2" Receiver Design For Bike Rack on Alum. LL Trailers

[alazear]

Here is an alternate design for a bike rack for LL trailers I came up with.  I started with this hitch mount    https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hitch/Curt/13018.html   and custom welded a 3/8 x 6.75 x 12" plate to bring the hitch up and over the bumper as well as past the protruding black trim piece on the trailer.  This eliminated the under designed rear bumper from the equation all together.  No weight is on the bumper at all. 

I decided the 2 x 7" cross frame member [just forward of the bumper] was a more secure structural piece to tie in to.  I hope I'm right.  I would not pull a car with it, but for a couple bikes it seems solid.  I just took a chance and went for it.

I decided I'd sandwich the Alum. 2 x7" frame member with another piece of 1/4" steel behind it as well.  I then used (4) 7/16" Grade 8 through bolts w/locking washers to attach the 2" receiver to the frame member.  It seems rock solid now and hope it stays that way.  It has zero play in any direction.

If you can weld 3/8" plate to thicker 1/2" plate (stock receiver), the welding is straight forward.  I stick welded the 3 facing sides you see, plus across the back that is hidden from view.  The receiver I bought is overbuilt for this purpose, but it had the geometry I wanted, so I started with it anyway.  Further searching, might reveal other possibilities for a hitch to begin with.  One could also start with all the raw hitch pieces you weld yourself and go from there.  I almost did this. 

The crux difficulty for me was in drilling the two upper holes in the Alum. frame - directly behind the bumper.  It was extremely tight quarters to drill into for 2 through bolts, but I eventually made it work by custom cutting a couple different bits to length and cobbling together close quarter drilling tools in creative ways.  The lower 2 holes were quick as the bumper was just enough out of the way for a standard drill and bit.  I painted it black to match the powder coating that was already on the receiver and mounted it up. 

I have not tested this set up on the road yet.  I'll report back when I do.  My wife and I are headed to Hood River, OR. and then to Canada in a couple weeks for some mt. biking and kiteboarding.  It will be a good test of this new rack attachment.  I'm cautiously optimistic.  Just thought I'd share an alternate, yet currently untested design.   Adam

[charliem]

Very interesting. Looks like a good approach and a good implementation. Your pictures point out how the construction has changed from early models. The original models had 2x4 frame members extending all the way rearward. No cross member at all, certainly not a 2x7. The 2x4 bumper was just tacked onto the 2x4 frame members. This necessitated doubling the 2x4 bumper to take a decent bumper mount receiver. Note in my pictures the total absence of that nice cross member. The pictures show a special factory mod made by LL to my drawings. It was never offered by Thor. Several owners had this mod copied by private welding shops.

[mojospeople]

Nice bike and rack! Will be interested in how the new hitch performs although I can't convince my husband to let our bikes ride outside so ours travel inside the camper. It works well but it prevents us from being able to use the inside of the camper while on the road unless we want to unload them. We have managed to fit two mountain bikes in the aisle (front wheels off) and two road bikes on the bed though.

[alazear]

Yes, my version of LL 21 BHS trailer [and I'm sure other current models of same] have 2 x 7" longitudinal frame members running the length of the trailer front to rear that are one single piece.  Then, at various junctures, 2 x 7" cross members are MIG welded in between.  Since it's fast production manufacturing, I'm assuming MIG and not TIG welded....  No beautiful stack of dimes look on those welds.

The other options I looked at to carry bikes were:

1. Copying the design of doubling up the 2 x 4" bumper and then buying a standard hitch mount as others here have done.  I almost went this way and bought a aux. spool gun for my MIG welder to weld Alum.or hiring out the job to someone else.

2. Doing a long piece of 2 x 2" steel bolted across the top of longitudinal frame members and further welding a hitch mount from there.  This could also be a solid solution that would provide good ground clearance for a bike rack, but a bit visually bulky.

3. Doing a long piece of 2 x 2" steel bolted underneath the bottom of the longitudinal frames members and welding from there.  A solid solution as well, less visually bulky, but with less ground clearance...

