whats the most weight you've carried on your hitch? (not towed)

[LarryD]

If I remember correctly, the hitch on the magnitude has a 1k tongue weight rating. Has anyone carried anything that heavy and if so, how did it do? I'm considering carrying my motorcycle (400lbs) on a hitch hauler and then towing my boat behind using a road master dual hitch receiver. Anyone ever try anything like that?

[widdershins]

How much available capacity does your rear axle have? I'd expect that to run out first.

I know a few people who have tried hitch haulers with light weight dirt bikes and been a bit less than happy, they tend to dance around a lot. Dual hitch and boat might help that...

If everything can handle the weight safely, don't see why not.

[LarryD]

hadn't considered that really. Im sure I have the 500 lbs available though and if not could fairly easily dump weight.

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by LarryD

hadn't considered that really. Im sure I have the 500 lbs available though and if not could fairly easily dump weight.

But realize that 500 lbs on the hitch (and/or extension/splitter) will put more than 500 additional lbs on the axle due to the lever effect.

[blw2]

I've got a 5 bike rack in mine.... 2 adult bikes and three kid bikes...guessing 200# or a little more....

A gotcha with hitches is that the rating for carried load is usually or at least often less than the towed tongue weight rating. I don't have data for my RV or for my car handy but I recall looking at that several times in the manuals

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by blw2

I've got a 5 bike rack in mine.... 2 adult bikes and three kid bikes...guessing 200# or a little more....

A gotcha with hitches is that the rating for carried load is usually or at least often less than the towed tongue weight rating. I don't have data for my RV or for my car handy but I recall looking at that several times in the manuals

I've seen towed weight ratings and tongue weight ratings for hitches. I've never seen a "carried weight rating.

What is the difference between the downward force of the weight of a trailer tongue, and the weight of a load like bicycles? Nothing in a static environment.

But the dynamic downward force applied by a purposing trailer across an intersection can be much higher than the tongue rating and for a longer application time then the dynamic downward force of a load carried right above the hitch.

[The Gritz Carlton]

Disastrous, period. Hitches are rated at 4" behind the reinforced "face plate" of the receiver itself. Anything beyond that 4 inches reduces capacity by 50% (etrailer and a few other). Why put more downforce on a hitch than what it's rated for? Plus, you'll have to use drop down setup which will further enhance the back and forth fulcrum effect. My vote is put the bike and stuff on a trailer.

[blw2]

it's been a while since I looked at it
but I think it's two things....
bending moment.... bake racks and carriers put the load out on a lever arm, so there's the straight down weigh + the moment (and that moment is in a different direction than would be applied form a weight distributing hitch)
and also, I speculate its a simple de-rating for increased safety factor because of the swaying and jerking around from a "loose" cantilevered load. I trailer has a horizontal load component and it's a different, perhaps smoother, sort of loading.

[Zenith]

Originally Posted by LarryD

If I remember correctly, the hitch on the magnitude has a 1k tongue weight rating. Has anyone carried anything that heavy and if so, how did it do? I'm considering carrying my motorcycle (400lbs) on a hitch hauler and then towing my boat behind using a road master dual hitch receiver. Anyone ever try anything like that?

How would you get enough length past the hitch to be able to turn with the boat attached? The Magnitude's turning sweep is wide since the hitch is so far back.



I think it's do-able, but only if your boat trailer has a ridiculously long tongue with low tongue weight, and if you keep the ball on a very short receiver almost right under the hitch.



I have over 10k tow miles on my Magnitude and we recently upgraded from a 7' wide trailer to an 8.5' wide trailer. The sweep of the back of the rig absolutely exacerbates the path of the trailer's sweep.



As an example of sweep, if I do as tight of a u turn as I can to the right, the back left of the rig is at least 4" more to the left than my left side mirror was when I started turning right. On the trailer with the same turn, the leftmost front edge of the trailer will be about a FOOT to the left of where my mirror was when I started the right turn... So now I gotta worry about swinging left before a U turn to give myself enough space with the turning radius, but not too far left, or I'll hit a parked car or wall on my left. This would be way worse if you have the ball on an extension to accommodate the length of a motorcycle. Sweep and the trailer has made fueling interesting. If I go into a standard gas station, I'll often back out and have my wife spot instead of pulling out to make sure I don't sweep the trailer front into the pump on the left.





Another factor to consider is the hassle of loading a motorcycle up high. I attached two pictures, one's of my PCX on a motorcycle hauler. You can't tell it's there when you're driving. No change in suspension or handling. But it is a TOTAL PAIN to load because the hitch is up high. The PCX with all my gear under the seat is 300lbs. I can't imagine loading anything heavier than it, and got rid of the hitch hauler. The only way I'd do it again is if I had a little KTM. I miss my KTM, that bike was awesome.




That all said... The Magnitude tows like a dream and handles a moto hauler - both separately - without issue.





I went ahead and attached a pic of our 8.5' wide trailer too. You can tell it's there on mountain passes because the rig downshifts more, but that's to be expected when you're adding ~9k lbs loaded to the back. We still get 10mpg if I keep it below 65. It drops to around 8-9mpg at 75. The trailer's a way better option, I can bring the jeep and the motorcycle, but I don't know how I'd get a boat in there!

[LarryD]

I dont think I'm really understanding your concern. Your saying that because the boat trailer will be ~4ft further back that the turning radius will be huge. I dont have experience to speak to this and cant relate. I've towed plenty but never in this manner. Sounds like something I'll have to be very careful about until I understand it better. The roads I travel generally all accommodate 18 wheelers with double trailers so I have to believe its possible. I know hydralift, cruiserlift and mighty hauler all make carriers specifically for this, just wondering if anyones got any experience doing it.

