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Old 08-16-2016, 09:30 PM   #1
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Motorcycle hitch hauler and storage

So for a few years now I've been borrowing my neighbor's JoeHauler to haul my dirt bikes on my van.......when I'm taking a single bike somewhere; I have a heavily modified Harbor Freight trailer to carry more than one bike.

I think the JoeHauler is great, it just didn't meet all of my needs (and I don't own it!), so I decided to design a build a custom unit with the following requirements:

The new contraption has to:

be lighter than the JoeHauler (I think the neighbor's hauler is a heavy duty unit...it's heavy)

be stable, ie no rocking on the receiver hitch

provide a platform to stand on when showering out of the back of the van (we have been standing on the JoeHauler and it worked OK)

provide a means to carry gas/oil and other grimy motorcycle related stuff (existing Joehauler has no provision for this, and I couldn't modify as it wasn't mine)

be able to simultaneously carry my mountain bike (with 15mm front axle)



So here is what I came up with.....

I spent about $50 for steel at the local metal supply house....about 50% remnants and 50% cut stock

I fabricated two new smaller receivers out of 2" square stock/3/16" wall and some remnant angle iron. These hang on the same three bolts that connect the receiver hitch to the van frame.






The original grade 5 bolts fastening the receiver hitch to the van were replaced with longer grade 8 bolts. The original hitch is bolted to the frame with heavy hex nuts, then the new angle brackets are slid on the exposed tails of the bolts and nutted again with heavy nuts and washers.

The angled reinforcements on the ends of the new receivers are also rems...they were found as-is in the real cheap bin. A little filing of the seam and they slipped over the 2" square stock.

The hauler itself was quite straightforward...a couple of lengths of 1 1/2" stock and an import aluminum hitch hauler purchased from Craigslist. I think these are fairly generic as I've now seen a few around.

I drilled 11/16" holes through the receivers and the hitch square stock to allow using a generic 5/8" hitch pin to retain the hauler.

I had angle tabs welded on the square stock to retain the aluminum rail with fasteners....and had another tab welded for the inner tie down point. These weld tabs are about 60-70 cents each.

Lastly, I drilled and tapped a couple of holes for the loading ramp and used some thumb knobs to retain it.









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Old 08-16-2016, 09:34 PM   #2
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Nice! Looks good!
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Old 08-16-2016, 09:39 PM   #3
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Here's the really cool part......I took the leftover pieces from the Chinese hauler and modified them to hold an aluminess tray that I had stashed in my garage loft for a couple of years.

The bracket spacing of the leftover hitch pieces lined up just about perfectly with the width of the storage tray...a little welding and voila!

The good karma thing was that both times that I showed up at the welders I got the parts welded instantly...no waiting.....it was great.

I drilled and tapped the support that plugs into the receiver with 1/2-13 threads and use a bolt to tighten the tray to the hitch....no rocking even when standing in the tray to shower (which is the plan).











Here are the two pieces NOT used from the Chinese hauler kit....

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Old 08-16-2016, 11:28 PM   #4
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Amazing! I have a cheap-o motorcycle hauler hitch rack for one bike, but I need something for two bikes now! My buddys and i just picked up new crf250ls.
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Old 08-17-2016, 10:17 AM   #5
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The only thing about this I don't like is I was hoping you would engineer some rack that would lift the rack higher, then lower out of the way of rear doors and swingarms, and then I could hire you to make one for me, or just ripoff your design and make one myself, because that is what I want.

Oh well.
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Old 08-17-2016, 10:36 AM   #6
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I like what you've done there. I agree with RPA about a lift type rack maybe along the lines of the Ultimate MX Hauler. Center of my 2" hitch is 23" off the ground and the MX Hauler doesn't go low enough to get my WRR on the rack.
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Old 08-17-2016, 10:43 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eddyturn View Post
I like what you've done there. I agree with RPA about a lift type rack maybe along the lines of the Ultimate MX Hauler. Center of my 2" hitch is 23" off the ground and the MX Hauler doesn't go low enough to get my WRR on the rack.
[thread hijack]

Oooh, I like the looks of the new Ultimate MX Ramp.. 22" lift and a full width holder. I never liked the skid plate only things, friend had one and they're kind of a pain, and the bike isn't that stable..


[/thread hijack]
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Old 08-17-2016, 01:08 PM   #8
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The Ultimate hauler bottle jack would be tough with two receivers....

A buddy of mine has the ultimate and hasn't used it in years.....perhaps an interesting starting point....

..one thing that I haven't mentioned is that I didn't (yet) figure out a clean way to mount the MTB fork mount with the motorcycle on there....and it's not for lack of trying.....about 35 different positions...

I have provisions on the rail to mount the bike fork mount and haul the MTB when the moto is not on there.....I end up doing this frequently when in Moab.

I've also ordered a 2 gal rotopax and mount for this setup, and I'm searching ebay for a cargo net for the box. I was considering a 3 gallon rotopax (blems are $65 on ebay)....but it's too wide to lay flat in the box.

Hijack away....maybe some interesting ideas will come up....
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Old 08-17-2016, 01:57 PM   #9
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Cool new rack they have. boywonder - I was reading a thread on Adventure Rider site and one person showed how the new 3 gallon R-Pax cans are seeping fuel through the plastic. His warranty replacements did the same. He is going back to metal. Just thought I would pass that along.
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Old 08-17-2016, 02:57 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eddyturn View Post
boywonder - I was reading a thread on Adventure Rider site and one person showed how the new 3 gallon R-Pax cans are seeping fuel through the plastic. His warranty replacements did the same. He is going back to metal. Just thought I would pass that along.
wow...thanks!
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