Ray's Camper Stuff
Page 2
Bike Rack
The next thing I did was to install a bike rack. I was looking to install one on the roof, but it would have been so high off the ground (almost 6 feet) I would have needed a step ladder to get em on an off. About my only choice was to install a rear receiver hitch on the trailer and us a Thule swing out 4 bike rack.
((Note: DON'T do this to yours if it alters the tongue weight severely. or if your trailer has stamped / thin metal frame rails. The E3 is a beast with thick wall frame that can handle the rack without damage or affecting the towabilty. Mounting a receiver to a thin metal frame will cause damage.))
So here's what I did;
I acquired a hitch from E-trailer that would span the distance between the frame rails (60 inches)
http://www.etrailer.com/pc-UMH~82201.htm
The cost was $229.00. (Way over kill for a bike rack)
I got the Bike Rack from REI for $429 but I see that E-trailer has them cheaper at the link below ($377.95)
http://www.etrailer.com/pc-SBR~TH964.htm
I then bolted & welded it to the frame rails.
After getting the receiver installed I installed the rack. Boy does it work good. with the bikes installed i lost around 5 % of my tongue weight. That left me with around 476 lbs of weight in my normal tow config with the frt deck loaded. Another side benny is I can swing the bikes to the side and pop open the trailer without removing the bikes.
The whole process took around 5 hours to install.
I cant over stress enough to do the math before you do this mod. Total weight that I added with 2 bikes was around 90 lbs rear of the axel. If you change the tongue weight to much, handling will suffer severely. On some popups this can be a real killer. Also on some popups the frames are so thin that the extra weight of the hitch , bikes & motion of being on the road will tear the frame rails. So I guess the best thing to say is , IF IN DOUBT...... DON'T DO IT