reciever is rated at 300 pound pin 3000 pound trailer. It should have no problem carrying bikes and a rack. I use mine with a thule rack. I can see the bikes with my rear camera.

[TxLoser]

Fantastic thread title......

Love the electric bike idea, but curious to hear how others carry them as they are becoming more popular.

[Nathan S.]

I wanted a bike rack that could go from my TV to the trailer. I wanted something that would fold up when not in use. I didn’t want to have to store it in my garage when not being used, I needed it to go to storage with the trailer when not needed. It only needed to handle 2 beach cruisers.

Everything for TT or FW was a suspension mount where they hung them in the air, not a folding design that would work on my TV. So I bought a Hollywood hitch that had the capabilities of 2 bikes or 4 if you bought the extension. It was not rated for TT or FW, it even has a sticker on it saying not to use it for my application. I have no intent of ever going to 4 bikes and the hitch is built to handle them. It’s a beast. The only thing I could see that would fail is the spring loaded latches that move it up and down. So I run the cable that came with the hitch through the bikes and hitch taught to the lock point on the trailer hitch. I have put about 3500 miles on this hitch (even over the Rockies) with no problems. Now I will never add the expansion rack to carry more, because I’m comfortable with the way it is now. I also think because of the expansion to 4 bikes capability is the reason they derated it.

Your trailer hitch will handle a 4 bike rack easily, it just will be an L shaped fixed rack that will hang the bikes. Go to eTrailer, best site for this stuff.

[Jim Smyth]

I have a Swagman E-Spec on the Jayco HT 28.5 RSTS. I have over 10,000 miles on it while hauling 2 Ebikes that are 55# each. To date no issues and works great.


https://www.amazon.com/Swagman-64689...63303784&psc=1

[Nature Ist]

I have an HT 30.5 CKTS and use a standard 2 bike rack with the 2" insert mount, it works very well for us. However, we have two hybrid mountain/touring bikes that are very light-weight. I carefully strap them at angles to the bumper to reduce the amount of sway and bounce when on the road. I worry about them hitting the back wall or window glass.
I transport them with the front wheels dismounted. That lets me turn the handlebars so they are parallel to the bumper. I have had not evidence of it ever coming close to hitting the back of the camper and the bike rack itself seems to have very little movement. I also added a "hitch tightener" or anti-rattle clamp bought on
Amazon That was a huge benefit in reducing the bounce.
For your application with the e-bike and a total of three, you may need to follow the advice of others for a heavier duty rack than I am using. My theory is: the closer you can keep it to the rear of the camper the better you will reduce bounce and shock to the hitch components.

[AKRUEBBE]

This is a must for any hitch receiver type of bike rack. Absolutely takes all slop out of the connection and really stabilizes the connection:

https://www.amazon.com/Mission-Autom...xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

[1SGPETE]

Originally Posted by TxLoser

Fantastic thread title......

Love the electric bike idea, but curious to hear how others carry them as they are becoming more popular.

Here's a link to what we are doing to carry our E bikes.
https://youtu.be/TooJTDJ_8Oo

[Jagiven]

There are two issues with rear mounted bike racks for trailers.

1) bumpers; for bumper mount units are just not strong enough. Easy solution, add a welded 2" reciever hitch.

#2) bouncing; the back of trailers bounce alot more than a vehicle. Most bike racks are not built with that type of load. Solution, heavier built rack.

There are a few racks out there made for RVs. I'm using a Swagman XT4, I found my cleaves pin to lock it in the up or down position is bending. Friend has a similar but SOB trailer, uses the same rack with no issues. The smaller XT2, might just be fine.