I need a hitch on my pup for a bike rack

Its not a good idea to put a bike rack on the back of a small, single axle trailer, like a pop-up for more than one reason. First, the rear bumper is too flimsy to attach it there, so you would have to have a custom receiver built that attaches to the rear frame rails of the camper. Second, once you do that, and put the weight of the rack, plus bikes back there, it throws off the balance of the rig, and makes the camper very light on the tongue. This can and will cause sway and other towing issues. Your best bet is to get (or make) either a roof mounted rack for your TV or pop-up or one of the Pro-Rac style racks.

http://www.prorac.com/tenttrailerpro.php

If you do some searches on this site in the bike/cargo rack section, you can find a few different sets of instructions on building your own Pro-Rac for alot less than you can buy one for. When I had my old pop-up, I built one for less than $100. They work great, and IMO are the best rack out there for pop-ups.

 

I use a dual hitch for my bikes. I found this one on line that is alot like mime.
http://www.etrailer.com/p-D-192.html
It works well for me.

 

Pay close attention to your clearances and weight ratings for those.

 

The issues jwolfe brought up are valid however...There are many reasons one would not want to use a roof rack and we don't need to rehash them now. The rear bumper is too flimsy to support a rack but that can be overcome by mounting a hitch to the MAIN frame rails of the PUP (maybe custom maybe an adapted universal fit), The weight/balance issue is valid but easily overcome but first you need to know what the tongue weighs you then add ballast to the tongue to offset the extra weight (it won't need nearly as much as you think). It has been done thousands of times...

 

Here is ours



Yakima King Cobra Bike Racks on Fleetwood/Coleman custom Crossbars (that could be also bought from Yakima)

 

Going against the normal advice here, I will say that it can be done. You just have to do it right. I added a hitch to mine to pull a small boat! Now that will get everyone excited. I have a thread on here showing it: http://www.popupportal.com/index.php?topic=44749.msg324441#msg324441. Since you are not intending to tow doubles, you do not need to make yours as heavy as I did mine. At the very least, you will need someone capable of welding. You say that you have the 1 1/4" rack. Get some 1.5" x 0.12" thick steel tube, long enough to tie into the bumper and three crossmembers on the frame. Then weld 3" x 1.5" x 0.25" pieces to the tube so that you have tabs to bolt into the frame. Drill a 1/2" hole for the hitch pin, and 3/8" holes for the bolts. Use washers on the inside of the frame for reinforcement. After that, get some 1.5" x 1.5" x 0.25" angle iron long enough to go inside the bumper and all the way to the frame rails. Put this inside the bumper, then run the bolts through the bumper, hitch, and the angle. If it were me I'd add a few bolts on the ends of the angle also.

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The hitch should look something like this.

Just be careful and don't hang 500 lbs back there. You should be OK. It's been done may times before. BUT YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFUL!!



In case you are curious, I made mine a little heavier. I replaced the bumper with C-channel, and used a 2" reciever tube.



Also, while it is not a good picture, I did put a reinforcement back to the first three crossmenbers like this:

 

What about having them on the front of your tv? I saw this set up for the first time this past weekend. I wish I could remember the name on the frame/hitch/rack...maybe biltrite? I think they had a swinging 4 bike rack on the hitch. Looked like a sweet setup.

EDIT: It took a little looking but I figured it out - it was draw-tite not biltrite. Here's a link:
http://www.draw-tite.com/content/products.aspx?lvl=2&parentid=1000&catID=1075&part=0

For what its worth, this looks to be a much more reliable and safe approach over putting it on the back of your pup. Good luck!

 

I did not mention it before, not knowing what the TV was. Putting the bikes on the front is a great idea. As I said in my last post, I pull a boat behind the camper, so I can't put the bikes back there. Therefore I have them mounted on the front of the Suburban. This will probably only work for trucks or truck based SUVs. If you have the right vehicle, you can probably get a front mounted receiver like this: http://www.hitchesforless.com/front_mount/frontmount_main.htm. I have to get a picture of my Truck-Bikes-Camper-Boat rig all hitched up. It is a sight to see!

 

We have an 04 Pal. Mustang and I'll tell you,, they have real light weak frames ... They will bend easily. The only way I would even attempt to mount a rear hitch was if you welded 2x2 square stock to the inside frame rails,3/4's of the way forward right to the back bumper ... Then added the proper side bracing in ..

These pups weren't ment to carry anything more then a spare tire on the rear... I would be looking at the bike racks that attach to the front "A" frame..

 

I just bought a double hitch from Harbor Freight to put my ball receiver in the bottom and bike rack in top - that is what it is made for - so you can have your bike rack too

 

Just because you have seen others do it, doesnt mean its a good thing to do. The dangers have been presented to you, and at the end of the day its up to you on what you do.

BTW, you might think your bike rack is expensive, but wait till you see your insurance bill after they have to cover the accident that takes out your TV, PUP and possibly others around you. Or when you bend the frame of your PUP and have to have that repaired. Just sayin...

 

This is adding a 40 lb hitch, 5 lb bike hitch mount and maybe 50-100 lbs worth of bikes. Not a problem unless you already have loads of weight on the back side of the camper inside. Some people are so OCD in keeping perfect balance or keeping all the weight towards the front that they tend to discourage this practice. I believe this is being overly and unnecessarily cautious.

In reality, as long as this is the only additional weight added then you should have NO problems doing this. The problem is people that have several hundred pounds loaded in the back of the pup plus loaded on top and loaded on the back bumper already that will have problems.

 

I added a rear hitch to mine. I used 3 inch channel to build another frame from the axle back to put my receiver on. I am using a cargo basket to carry a 140lb generator. I have not had any sway issues. But each unit is different, not to say some are tongue light to begin with