Goodwill deal of the day...

gharmon
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gharmon
Edited Date/Time 6/20/2020 2:46pm
Sometimes tagging along with the lady friend pays off. Talked me into going to Goodwill with her today. Priced at $49.99 but was the color of the week so half off. Not a bad score for $25!! Use it to bring home my new Grom!! Now that makes it moto related!! Lol
I never get lucky. Just felt like sharing my good fortune for the day..
I had been looking at getting one but the prices were a tad high for me. Not today!!

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slipdog
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slipdog 6/18/2020 11:30am
6/18/2020 11:30am
Looks like it has an open end. I'd add a receiver hitch and tow a travel trailer behind it and you wouldn't need to buy the toy hauler style.
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gharmon
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gharmon 6/18/2020 11:42am
6/18/2020 11:42am
You wouldn' ttrust that for a couple 100lb 65's my grandson rides? Yet people strap shit to the tops of their cars? Well shit maybe i fucked up but it was only $25. Ill make it work and use it for a long time.
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JM485
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JM485 6/18/2020 12:24pm
6/18/2020 12:24pm
That’s a lot of torque and bending moment on a pretty small hitch, I’m not liking the looks of that at all. . .
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Boomslang
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Boomslang 6/18/2020 12:30pm
6/18/2020 12:30pm
JM485 wrote:
That’s a lot of torque and bending moment on a pretty small hitch, I’m not liking the looks of that at all. . .
Yup, at some stage that contraption is gonna fold.
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-MAVERICK-
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-MAVERICK- 6/18/2020 12:33pm
6/18/2020 12:33pm
gharmon wrote:
You wouldn' ttrust that for a couple 100lb 65's my grandson rides? Yet people strap shit to the tops of their cars? Well shit maybe i...
You wouldn' ttrust that for a couple 100lb 65's my grandson rides? Yet people strap shit to the tops of their cars? Well shit maybe i fucked up but it was only $25. Ill make it work and use it for a long time.
That $25 might end up costing you a whole lot more than $25.
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motoGleamer
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motoGleamer 6/18/2020 12:42pm
6/18/2020 12:42pm
gharmon wrote:
You wouldn' ttrust that for a couple 100lb 65's my grandson rides? Yet people strap shit to the tops of their cars? Well shit maybe i...
You wouldn' ttrust that for a couple 100lb 65's my grandson rides? Yet people strap shit to the tops of their cars? Well shit maybe i fucked up but it was only $25. Ill make it work and use it for a long time.
I dont think people are hating on you. That hitch hauler looks to be 3.5 to 4 feet in length. The static load of that second bike space is likely 5 to 6+ times more than a load that was mounted on a standard hitch ball which is how the receiver tongue weight limit is measured. The dynamic load is going to be even more severely increased.

If you loaded a 100lb bike on the second rack, the stationary tongue weight could easily exceed 500+ pounds at the receiver. That exceeds most suv class 3 hitches. Even a class 4 hitch could likely be dangerous to operate with this.

Your car looks to be an Escape which has only a class 2 hitch with a max towing of 2000lbs and max tongue weight of 200 lbs. Even a 100lb bike on the closer rack is likely past the safe operating load.

