Bike rack on bumper... with an addition

[jcarlilesiu]

That isn't a bad idea. I need to have some welding done on the front anyway for propane and battery storage.

[CableGuy]

Yeah that should work. At the Cleveland RV show in Jan I saw a trailer that used four ~3x3 "L" brackets welded to each side of the bumper to frame junction. Very inexpensive way to strengthen the bumper mount. Doesnt strengthen the bumper itself but definitely helps. Might want to check with a local welder on cost of doing a similar mod to yours. Might be cheaper and he might be able to run angle iron between the frame rails and give some rigidity to the cross section of the bumper.

Mick

[jcarlilesiu]

Trouble is this system does nothing to reinforce the actual bumper tube itself, to keep it from twisting under load.

Mick

Yeah, I considered that. The bumpers are usually pretty small gauge rolled sheet steel.

I think that the closer you can mount the rack to the reinforced attachment point, the less it will want to twist. I need to take a close look at the bumper to see where the best stop to minimize that torsional load will be. Obviously, mounting in the middle between the two welds/mount-n-lock system would be the worst place.

[CableGuy]

Trouble is this system does nothing to reinforce the actual bumper tube itself, to keep it from twisting under load.

Mick

[max2bob]

I believe once money is available I will go with this same system. thanks for posting the info on it!

[jcarlilesiu]

I have never seen that system but sure looks like it would help to a certain degree. on my ar-one I have a 2 inch receiver tube bolted onto the bumper and attach my Rhodes bike carrier to that. but... I then go from the top of the bike carrier with straps and attach them to the trailer frame. that takes a little of the weight off the bumper but I think? more importantly when I go over bumps it stops the bike rack from bouncing up and down and exerting all that extra force on the bumper. anyone that has followed a trailer can see when it goes over a bump how much that bike rack can swing up and down. I have just eliminated that movement. it is not a pretty set-up but works. for the price of that system it sure would seem one could not go wrong. I looked at the welds on my bumper and they sure do not look like they will withstand much punishment.

I plan on doing the same but using the Mount-n-Lock system to reinforce the bumper.

[max2bob]

I have never seen that system but sure looks like it would help to a certain degree. on my ar-one I have a 2 inch receiver tube bolted onto the bumper and attach my Rhodes bike carrier to that. but... I then go from the top of the bike carrier with straps and attach them to the trailer frame. that takes a little of the weight off the bumper but I think? more importantly when I go over bumps it stops the bike rack from bouncing up and down and exerting all that extra force on the bumper. anyone that has followed a trailer can see when it goes over a bump how much that bike rack can swing up and down. I have just eliminated that movement. it is not a pretty set-up but works. for the price of that system it sure would seem one could not go wrong. I looked at the welds on my bumper and they sure do not look like they will withstand much punishment.

[camper79]

No experience with them, but I can understand the theory.

It is always claimed (have not had experience with bumper failure), the the weld between the trailer frame, and the bumper fails by pulling away due to the lever action of a bike rack for instance.

It would make sense that these would reinforce those welds and prevent it from torsional or twisting loads and take some of the effort off the welds.

Hopefully somebody will chime in if they have used these. I would like to pick up a pair too.

[rbrent]

Would like to know if anyone has used these also, And if they really do allow more weight on the bumper.

[jcarlilesiu]

I know that bumpers are not designed for weight, but I would really like a rear bike rack.

I found this system that allows additional weight on the bumper by reinforcing the bumper.

Has any tried a system like this to get more weight out of the bumper mounts.

https://www.mount-n-lock.com/products/4 ... fetystruts