Motorcycle carrier for fat tire ebike

[Ruthless]

Hi All,
We are considering an aluminum motorcycle carrier with a ramp for a fat tire ebike that weighs about 70 lbs. I read that trailer hitch extenders are not recommended for these carriers - maybe because it’s not stable?. However, for it to extend out past the aluminess box and spare tire on our E350 we would need to do this. I was wondering if anyone had tried this or had any insights. This is the carrier we were looking at: https://www.discountramps.com/motorcycle-carrier/p/AMC-400/

 

[posplayr]

The only thing I can imagine might be a problem is that you will have twice the rotational slop with the extender. Weight should not be a problem with only 70 lbs.

If you have the extender welded to the carrier, and get one of those anti-rattle hitch stabilizers (one might even come with that hitch) then you should be fine and this should not rotate as much as with a full 400 lbs motorcycle.

I got a steel black widow 500 lbs (for my DRZ400 )and it came with a stabilizer that I welded to the main support in the right position so I can just slide in the hitch.

https://www.discountramps.com/black...fE-WZY0dSR6BG4mUM3L1QoIa5B2_ztbQaAkC7EALw_wcB

https://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Anti-Rattle/etrailer/e99007.html

 

[marret]

My understanding is you cut the weight rating of your hitch in half with an extender.

 

[posplayr]

This might be somewhat stronger . I hear that with more weight on the carrier the bolts take slot of abuse and can get stripped out.

This one has a larger fine pitch bolt that is probably hardened.

https://www.amazon.com/NIXFACE-Heav...pla-942096879967#immersive-view_1621778895284

The main problem is the leverage the motorcycle weight has as it bounces from one side to another compared to the 2” receiver.

I welded (outrigger) supports to my black widow that have 1 1/4” mini receivers outboard of the hitch mounting points. This dramatically strengthens the carrier. I’m sure this 500 lbs rated carrier will now go to 700 lbs assuming my suspension will support it.

 

[BACKRDS]

Hello POSPLAYR,
You mentioned that you welded 1 1/4” mini receivers (outrigger) supports to your black widow, which dramatically strengthens the carrier. Could you please post several photos of your setup? Thanks

 

[boywonder]

Those aluminum carriers do an OK job of hauling typical dirt bikes.....and as mentioned can be a bit flappy.......rotating around the hitch.


I heavily modified one of those and added a pair of "mini-receivers" to the van (where the main receiver hitch bolts on) and it's works great for 250 lb dirt bikes without wobbling.


All that being said I don't think you will have any safety issues hauling a 70 lb E bike with one of those carriers even with a short extension, although you may find the rocking/slop annoying.


You can either weld a few things together or drill and tap the extender and/or the carrier and use a bolt to tighten up the joints.

 

[boywonder]

Here is an extender I whipped up from scrap parts.......I drilled and tapped the male portion with 1/2-13 threads and use the bolt shown to tighten it to the receiver on the van. This helps minimize wobble, although there are better ways to solve this issue this works well for light loads like my bicycle rack and a small step I put back there for getting in the back of the van.

 

[posplayr]

Hello POSPLAYR,
You mentioned that you welded 1 1/4” mini receivers (outrigger) supports to your black widow, which dramatically strengthens the carrier. Could you please post several photos of your setup? Thanks

Backrds,
I uploaded a couple of pictures of the full carrier which includes a modified HF cargo carrier between bike and bumper, as well as an extension for an HF trailer tongue box for recovery gear storage. I also welded in a gas can carrier is you look closely at the driverside near the bumper.

The pictures that include the rear cargo box probably convinced me that I need to add airbags.

2-3/4 cu. ft. Steel Trailer Tongue Box

500 lb. Capacity Steel Cargo Carrier


With the box loaded and the 300 lbs of DRZ the hitch dropped about 1.5"; IIRC the front probably rose 1/4". As pictured I am probably at the 500 lbs limit but with the outriggers, it feels directly attached to the frame.

Here is a pdf with some photos giving an overview.

Dropbox

If you are an experienced welder you will know all this, however, this little project was by far the biggest welding /fabrication job I have ever done. It turned out well but it was a lot of work to maintain proper alignment on the outriggers.

The outriggers are 1 1/4" x 3/16" square tubing near the receiver. An I sectioned in 1 /1/4" x 11 GA (0.120") at the carrier.

I buy from Metal Depot. You can get exactly what you need although it takes about a week to deliver via UPS ground to AZ.