I dont think anyone here is giving you a hard time but please consider that this is likely very unsafe to use on your current vehicle and probably even unsafe for many trucks. I have extensively used a single bike hitch hauler on my 4runner which has a 500lb tongue weight rating and there were times where I questioned the safety. I ended up buying a truck so I didn't have to worry. I would not feel comfortable hauling bikes with your current setup. You are very likely exceedeing safe loads even with a single mini bike. Please consider what would happen to other drivers if that thing snaps while you are driving.
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mjr119
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mjr119 6/18/2020 1:50pm
6/18/2020 1:50pm
How much load do you think a heavy boat trailer has? It all depends on the tongue weight and the quality of the bike hauler. A boat will have more than a couple hundred pounds of tongue weight. What's the difference unless the hauler itself fails?
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plowboy
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plowboy 6/18/2020 6:06pm
6/18/2020 6:06pm
I have never in my life seen anything like that. Please do yourself and everyone else on the road a favor. Take a hacksaw and cut that aft rack off. Nothing good can happen if you use it as is.
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RonSkj
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RonSkj 6/18/2020 7:01pm
6/18/2020 7:01pm
plowboy wrote:
I have never in my life seen anything like that. Please do yourself and everyone else on the road a favor. Take a hacksaw and cut...
I have never in my life seen anything like that. Please do yourself and everyone else on the road a favor. Take a hacksaw and cut that aft rack off. Nothing good can happen if you use it as is.
How could popping wheelies not be good?
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Electro21
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Electro21 6/18/2020 7:08pm
6/18/2020 7:08pm
mjr119 wrote:
How much load do you think a heavy boat trailer has? It all depends on the tongue weight and the quality of the bike hauler. A...
How much load do you think a heavy boat trailer has? It all depends on the tongue weight and the quality of the bike hauler. A boat will have more than a couple hundred pounds of tongue weight. What's the difference unless the hauler itself fails?
A boat trailer also has wheels... Looks sketchy to me.
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motoGleamer
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motoGleamer 6/18/2020 7:19pm
6/18/2020 7:19pm Edited Date/Time 6/18/2020 7:24pm
So the good news is this retails for $280 and this was a heck of a deal.

The bad news is that this is what it looks like in action:




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thatswhathappens 6/18/2020 7:37pm
6/18/2020 7:37pm
motoGleamer wrote:
So the good news is this retails for $280 and this was a heck of a deal. The bad news is that this is what it...
So the good news is this retails for $280 and this was a heck of a deal.

The bad news is that this is what it looks like in action:




At that point, just sell the FJ for a truck.
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VicDaMoan03
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VicDaMoan03 6/18/2020 7:59pm
6/18/2020 7:59pm
Dude that looks so sketchy and unsafe. Don't let your insurance agent see that thing.
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gharmon
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gharmon 6/19/2020 12:54pm
6/19/2020 12:54pm Edited Date/Time 6/19/2020 1:03pm
gharmon wrote:
You wouldn' ttrust that for a couple 100lb 65's my grandson rides? Yet people strap shit to the tops of their cars? Well shit maybe i...
You wouldn' ttrust that for a couple 100lb 65's my grandson rides? Yet people strap shit to the tops of their cars? Well shit maybe i fucked up but it was only $25. Ill make it work and use it for a long time.
motoGleamer wrote:
I dont think people are hating on you. That hitch hauler looks to be 3.5 to 4 feet in length. The static load of that second...
I dont think people are hating on you. That hitch hauler looks to be 3.5 to 4 feet in length. The static load of that second bike space is likely 5 to 6+ times more than a load that was mounted on a standard hitch ball which is how the receiver tongue weight limit is measured. The dynamic load is going to be even more severely increased.

If you loaded a 100lb bike on the second rack, the stationary tongue weight could easily exceed 500+ pounds at the receiver. That exceeds most suv class 3 hitches. Even a class 4 hitch could likely be dangerous to operate with this.

Your car looks to be an Escape which has only a class 2 hitch with a max towing of 2000lbs and max tongue weight of 200 lbs. Even a 100lb bike on the closer rack is likely past the safe operating load.

I dont think anyone here is giving you a hard time but please consider that this is likely very unsafe to use on your current vehicle and probably even unsafe for many trucks. I have extensively used a single bike hitch hauler on my 4runner which has a 500lb tongue weight rating and there were times where I questioned the safety. I ended up buying a truck so I didn't have to worry. I would not feel comfortable hauling bikes with your current setup. You are very likely exceedeing safe loads even with a single mini bike. Please consider what would happen to other drivers if that thing snaps while you are driving.
I do agree that that second one is a stretch and i thought i might just cut it off or not use it at all. About the escape, it is my work car for racking up miles. I am a travel RN so I do not run around all the time in my F250. I just happen to be in the Escape when i went to Goodwill that day. It was for the ride back to the RV. I own a truck to use for going to the track.

