E-bike rack for Travel Trailer. RV Approved?

[YOLOGD]

I have a 2024 22MLE with the factory 300 lb hitch and am looking for a good ebilke rack for two 70lb bikes. I see racks that are “rv approved” but that is for 5th wheels and motor homes. I don’t see any that say they are approved for bumper/hitch pulled trailers. Came across this disclaimer on the web site for Hollywood racks which is a well known bike rack manufacturer and it has me concerned. I rather find something I can use with confidence on the back of the trailer than put a hitch on the front of the truck.

Why Can't This Bike Rack Be Used on Travel Trailers?
Travel trailers have a slight side to side motion that's very low frequency (1 to 1-1/2 times per second) that fatigues the steel from which the racks are manufactured. The fatigue first happens at a molecular level, but eventually (several thousands of cycles later) a visible crack will appear. Once the crack has formed, it will enlarge, finally to the point where the rack drops off the vehicle and the rack (and bikes) impact the roadway. This is also a dangerous situation for whoever may be following the trailer on the highway. We have seen 100+ incidents where the consumers/end user has not taken this advice and suffered disastrous results. We've even had phone calls from consumers who said they read that advice (do not use on a trailer) and ignored it, only to discover a tragic end result. So, please don't do it.

 

[NB Canada]

Yeah. I wouldn’t worry about personally

 

[triplethreat]

I have a 2024 22MLE with the factory 300 lb hitch and am looking for a good ebilke rack for two 70lb bikes. I see racks that are “rv approved” but that is for 5th wheels and motor homes. I don’t see any that say they are approved for bumper/hitch pulled trailers. Came across this disclaimer on the web site for Hollywood racks which is a well known bike rack manufacturer and it has me concerned. I rather find something I can use with confidence on the back of the trailer than put a hitch on the front of the truck.

Why Can't This Bike Rack Be Used on Travel Trailers?
Travel trailers have a slight side to side motion that's very low frequency (1 to 1-1/2 times per second) that fatigues the steel from which the racks are manufactured. The fatigue first happens at a molecular level, but eventually (several thousands of cycles later) a visible crack will appear. Once the crack has formed, it will enlarge, finally to the point where the rack drops off the vehicle and the rack (and bikes) impact the roadway. This is also a dangerous situation for whoever may be following the trailer on the highway. We have seen 100+ incidents where the consumers/end user has not taken this advice and suffered disastrous results. We've even had phone calls from consumers who said they read that advice (do not use on a trailer) and ignored it, only to discover a tragic end result. So, please don't do it.

A 300 lb factory hitch would NOT do it for me. When you have two 70 lb ebikes, plus the weight of the bike rack itself, you are probably looking at weights that are getting close to 200 lbs on that 300 lb hitch/receiver. Now think about hitting a bump in the road, and not even a BIG bump and imagine all that weight bouncing up and down a few times. Repeat that process maybe hundreds of times over a trip and hopefully you can see that there will be a LOT of stress on that hitch/receiver area. In my opinion, for something like that, the minimum I would use is something that is.... 1. Frame mounted. 2. A minimum of at least 500 lbs load capacity. The tendency of a tow behind trailer to have at least a bit of sway would also play into it, just as the carrier manufacturer suggests.

 

[triplethreat]

Yeah. I wouldn’t worry about personally

Do you haul two 70 lb ebikes on the back of your trailer, if yes, please tells us about your experience doing that. If you don't, then your comment is probably not very comforting to someone that is asking the question.

 

[txloser]

My hitch is rated at 300lbs as well. I’ve traveled quite a bit with two Lectric e-bikes (60lbs w/o battery) on a 1up rack. No sign of issues.

Not a travel trailer but most likely the same hitch and probably gets tossed around more due to my trailer being over axled in my opinion. The only time they’re not on there is if I bring my mountain bike and they go to the truck bed at that point.

 

[MtnGuy]

I have a Swagman Escapee on the the back of our Imagine XLS 22 MLE. It is a stout rack approved for travel trailers. But, it is only rated for 60 lbs for each cradle.

We just finished a 1200 mile round trip. We were carrying 2 hybrid bikes, but the missus wants to update to a step through e-bike, so the rack should be good for our future needs…..as long as we stay below 60 lbs on her bike. Removing the battery is an option.

Our current bikes both have caliper rim brakes, preventing the “hooks” from touching the front forks as instructed in the manual. The front tires on our bikes loosened some on the trip because of that. I am working with Swagman to find a solution to that problem.

The rack fits really close to the back of the camper. I have to rotate the inner bike handle bars 90 degrees so that does not hit the back glass.

 

[huntingskeetman]

We also have a 2023 22MLE which did not come with a factory hit h installed. Our dealer regularly worked with a local wellding shop who installed a 2” hitch to frame of our trailer. We use the Swagman E-spec rack designed for heavy ebikes.
We have used that setup to carry our Lectric bikes the past two years and i can tell you it is a very sturdy and robust rack and i would highly recommend them.

 

[Soundsailor]

Since I'm not an engineer, I can't comment on the difference between a 5er and a TT. I have the Swagman RV-rated rack on my Reflection, and it has done very well so far. I will regularly inspect the receiver to look for any cracks.

 

[txloser]

Since I'm not an engineer, I can't comment on the difference between a 5er and a TT. I have the Swagman RV-rated rack on my Reflection, and it has done very well so far. I will regularly inspect the receiver to look for any cracks.

But we’re all engineers here.

I do the same. Rack isn’t a concern so much as the hitch mounting.

 

[triplethreat]

But we’re all engineers here.

I do the same. Rack isn’t a concern so much as the hitch mounting.

I definitely engineered mine, from the ground up. I spent a lot of time looking for a manufactured hitch that would fit into the inside measurements on my triple axle toy hauler, and could not find anything that had enough span....inside to inside of the 12" H beams. So I decided to make my own. I bought enough 4" steel channel to cut two pieces to fit inside that span, and then rest on the inside of the bottom flange of the H beams. Next up was a Class III 500lb receiver hitch that mounted with 8 bolts.....4 on the left mounting flange and 4 on the right..
I had a mobile certified welder come to the house and weld in the 4" channel to the trailer frame with the "open" side of the channel facing up, so that I had a totally flat surface on both pieces of channel. I had alread laid everything out and drilled all eight of the receiver mounting holes in the channel and when he got to the house, I had already placed the channel pieces exactly where I wanted them (front to back), so that the hitch receiver was just slightly sticking out of the back of the trailer. He welded everything up that needed welding and I proceed to tighten up the eight Grade 8 bolts to finish the job. He said that he was impressed with my layout skills and how neat everything was, but honestly, it's not rocket science and fairly easy to do if you take your time and think about what you actually want to finish with. It is rock solid and we have two ebikes (both under the rack's 70lb limit per bike slot) and it's a HyperAx RV rated bike carrier.