Bike rack vrs. spare tire

Shelby · 08-26-2019, 02:42 PM

I have the 13' cruiser as pictured at the top of this page...and the spare is mounted on the rear. there is no bumper with a hitch receiver. I want to carry a bike or two. The rear spare bracket must tie into some of the frame I expect????? hope so, but is it enough to add a bike rack to instead? The rack itself is pretty heavy not to mention two mountain bikes. Anyone have ideas other than this?

Eagle · 08-26-2019, 05:15 PM

I've read many stories of spare tires mounted like yours coming loose and falling off. Seems they are just bolted thru the wall with very little reinforcement.....certainly not to any part of the frame or wall studs. Some folks found where the bolts go thru the wall, the caulking allowed water to get in and rotted the wood.

I don't think you want to mount a bike rack and bicycles that weight more than the spare tires on the back wall.

Hopefully, others that have experienced a problem with the spare mounted on the back wall will provide more information.

profdant139 · 08-26-2019, 05:44 PM

Don't do it! I have the exact same model. The back wall is just thin mahogany ply paneling. Not strong enough for a bike rack. I wish it were, but it is not.

**LJAZ** · 08-27-2019, 08:33 AM

+3. The spare tire mount does not tie into the frame at all. Just bolts directly to the back wall and as previously mentioned, it won't support the additional weight of bikes.

For other options there are bike racks made to mount to the trailer A frame in the front and support the bikes above the propane tank like this: https://www.etrailer.com/RV-and-Camp...on/CC-275.html. There are also some that mount to the shank of the ball mount like this https://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Bike-...rt/C18013.html. You'd have to check your clearances to see if either of those options would work for you.

twinster2 · 08-27-2019, 08:56 AM

My solution to hauling bikes was to get a clamp on bike holder. It clamps onto the shank of the receiver hitch. Puts the bikes directly over the ball but high enough to not interfere with towing.

NorthPuffin · 09-01-2019, 11:45 AM

Do the frame rails go all the way to the back on a 139? If so, it seems likely that you could bolt or weld a receiver bracket to the rails and then use a standard rack on the back without worrying about the rear wall structure.

You'd want to do a weight balance to make sure you haven't shifted the C.G. back so far as to take all the weight off the tongue.

mjpguy · 09-01-2019, 12:35 PM

Well, my stupid reply is to throw the bikes in the back of the pick-up! But seriously, I saw a guy a few years ago who mounted his bike rack to the front frame rails (in front of the propane tank). I don't know it this would work in your case due to the short tongue but, if I remember correctly, he tacked a bracket across the rails then bolted the bike rack to it. I thought it was pretty ingenious and it worked well. Goodluck

Agnitio · 09-01-2019, 01:11 PM

I moved the spare tire up front and mounted it between the frame rails, under the batteries. Then I modified a Curt receiver to the trailer frame in back. This did require relocation of the rear jacks. Now I have a receiver for a bike rack. To keep my tongue weight appropriate from the added bike weight in back, I also redid the battery rack and installed two 6 volt golf cart batteries (and moving the spare up front).

profdant139 · 09-01-2019, 05:07 PM

Agnitio, you can put a bike rack on the back on a 189 -- it has a back bumper. A 139 does not, sadly.

Agnitio · 09-02-2019, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by profdant139

Agnitio, you can put a bike rack on the back on a 189 -- it has a back bumper. A 139 does not, sadly.

No, the 189FDS does not have a bumper, that’s why I modified it like i described.
Not sure why, but my photo links do not seam to be working.

profdant139 · 09-02-2019, 04:05 PM

Agnitio, that is very interesting! I would love to see some photos of how you engineered the bike rack without a bumper.

Could I ask you a favor? Please click on this link:

http://photoposting.is-great.net/

You then drag a photo from your hard drive into the box. Then a few lines of gibberish pop up. Select and copy that gibberish.

Now come back to this forum, open a reply window, and just paste the gibberish. There is no need to use the photo link buttons or anything -- the photo will show up. Please give it a try -- thanks!!

Agnitio · 09-02-2019, 09:07 PM

I was able to upload some photos to an album under my public profile. Take a look at those, hopefully they are helpful.

Here is a link the hitch I used. I had to reverse the brackets and cut some notches to make it work. The job takes some serious mods to make it work.

https://www.etrailer.com/RV-and-Camp...urt/13703.html