4. Pulling out the upper bunk bed in the back and storing the bikes inside with the added benefit of them being inside for security, weather etc.  This was my primary focus.... until I actually tried it.  The bikes just seemed huge inside. They were very difficult to maneuver around cabinetry without banging things up badly each time getting them in and out.  The aggressive tires chew up anything they hit very readily.  Even road bikes would not fit well.  That just didn't seem like a good long term solution to something we want access to all the time while camping.  So, back in went the upper bunk bed where I'm currently storing a couple kites and other random gear back there instead.  It's nice overflow.

Then I started noticing the 2 x 7" cross frame member I ended up using.

[alazear]

Thanks mojospeople,

My wife and I own too many bikes for our own good, but we do love it.  We are definitely concerned about theft as you guys are.  I've decided to make sure our insurance is up to date and go use them anyway...  Maybe being a 26 + 29" wheel bikes they will be less desirable to steal, but I doubt it.  A cordless angle grinder w/a cheap diamond blade will go through most any lock rapidly.  We'll see.

As for hitch mount bike racks, I've seen 2 I'd buy.  The Kuat, which we own and the One Up, which my buddy has.  But there are many choices out there, most of which are way too loose in the hitch mount for my taste.

[nhlakes]

We have 2 comfort bikes that have traveled thousands of miles on the front hitch of my truck very securely on an Xport 2 bike cradle rack similar to this. 

https://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Bike-Racks/SportRack/SR2901LR.html?feed=npn&gclid=CjwKCAjwr-PYBRB8EiwALtjbz6PGu2L942AdTfSfxvIsD-IbWBaVGAZ59IuPkaWeNV5xtTiDIJ3noRoCKlIQAvD_BwE

Have had it for years.  Also use it on the rear of my commuter cars.  It has the adapter for both 1.25" and 2" receiver.  Love the easy off/on.  It has rubbed some paint off my bike where the rubber covered hook grasps the bike, but I'm OK with that.  Just a couple of his/her Schwinns that  work fine for us.

Admittedly I'm now carrying a Suzuki VanVan on a motorcycle carrier up front more often than the bicycles.

[Gary M]

Awesome mod Adam👍🏻. I've been looking for ways to mount a rack on mine. The tongue racks just look too awkward and high. Good to know we may not have to double up our bumpers if we have the 2x7 cross member to use instead. You should market this plate/hitch weld, I would buy one from you in a heart beat! Please let us know how it holds up after road testing. Very interested!

[mojospeople]

Thanks mojospeople,

My wife and I own too many bikes for our own good, but we do love it.  We are definitely concerned about theft as you guys are.  I've decided to make sure our insurance is up to date and go use them anyway...  Maybe being a 26 + 29" wheel bikes they will be less desirable to steal, but I doubt it.  A cordless angle grinder w/a cheap diamond blade will go through most any lock rapidly.  We'll see.

As for hitch mount bike racks, I've seen 2 I'd buy.  The Kuat, which we own and the One Up, which my buddy has.  But there are many choices out there, most of which are way too loose in the hitch mount for my taste.

Cool! We too have more bikes than we should but always need at least one more each! Hubs works in the industry now so it's too tempting! We own the camper to travel and ride. Hopefully staying at epic trailhead campgrounds or close by. Not as worried about theft as we hate road grime in the bikes. I think with a basic cable lock when you're out of sight you're good. Thieves don't know anything about our bikes...they just see something easy to steal whether it's worth $50 or $5000. We've owned about every type of rack and currently have a 1UP on my car. The great thing about it is, even though the bikes travel inside the camper, we still need the rack when we arrive at our destination. The 1Up folds small enough to fit in the forward bin. Seriously amazing! So when we arrive and unhitch, the bike rack comes out and goes on the car. Works really well.
Coming up yet this year: Brown County Indiana, Cuyuna Minnesota, Fruita Colorado. Hopefully Bentonville Arkansas and Marquette Michigan too but not solid yet.

[alazear]

Hitch Update:

After driving from Gardnerville, NV. to B.C Canada, I can report the bike hitch install works well.  No issue with trailer frame alum. welds, + no issue with my custom hitch welds or bolts, etc . 

For our particular mt. bike handlebar set up, I do turn the interior bike's bars slightly, so they won't bang the trailer on a massive unexpected bump in the road and dent the back of the trailer with that bike's handlebar ends.  If I had shorter bars, or a different bike, or an even stiffer bike rack, it wouldn't be an issue.  But there is just enough play in the rack itself...  It's quick and easy to adjust, readjust the handlebars for road trip and just gives me piece of mind it won't happen, even though the clearance on our set up is probably fine anyway.