Maybe I am wrong with all my research but I use that hitch that I installed when I first got the car. Its a good hitch. I bolted and welded the thing on. It is a Reese Class III hitch. The car might fold up but the hitch is attached well. Anyway I used a basket stuck in that hitch with well over 100lbs of luggage and we did a 6200 mile trip around the country in that thing. Was it safe? According to everything I did and the research I did on an Escape it was fine. We never had a problem with 6200 miles of U.S. travel.

Maybe I screwed up buying it, we shall see.

I thought I was a pessimist but geez you guys see all the bad in everything. If I said, hey I will pay for any damage that comes from it falling off hitting someone's car. The come back then would be like well you can't pay for the life of the 3 year old that it killed when the bike flew into someone's windshield. All doom and gloom here.

Guess I will go hide in a corner and cry now. Tough crowd here.. lol



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ns503
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ns503 6/19/2020 3:09pm
6/19/2020 3:09pm
I'd like to see the action that happens if you stand on the back end of that thing and bounce up and down.
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just James
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just James 6/19/2020 3:16pm
6/19/2020 3:16pm
Couple o' Harley dressers on there would be sweet.
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gt80rider
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gt80rider 6/19/2020 3:41pm
6/19/2020 3:41pm
Must look cool at night, all the sparks fly'n off the pavement after hitting a small bump.
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gharmon
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gharmon 6/20/2020 12:55am
6/20/2020 12:55am
ns503 wrote:
I'd like to see the action that happens if you stand on the back end of that thing and bounce up and down.
Well, we actually did that. I was checking the strength and kinda wanted to see it I could get the front wheels up. We got it to bouncing pretty good but the front tires did not come off the ground nor did the hitch or hauler break/bend. We were standing on the second bike holder, so not completely to the back on the ramp. I weight 190 she weighs 115.
gharmon
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gharmon 6/20/2020 1:00am
6/20/2020 1:00am
gt80rider wrote:
Must look cool at night, all the sparks fly'n off the pavement after hitting a small bump.
yeah, I don't really see it scrubbing hanging out the back of the F250 with 37's. kind of got that one covered I think. good try though
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mikec265
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mikec265 6/20/2020 9:06am
6/20/2020 9:06am
It worked right? You're just fine. I used an Escalade to pull discs on my track before I bought an actual tractor. I have one of those 2 bike haulers too. It works I guess, but I prefer a trailer. Stop listening to the cool kids before you think that 2 bike hauler needs a cone pipe exhaust, and black rims added to simulate being a bike trailer.
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Premix
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Premix 6/20/2020 11:03am
6/20/2020 11:03am
Good thing people behind you will be able to see your taillights, so when you go to stop, and they clean out your fleet of bikes, that honky 25 dollar aluminum ladder, and your soccer mom mobile, you’ll be able to buy a real truck and a trailer with the insurance money.
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plowboy
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plowboy 6/20/2020 11:34am
6/20/2020 11:34am
I will admit straight away that crap falling out of/off of vehicles on the road is probably one of my biggest pet peeves. And you may perceive my concerns as "doom and gloom" or "worst case scenario" but as an experimental aircraft mechanic....I work with engineers every day. Risk analysis is what we do. Incremental stress increases to determine failure boundaries. In my experience...if you use both of those ramps to haul, even light weight bikes, chances are likely you will eventually encounter a catastrophic failure. Best case scenario...you lose a bike or two. Worst case...a cascade of accidents behind you. The only thing left is for you to ask yourself...is your convenience worth the possibility of endangering other people's safety? I do acknowledge that you understand that if that thing let's go...it's not a hazard to you...just the folks behind you. Which sorta citizen are you?
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