MetalsDepot® - Buy Steel Square Tube Online!

This project suffered from craping elegance and so I ended up using home depot 1 /14" x 1/16" square tubing for the box outrigger/supports. I will have to see how this works out. Worst case (I hope I don't lose the box ). It bounces a little because of the thin 1/16" material but it does not sag any and the carries seems unfazed.

One thing I could mention is when I had the bike on the carrier, I wanted to see how well I could load/offload with the box installed. As I was pulling off the straps, the rachet on the 500 lbs straps jammed and the van side strap completely slipped out. The bike would have fallen off (onto the ground) but it was captured by the storage box. :d5:

 

[posplayr]

I heavily modified one of those and added a pair of "mini-receivers" to the van (where the main receiver hitch bolts on) and it's works great for 250 lb dirt bikes without wobbling.

Glad I'm not the only one crazy enough to do this :d3:

 

[posplayr]

For my setup, I ended up with about 1/16" alignment and keep the receivers lubricated with silicone spray after painting the insides of the tubes with Por-15 (lightly). I think this is going to be workable as AZ is pretty airid and there is not much rust. However, it is a PITA to do unless you are a very skilled fabricator.

Something simpler is just a cross between the outrigger design and heavy-duty "anti-rattle". You don't have to go as far with the outboard side receivers.

I attached a concept that is not going to provide as much twisting resistance as going fully out to the carrier mounts, but it will help a lot without being near as complex to weld up while maintaining only a good alignment. I added some detail where you could add tightening bolts with good effect

 

[boywonder]

Here are a couple pics of my outrigger setup..

It's been used for several years now...light, stiff..works great. The last shot was during fabrication.....here is what it looks like today...

 

[posplayr]

Here are a couple pics of my outrigger setup..

It's been used for several years now...light, stiff..works great. The last shot was during fabrication.....here is what it looks like today...

Very interesting. I never considered removing the center support. What dimension tubing (including thickness) are you using on the outriggers?

Obviously for a motorcycle pushing that weight further out can start to be problematic depending on how much you hang out there. In my case, the box was an afterthought that did not impede loading. So I mounted it higher than the approaching angle for the rack itself.

What made you put the box between the bumper and bike?

 

[boywonder]

The box is an Aluminess jerry can tray that I bought used from another member here......so I took the leftovers from the Chinese moto hauler and made the receiver mount for the box. It was crazy easy, kinda made for each other. It plugged into the receiver completely separate from the moto hauler.

That Aluminess tray has since morphed into a DIY swingarm box.

The supports are 1.5" x .125" wall I think..it's been a while. When I designed and fabricated my rear bumper, swing arms etc. I made longer supports out of .093" wall since I had to clear the storage box and spare on the back of the van and wanted to see if I could make the moto hauler lighter. This proved to be under designed after hitting an uneven road surface with the moto on the hauler and bending the supports.


The latest config uses the original .125" wall supports sleeved with some 1.25" material. This accomplishes 2 things; it spaces the rack further from the rear of the van so the bike can clear the box and tire and it doubles the wall thickness (sectional area) right where the supports go into the receivers, where they bend.

I have stops in the receivers so that I can slide in the carrier without having to align the holes to put in the clevis pins. When the carrier supports are bottomed against the stops the holes line up.

A bit heavier but pretty bulletproof at this point.

 

[Darkstar-SMB]

18 inch extender from Etrailer

I had the same concerns. I purchased an extender from e trailer made by Curt. The tongue weight on that is 350 and I've put my KTM 530 on that which weighs 245 dry. The aluminess bumper tongue weight on the front bumper is about 100 if I remember correctly, but the rear on my 2007 e350 is over 500. And it does the trick. That and the addition of a stabilizer to ensure it doesn't bounce too much...but I went over some sketchy roads in Baja putting it to a decent test.

 

[fjefman-SMB]

Don't overthink this, you will be fine. I've carried various motorcycles (up to 530lb) on the back of a vehicle for probably 30K miles so far and it is really simple and uneventful. As long as your vehicle can handle the weight, and your extender is of good quality any motorcycle rack will be fine.

Last week I actually did a 600 mile trip with a 460lb motorcycle on the back hitch AND a 350lb motorcycle on the front hitch. I certainly need to be careful with the turns and evasive maneuvers but no issues overall.

The best hitch tightener I've ever used is this one - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IO2N44E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1