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Old 09-05-2020, 04:52 PM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Axis 25.3
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Need ideas for transporting 2 ebikes and a spare tire on an Axis 25.3

What has your best solution been?

We have 2 ebikes (50# each) and a spare tire that we want to have along on our journeys.

At this point the best idea we have come up with is to use a heavy duty (750# capacity), hitch mounted cargo carrier. We've found some bike wheel supports (along with tie-down straps) that would bolt onto the carrier, but still aren't sure of the best way to add the spare MH tire on the carrier.

We're a bit concerned about stringing on one of those double hitch mounts. Not sure how stable that would all be. Plus, really would like to minimize added length to the rig.

Another thought has been to front mount the tire, but that would take adding a hitch to the already rather low riding front.

What good solutions have you found?

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Old 09-05-2020, 05:02 PM   #2
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The front hitch does not go UNDER the rv.
It comes out behind the license plate.
There is no lost ground clearance.
It's a very. Easy bolt on hitch.
Etrailer.Com
UnDer $120+-
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Old 09-05-2020, 05:38 PM   #3
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Unhappy

Quote:
Originally Posted by ducksface View Post
The front hitch does not go UNDER the rv.
It comes out behind the license plate.
There is no lost ground clearance.
It's a very. Easy bolt on hitch.
Etrailer.Com
UnDer $120+-
I'm not sure I am understanding this.

Our rig only has a rear license plate and rear bumper (and not a square bumper, but rather that stupid trapezoid shaped bumper that no stock bolt on bracket fits.)

There is no plate and the front of the cab looks to be all one contiguous surface. Maybe I need to crawl underneath to see if there is a true bumper hiding back under there.
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Old 09-05-2020, 05:54 PM   #4
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The front hitch Mounts to the frame not to a bumper.
You cut a hole behind where a front license plate would mount. The hitch is hidden by a license. Plate, either real or decorative.
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Old 09-05-2020, 07:31 PM   #5
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I use a cargo carrier for my mopeds. They weigh about 105 lbs each and it works fine. Don’t know why you’d need one with a 750 pound rating to carry 100 pounds. When we tow our car we leave the mopeds behind. The decision depends on where and for how long we are traveling. You No doubt you could devise a way to hold a spare under the carrier.[ATTACH]25970
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Old 09-05-2020, 11:15 PM   #6
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We use this guy (Amazon) for hauling my eBike around (only have the one). Use it to carry my ebike and the wife's bike. Haven't had an issue (we don't carry a spare).

When towing a car we usually don't bring the bikes (if we do we just cram them into the car).
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Old 09-05-2020, 11:39 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by Pete'sMH View Post
I use a cargo carrier for my mopeds. They weigh about 105 lbs each and it works fine. Don’t know why you’d need one with a 750 pound rating to carry 100 pounds. When we tow our car we leave the mopeds behind. The decision depends on where and for how long we are traveling. You No doubt you could devise a way to hold a spare under the carrier.[ATTACH]25970
You are right, we don't need a cargo carrier with 750# capacity, but it was on sale at Harbor Freight for less than $100. We couldn't resist, given that we knew we would eventually want a cargo carrier.

Very glad to hear that the carrier works for your mopeds. What kind of "bike rack" or brackets do you have on the carrier?

We'll have to take a closer look; hadn't thought of mounting the tire under the carrier. There isn't a lot of clearance. That's one minus I'd say about the Axis. It is quite low to the ground overall. I suspect that is one reason it did not come with a standard under carriage tire mount (and we haven't found a spot where we could easily/safely put one).

Am I seeing correctly in your photo that your tire IS mounted below the carrier?

At this point our plan is not to tow a car, but use the bikes instead to get around. On the rare occasion that we would envision needing a car, we had planned to just rent one for a day or two. I guess we'll find out how well that plan will work out.
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Old 09-06-2020, 12:49 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by RVwife View Post
You are right, we don't need a cargo carrier with 750# capacity, but it was on sale at Harbor Freight for less than $100. We couldn't resist, given that we knew we would eventually want a cargo carrier.