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by LarryD

I dont think I'm really understanding your concern. Your saying that because the boat trailer will be ~4ft further back that the turning radius will be huge. I dont have experience to speak to this and cant relate. I've towed plenty but never in this manner. Sounds like something I'll have to be very careful about until I understand it better. The roads I travel generally all accommodate 18 wheelers with double trailers so I have to believe its possible. I know hydralift, cruiserlift and mighty hauler all make carriers specifically for this, just wondering if anyones got any experience doing it.

Actually, the further behind the rear axle the pivot point is for the trailer/TOAD, the better it tracks in the footprint of the MH.

[The Gritz Carlton]

Originally Posted by 16ACE27

Actually, the further behind the rear axle the pivot point is for the trailer/TOAD, the better it tracks in the footprint of the MH.

Exactly! When I tow the car hauler which I had the tounge built 10 inches longer than their stock length, the trailer tires almost track the rear axle of the coach.

[Jimmers]

What is the tongue weight and total weight of the boat you are going to pull?

[LarryD]

bike is 480lbs and boat weighs 5000lbs. I just got off the phone with mighty hauler. He explained the same thing as Ted above explained. It's really about the leverage. Mighty hauler isn't designed to tow anything other than a car (zero tongue weight). His comment was he'd bet that not even Hydralifts, which go way back up the frame are designed to carry 500lbs 4 feet out (I 'm trying to confirm if true). I could always bias the boat so that there's less tongue weight but thats a very risky game to play. I guess theres a reason why when I do an image search for RVs with bike lifts pulling boats it returns nothing. Too dangerous. Back to the drawing board for me.

[chunker21]

Originally Posted by LarryD

bike is 480lbs and boat weighs 5000lbs. I just got off the phone with mighty hauler. He explained the same thing as Ted above explained. It's really about the leverage. Mighty hauler isn't designed to tow anything other than a car (zero tongue weight). His comment was he'd bet that not even Hydralifts, which go way back up the frame are designed to carry 500lbs 4 feet out (I 'm trying to confirm if true). I could always bias the boat so that there's less tongue weight but thats a very risky game to play. I guess theres a reason why when I do an image search for RVs with bike lifts pulling boats it returns nothing. Too dangerous. Back to the drawing board for me.

Hydralift has specific instructions to NOT pull a trailer with one. I had one on a DP with a HD touring, 900#, and flat towed a Jeep. I don't remember the exact weight carrying capacity of the Hydralift but is was either 1200 or 1500# I think. Not 500. Yes and it's welded to the frame and also as I recall, not recommended for frame extensions. That per a conversation with rep at Hydralift.

[LarryD]

how about off the front? https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...18922e0500a49a

Judge, think that'd fit under our bumper?

[widdershins]

extend the tongue on your boat trailer, move the axle forward (to compensate for the next part), put a couple of bike rails crosswise in front of the boat. Might need to beef up the trailer to handle the weight of course.

There are plenty of good fabrication shops, shop the idea around and see what else you can some up with. No sense leaving toys at home if you can bring them all!

[LarryD]

Originally Posted by widdershins

extend the tongue on your boat trailer, move the axle forward (to compensate for the next part), put a couple of bike rails crosswise in front of the boat. Might need to beef up the trailer to handle the weight of course.

There are plenty of good fabrication shops, shop the idea around and see what else you can some up with. No sense leaving toys at home if you can bring them all!

yeah, looked into it. My boats trailer has a folding tongue. Probably could not handle it. Great idea though.

[Jimmers]

There are plenty of trailer shops that build Combo trailers for just your situation.
All are to tow something with a boat at the back.
look online for a combo trailer and you will find what you want.
The hitch weight will be proper for the receiver and frame and handle much better being longer hitch to axles.

[Zenith]

Originally Posted by LarryD

I dont think I'm really understanding your concern. Your saying that because the boat trailer will be ~4ft further back that the turning radius will be huge. I dont have experience to speak to this and cant relate. I've towed plenty but never in this manner. Sounds like something I'll have to be very careful about until I understand it better. The roads I travel generally all accommodate 18 wheelers with double trailers so I have to believe its possible. I know hydralift, cruiserlift and mighty hauler all make carriers specifically for this, just wondering if anyones got any experience doing it.

Sorry I'm not explaining it well. It would be easy if I had a whiteboard in front of me.

• Your turning radius isn't affected at all if your tongue is sufficiently long to not jackknife by mounting a trailer to a hauler.
• Pushing the hitch back ~4' will swing the front of the trailer towards the outside of the turn, tracking it more to the outside of your RV's path. This is not what you want.
• The back of the RV already swings "on a pivot" past the rear axle. Even without a trailer, When you turn hard RIGHT, the back LEFT of the Magnitude is far enough past the back axle that it swings out to the LEFT past the starting left edge of the RV.
• This effect worse on a trailer. If your boat is the same width as the RV, that means the front outside turning edge of the boat is going to be more outside than the RV at the front.
• This effect is minimized by increasing tongue length or putting the hitch ball as close to the RV's rear axle as possible (so not at the end of the hitch hauler, instead underneath it.

It's counter intuitive and I don't know how to explain it well without a whiteboard.



This behavior doesn't apply to semis, they articulate over the rear axle and don't have 10+ feet behind their rear axle literally floating in air. Their rearmost point is their tandems, with the trailer's main articulation point on top, so their rear end doesn't sweep. Since their articulation is on the back axle, they are WAY more maneuverable than an RV towing.


Put another way, the further back the articulation point is from the back axle, the less maneuverable you are, and the more likely the trailer is going to track out of path during tight turns.





Sorry that got long again. I hope something in there made sense. My point is your best, safest, and most maneuverable option is always a trailer with a longer tongue mounted directly to the hitch.