Class II hitch ???

[EBOLA6]

I have a class II hitch rated at 300lbs tongue weight. I have pulled my jet ski for some time now with no problems.

What i want to do is mount a motorcycle hauler that slides into the hitch. It will hold a 220 lbs motorcross bike. My question is...will the hitch be strong enough to hold the bike? I know the bike and hitch weigh 255 together. This is less than the tongue wight but when the car bounces up and down, there will be extra force on the hitch because of G's.

should I consider having hitch strengthened via welding? Is the tongue weight limit due to the 1 1/4 inch shaft? Or because of the frame's weakness?

Also, with 122,000 miles, the suspension seems pretty soft. I am concerned with extreme sagging in rear as well as bottoming out. Can i just buy stiffer struts/shocks for the rear?

Thanks for everything!

 

[David Dorr]

I think you'd be alright with a class II, but I'd test it before you take it on a trip.

 

[sdpatt]

Class II hitch with a 255 pound total load? No problem. Not all of the load weight is on the tongue. Most is carried by the trailer's axle. The tongue limit is the load on the hitch. You can even test it with bathroom scale (and a block of wood to spread the load) to determine the actual weight on the tongue. The load on the tongue of my boat trailer is less than 100 pounds. I'll bet that the load on your motorcycle is no more than 50 pounds.

A class II hitch at work.

 

[Electric Frost]

You should be fine.

 

[Electric Frost]

D'oh!

 

[Electric Frost]

Let's try that again...

 

[Electric Frost]

 

[MOSHO92]

geocities does not allow hyperlinking. Sorry bud.

 

[shojuan]

sdpatt:
Class II hitch with a 255 pound total load? No problem. Not all of the load weight is on the tongue. Most is carried by the trailer's axle. The tongue limit is the load on the hitch. You can even test it with bathroom scale (and a block of wood to spread the load) to determine the actual weight on the tongue. The load on the tongue of my boat trailer is less than 100 pounds. I'll bet that the load on your motorcycle is no more than 50 pounds.

A class II hitch at work.

I think he want to stick a carrier into the hitch, kind of like a bike rack and forgo the trailer altogether.

100 lb tongue weight? Don't you want between 10-15% of the trailer load on the tongue? Shoot, even 7% of your load would be around 200 pounds. Anyways, if it works for you that's all that matters.

 

[qiksho]

With that much tongue weight you will experience major rear sagging. Not to mention if you have 4 people and a crap load of luggage.

AFter installing 2 class II hitches on SHO's I would (guess) that you can do it, if you upgrade the rear suspension.