For mojospeople:  Yes, we've already found having the bike rack removable and the ability to then reinstall it on your car once in an area, is critical to the ability to access trailheads for the biking we do.  We used this a lot at Hood River, OR. last week.  I haven't ridden most of the areas you mentioned, but we've been to Fruita once while crack climbing in Moab + Indian Creek, UT and decided to drive over for a long day to check it out and ride.  You'll love Fruita if you haven't been.  It's definitely barren though in its landscape.

[Gary M]

Hitch Update:

After driving from Gardnerville, NV. to B.C Canada, I can report the bike hitch install works well.  No issue with trailer frame alum. welds, + no issue with my custom hitch welds or bolts, etc . 

That's great to hear, and that 2x7 looks pretty solid. I would pay you an extra $100 on top of parts and shipping if you could hook me up with a receiver welded to that steel plate like you have 

[alazear]

Hi Gary,

That sounds fine to me. 

A couple considerations before you commit to install this:

1. The shipping is going to be a pricey, as the the basic hitch is already factory welded to a 1/2" piece of plate when I buy it from etrailer and thus a bit over built before I even started.  This didn't bother me at all as I kind of liked it that way, overbuilt.  But it is heavy.

2. You really want to think about how you are going to drill the upper two holes through the alum. frame.  Don't underestimate the difficulty of doing this.  The bottom two holes are no problems and just take seconds with a sharp drill bit, standard drill + a bit of precision-care.  Alum. drills fast. 

The upper two holes are a problem.  It took me an hour each to drill those upper two holes, properly aligned and to proper size.  I used all kinds of cobbled together tools to do this, together with custom cut sacrificial drill bits I tossed in the garbage afterward; they were trashed.  With better close quarters equipment it might have gone more smoothly.  I used what I had.  I almost gave up doing this, and was going to cut the bumper off to drill these and was then going to TIG weld the alum. bumper back on afterward just to accomplish drilling those two silly upper holes.  In the end, I didn't have to do this, but it was tedious and slow. 

The design I came up with was the following for this 2' receiver:  I wanted those two upper through holes as high up as possible on that 2 x 7" alum. frame member and my steel plates to counteract the torque of the bike rack pulling down and thus handle bumps in the road, etc. with two mt. bikes attached.  It worked really well.  I doubt that frame member could tow anything behind, even a small trailer.  You'd want to go into the longitudinal frame members for that.  But for a bike rack, I like it.

The design problem one cannot see from the outside is ~4 1/2" up from the bottom of that frame member there is an alum. factory welded bar, 1/2-3/4" square or so that supports the rear edge of black tank.  It's welded to that 2 x 7" frame member from the inside.  You can't see that welded piece unless you drop the underbelly and look up.  This prevented me from positioning the upper through bolts for the receiver any higher up the plate than I did.  If I could, it would add even more rigidity and make the drilling of them much easier from the outside too.  However, this would have involved dropping the black tank and re-plumbing, and I wasn't going to go there.  This means that the upper two holes end up about in the middle of where the bumper is, as to not interfere with the bar that supports the black tank on the inside.  Thus, the drilling problem.  Those two holes cannot be drilled from the inside either, as again, the black tank is smack in the way.  However, once they are drilled and you get the proper length 7/16" grade 8 bolts at any good hardware store, the mounting of the bracket is straightforward with socket and wrench.  It's the drilling that took time.

I'm away from home traveling right now for the next couple weeks.  I be happy to weld it up for you when I get home, if you're still interested. 

Adam

[Gary M]

I'm away from home traveling right now for the next couple weeks.  I be happy to weld it up for you when I get home, if you're still interested. 

Adam

I just got back from a camping trip too, but yea I'm definitely interested! No rush though, maybe private message me on here when you're ready, and we can work out details.

As far as the drilling goes... The only good thing about how they installed my shower to drain into the black tank, resulted in them installing the black tank 1 foot forward of the 2x7 at the rear. So I have a clear shot of it from the back, and with my Makita angle drill it should be no problem

[nhlakes]

My 21RBS was built in late 2015 and the black tank is almost flush against the rear - other wise I'd be interested in the same.  Nice setup.