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Bike hauler loose in receiver hitch

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Billybob

Billybob

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First Name
Billy
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Doughtie
I have an Add A Bike hauler that I’m getting ready to haul my DR650 with and noticed some looseness when I put it in my truck receiver. Just wondering if others that have experienced this found a solution. My only idea at the moment would be pieces of sheet metal to take up the slack.
 
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receiver tube stablizer
 
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How about just using a ratchet strap to snug one side to the tow vehicle.
 
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I had Jeff’s doohickey. To make it work, it had to be so tight it damaged the reciever tube.


There is another version of that doohickey that I’ve heard works well. But idk anything about it.

JMZ’s suggestion is what i do now. Works great.
 
Well, thanks to all the replies, I now know that I can use a ratchet strap and that there is something called a hitch stabilizer that I wasn't aware of. This forum is always a great source of information.
 
TossingLead said:
2c9fbc7eb48a1324efe939aac6e16726.jpg


receiver tube stablizer
Click to expand...

For me these seem to gain a little slack and have to be tightened every 100 miles or so probably due to grade of bolts used (too soft). This alternative was substantially more heavy duty and retained it's tension.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013J6O5H0/?tag=twowhetex-20

This replaces the hitch pin. For a 100 lb hitch hauler with a 470 lb bike I will use these two together. For a lighter load the hitch pin style bolt would probably be enough. You can really crank in the torque on these.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EOWR3Y/?tag=twowhetex-20
 
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I made mine from a piece of 4 inch channel iron cost me about 30 minuets of my wasted time but no hitch jerk on rough roads . On my old hitch hauler I made in the 80s I made two places to pin it to the receiver and it was rock solid .
 
I made a few for both 2" and 2 1/2" receivers out of 1/2 bar stock and 1/4" plate. Work really well on keeping the "slop bop" out of the drawbar. As for a hitch carriers, there is a lot of torque involved in the hitch interface so a better choice would be straps.

213B2500-7F96-4371-881B-D19F4CECED78_zpsmqbbwzfd.jpg
 
i decided to just let mine wobble and i haul mine once or twice a week, nothing has come of it in fact i feel it gives you some play instead of adding stress to the rig somehow. when i was thinking at first i came up with but did not use or try the idea of welding a bead down 1 or more of the outside corners of the part that slide inside of the reciever hitch to tighten up the play, use a grinder if its too tight.
 
I've always thought the welding idea would work pretty good. You could weld the bottom and one side. I recently made an all aluminum cargo carrier . I made the square tubing out of two pieces of angle. It fit tight but it takes a little longer to get it in the receiver.
 
Google up a quiet hitch. It’s a threaded insert for the draw bar. The pin is threaded to tighten the bar in the receiver, and it locks the draw bar as well.
 
I made several bike haulers for my 1978 Bronco and carried a Set up DRZ all over Oregon, Washington. Last version had the centered receiver tube attachment, but I added a second outrigger and attachment point on the bumper, right hand side about 2/3 between center and outer end of bumper. That took care of all rotation of the bike in the center pivot point and assisted with the for and aft wiggle due to the slip fit of receiver tube and stinger
That was fixed with a mix of adding 1/2" thick steel pad to the receiver tube, drilling and tapping the pad and receiver tube (1"/4" steel) for a 5/8-11. Used a 2" 5/8-11 grade 8 bolt and nut to cinch up the slack, nut was just a jam nut to keep things tight.
 
I had a welder put heavy beads on the sides of the insert into the receiver hitch and grind them down to fit. removed most of the the slack.

Made it better but not perfect.

If you can remove the receiver hitch you could thread a coupe of heavy screws into the bottom of the receiver and tighten those against the hitch each time you install it. One screw would probably work. Instead of threading I would weld a nut onto the outside of the receiver to add to thread area and drill out the receiver to allow the bolt to penetrate and bear on the receiver insert tube. Grade 10 hardware would be strongest after all the welding.
 
The first time I used my receiver hitch to tow a trailer there was so much noise back there I was certain something had come loose and was about to fall off. I got one of these, and things are much quieter. My only caveat is I don't haul anything real heavy.

Hitch Tightener

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i-zC4kT6x.jpg
 
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D'artagnan said:
The first time I used my receiver hitch to tow a trailer there was so much noise back there I was certain something had come loose and was about to fall off. I got one of these, and things are much quieter. My only caveat is I don't haul anything real heavy.

Hitch Tightener

i-mnMsNSf-L.jpg


i-zC4kT6x.jpg
Click to expand...
Thats what I use. The little hitch on my Mazda rattles a lot same for the wife pilot when we tow our little trailer. That pretty much eliminates all of the rattle.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
 
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