Very glad to hear that the carrier works for your mopeds. What kind of "bike rack" or brackets do you have on the carrier?

We'll have to take a closer look; hadn't thought of mounting the tire under the carrier. There isn't a lot of clearance. That's one minus I'd say about the Axis. It is quite low to the ground overall. I suspect that is one reason it did not come with a standard under carriage tire mount (and we haven't found a spot where we could easily/safely put one).

Am I seeing correctly in your photo that your tire IS mounted below the carrier?

At this point our plan is not to tow a car, but use the bikes instead to get around. On the rare occasion that we would envision needing a car, we had planned to just rent one for a day or two. I guess we'll find out how well that plan will work out.


I use a pair of these (one for each bikes’s front wheel) bolted to the carrier in the appropriate location. I use a ratchet strap to the handle bars just tight enough to compress the front forks slightly. I also have an upright bolted to the center so the bikes are held by their front wheel and are strapped together with the upright between them. I’ll take a photo of the empty carrier next time I visit the storage place. They are very secure. I don’t carry a spare inasmuch as I’m an old retired guy and I’m pretty much willing to wait for help as needed.[ATTACH]25983
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Old 09-06-2020, 01:15 AM   #9
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Why not just tow an enclosed 10 foot utility trailer?
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Old 09-06-2020, 07:49 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by Bob Denman View Post
Why not just tow an enclosed 10 foot utility trailer?
Because we purposely bought a smaller MH to fit in smaller spaces and did not want to tow anything. Bought bikes partly to minimize the need to have a toad.
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Old 09-06-2020, 08:07 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete'sMH View Post
I use a pair of these (one for each bikes’s front wheel) bolted to the carrier in the appropriate location. I use a ratchet strap to the handle bars just tight enough to compress the front forks slightly. I also have an upright bolted to the center so the bikes are held by their front wheel and are strapped together with the upright between them. I’ll take a photo of the empty carrier next time I visit the storage place. They are very secure. I don’t carry a spare inasmuch as I’m an old retired guy and I’m pretty much willing to wait for help as needed.[ATTACH]25983
Fabulous! That is what we just bought. (The manufacture is located about 20 minutes from us.) We were rather loathe to be on the waiting list for the $600+ out of stock bike rack the store would have loved to sell us. I guess 2 ebikes weren't a big enough sale.

Will be interested to see your photo of the upright support post when you get to it. We thought that might be a very wise idea for added stability.

We're "old" too. Don't plan to change our own tire but do like to go to remote enough locations that getting a proper replacement tire easily might be an issue. That came home to us recently on the last day of our trip of adventure, misadventure, and comic near catastrophes. Sitting at the dump station, our tire monitor suddenly beeped. One of our fronts was low (although it had been fine last night). Fortunately it was a slow leak and with a good compressor we were able to get it up to pressure again and it seemed to hold. We cautiously drove the 250 miles home (with an eagle eye on that monitor the whole way). Oh the havoc a tiny brad can play on those big rugged tires. Lesson learned - just carry the darned spare, always.
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Old 09-06-2020, 08:53 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RVwife View Post
Because we purposely bought a smaller MH to fit in smaller spaces and did not want to tow anything. Bought bikes partly to minimize the need to have a toad.
I get that... But now you're short on carrying space, and are needing to get creative...
Good luck!
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Old 09-08-2020, 05:23 PM   #13
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Need ideas for transporting 2 ebikes and a spare tire on an Axis 25.3

Quote:
Originally Posted by RVwife View Post
Fabulous! That is what we just bought. (The manufacture is located about 20 minutes from us.) We were rather loathe to be on the waiting list for the $600+ out of stock bike rack the store would have loved to sell us. I guess 2 ebikes weren't a big enough sale.



Will be interested to see your photo of the upright support post when you get to it. We thought that might be a very wise idea for added stability.



