photo of welded reciever hitch

Been discussions on reciever hitch on back of trailers. This is what mine looks like. I don't know what he was pulling with it but this looks plenty strong for bikes.

Receiver info

We also have a receiver on the bumper of our 24D. We keep the luggage carrier on it with the generator mounted to it. It is bolted to the sub frame at the front and is bolted to the bumper with 5/8 U-bolts I bought from a trailer repair shop. We have never thought about towing with this receiver, but it is plenty strong for about 500 pounds or so off the bumper.

Looks good. A friend and I are going toward the front to a frame rail and also across the side frame at rear. I am going to pull a jon boat off my 1985 funchaser 21dl

Bumper Hitch

This is my latest bumper hitch, I bought the receiver tube extension from Harbor Freight and made a bracket by welding 2 angle iron pieces, drilled 4 holes and attached it using 2 u bolts from Tractor Supply, so nothing is welded to the RV, all bolted. I believe it can support 500lb on the carrier.

gus said:

This is my latest bumper hitch, I bought the receiver tube extension from Harbor Freight and made a bracket by welding 2 angle iron pieces, drilled 4 holes and attached it using 2 u bolts from Tractor Supply, so nothing is welded to the RV, all bolted. I believe it can support 500lb on the carrier.

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Looks nice, gus! I've thought about doing something similar as my tow vehicle is an SUV so throwing a couple bikes in the bed is not an option. My concern is what effect that would have on the hitch weight and ultimately the towing stability.

Lucky, I think it will be ok, a couple of bikes don't weight that much, the cargo carrier probably weighs between 30lb to 40lb, besides you can always distribute all the items inside so the weight is balanced over the axles.
on our last trip I noticed a lot of campers with a bumper hitch and carrying a lot more than I am planning to carry.

The Generator fits nicely on top of the hitch carrier

Let us know how it works out and and if it effects the tongue weight and handling.

Sure, I know the generator weigh around 95lb and the carrier is 35lb, so I am adding 130lb to the rear bumper. to me it still feels the front of the hi-lo is heavy, but on our next trip we will see how is the handling affected by the additional weight.

You can do a quick calculation of the effect on the hitch weight. The following will be familiar to any of you that are pilots; its a simple weight and balance calculation:

The basics: weight X arm = moment thus, moment/arm = weight

1- Mark a reference point on the body to take the arm measurements from. A point between the two axles for a tandem axle trailer, or around the axle for a single axle trailer is intuitive and works well.

2- Measure the distance between the reference point and the center of the load on the rear bumper. Don't forget that the rear hitch also has added weight, so estimate where the center of gravity of the hitch, carrier, load on the carrier, etc, is. This is your aft arm.

3- Measure the distance between the reference point and the center of the hitch coupler. This is your forward arm.

4- Estimate the weight of the rear hitch, carrier, load carried on the carrier, etc. This is your weight.

5- Multiply the weight from step #4 by the aft arm from step #2. This is the moment about the reference point resulting from the rear load.

6- Divide the total by the forward arm from step #3.

The result will be the force or weight on the hitch coupler as a result of the rear weight. If you consider the rear weight positive, this weight is negative. In other words, you subtract the result from the original hitch weight. If the new hitch weight is less than 10% of the total trailer weight, you may have some instability that results in sway.

Here is an example with made-up numbers:

Aft Arm = 10 Ft
Forward Arm = 12 Ft
Weight (rear hitch, carrier, load) = 100 Lb
Original Tongue Weight = 400 Lb
Original Trailer Weight = 3800 Lb

Step #5 - Weight X Aft Arm = Moment: 100 Lb X 10 Ft = 1000 Ft-Lb
Step #6 - Moment/Forward Arm = Weight (on hitch): 1000 Ft-Lb/12 Ft = 83.3 Lb

New hitch weight = original hitch weight - calculated weight effect: 400 Lb - 83.3 Lb = 316.7 Lb

Remember that the total trailer weight is now more than the original weight because you added a hitch, carrier, and load:
New trailer weight = 3800 + 100 Lb = 3900 Lb

Minimum recommended hitch weight for a 3900 Lb trailer is 3900 Lb X 10% = 390 Lb

Notice that in this example the new hitch weight is about 8% and that falls below the recommended minimum of 10%. This may result in sway, especially with a lightweight tow vehicle. In a case like this you may want to load some interior items forward, fill the propane and water tanks, etc. This will move the center of gravity forward and increase the tongue weight.

Incidentally, you can calculate the effect of any weight on the tongue weight with the above equations and process. Just remember that the effect of weights forward of your reference point is added to the tongue weight and vice verse.

Raul

Thanks Raul,
now that you put it in math equation, it is easy to calculate how much weight I have to shift towards the front. in general on the day before the travel we spend a good amount of time placing the items we need for the trip, I usually have the Rv coupled to my TV on a level driveway and try to adjust the placement of weight until the the tv looks as normal as it can get. and with this arrangement it pulls easy and never notice any sway, of course I don't make sudden lane changes. btw I don't even have wdh.

where is your spare tire ?

the spare tire is between the bumper and the little carrier

where is your spare tire ?

gus said:

Sure, I know the generator weigh around 95lb and the carrier is 35lb, so I am adding 130lb to the rear bumper. to me it still feels the front of the hi-lo is heavy, but on our next trip we will see how is the handling affected by the additional weight.

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Remember to give us a report, Gus!