We're "old" too. Don't plan to change our own tire but do like to go to remote enough locations that getting a proper replacement tire easily might be an issue. That came home to us recently on the last day of our trip of adventure, misadventure, and comic near catastrophes. Sitting at the dump station, our tire monitor suddenly beeped. One of our fronts was low (although it had been fine last night). Fortunately it was a slow leak and with a good compressor we were able to get it up to pressure again and it seemed to hold. We cautiously drove the 250 miles home (with an eagle eye on that monitor the whole way). Oh the havoc a tiny brad can play on those big rugged tires. Lesson learned - just carry the darned spare, always.


Photos of my carrier. Remember to use an “anti-rattle” device on the hitch for added stability.
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Old 09-09-2020, 07:01 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RVwife View Post
What has your best solution been?

We have 2 ebikes (50# each) and a spare tire that we want to have along on our journeys.

At this point the best idea we have come up with is to use a heavy duty (750# capacity), hitch mounted cargo carrier. We've found some bike wheel supports (along with tie-down straps) that would bolt onto the carrier, but still aren't sure of the best way to add the spare MH tire on the carrier.

We're a bit concerned about stringing on one of those double hitch mounts. Not sure how stable that would all be. Plus, really would like to minimize added length to the rig.

Another thought has been to front mount the tire, but that would take adding a hitch to the already rather low riding front.

What good solutions have you found?
Instead of carrying a spare tire I put a product called FlatOut Tire Sealant in each tire instead. For our eBikes I use the the Yakima HoldUp 4 on the back of the RV or when towing the Silverado the rack goes on the back of it. You can get FlatOut Tire Sealant from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/FlatOut-99908...9677644&sr=8-8
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Old 09-09-2020, 10:21 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harleyfltri View Post
Instead of carrying a spare tire I put a product called FlatOut Tire Sealant in each tire instead. For our eBikes I use the the Yakima HoldUp 4 on the back of the RV or when towing the Silverado the rack goes on the back of it. You can get FlatOut Tire Sealant from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/FlatOut-99908...9677644&sr=8-8


I carry a tire plugging kit and a Viair inflator. Won’t help with every tire failure but can keep you going on a common tread puncture. I practiced using it on a car tire that was about to be replaced. Pretty slick!
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Old 09-09-2020, 11:41 PM   #16
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This is a little off topic, but, I just bought DW an ebike. She suffers from ankylosing spondylitis and could no longer pedal her tricycle without a lot of pain.
Anyway, we previously carried her tricycle and my mountain bike in the bed of our GMC Canyon. Both bikes were the folding type and fit nicely in the truck bed.
So when I researched ebikes, I concentrated on folding ebikes.
We settled on a nice, but pricy bike called an Addmotor. Folded up, it fits where the tricycle used to.
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Old 09-10-2020, 11:17 AM   #17
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This might be something to look at.

https://roadmasterinc.com/products/s...ire/index.html

Adds a hitch mounted spare tire along with a pass-through for a hitch bike mount.
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Old 09-10-2020, 08:07 PM   #18
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Originally Posted by UpstateGreg View Post
This might be something to look at.



https://roadmasterinc.com/products/s...ire/index.html



Adds a hitch mounted spare tire along with a pass-through for a hitch bike mount.


It’s a GREAT piece of kit that will outlast three or four RVs. But it’s really expensive and will only work to tow a car if you need a 2 inch drop. The instructions caution against using more than two items on a hitch. This and a bike rack is fine and towing is fine too but you can’t use this, a rise/drop adapter and a tow bar. It’s just built like a tank though!
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Old 09-10-2020, 08:50 PM   #19
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This works for us. Bike rack is by Yakima. Very heavy duty rack. We haul 4 bikes on it at times.
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Old 09-11-2020, 10:21 AM   #20
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Originally Posted by Pete'sMH View Post
Photos of my carrier. Remember to use an “anti-rattle” device on the hitch for added stability.
[ATTACH]26011 [ATTACH]26012
Any issues with the rack bottoming out?

I am in the process of fabricating a 30" wide x 5' long basket.

Cheers
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