Platform on rear hitch - Montana Owners Club

Nu5r · 06-12-2013, 11:53 AM

Anyone know where I could get a platform that will attached to our 1 1/2 inch tow hitch on the rear? Would like to carry our semi-portable genny when dry camping.

tx,
Ray

lostshakerofsalt · 06-12-2013, 12:37 PM

Try etrailer.com. That is where I got ythe one I have on my rig.

http://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Cargo-...PS1040300.html

pineranch · 06-12-2013, 01:02 PM

You may want to take a good look at your hitch mounting. Anything more than what a couple of bikes weigh, I would beef up the hitch.
Mike

Hooker · 06-12-2013, 02:33 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by pineranch

You may want to take a good look at your hitch mounting. Anything more than what a couple of bikes weigh, I would beef up the hitch.
Mike

Agree, Personally, I would not put anything on the weak Lippert frame.

Rainer · 06-12-2013, 03:00 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by lostshakerofsalt

Try etrailer.com. That is where I got ythe one I have on my rig.

http://www.etrailer.com/Hitch-Cargo-...PS1040300.html

Every time I've seen one of those stuck to the back of some vehicle, they're listing at about 30°. A friend of ours has one on the back of his class C motorhome, and when I follow him out of a parking lot or something similar, I cringe at the scraping noise, the sparks at night, and hope it doesn't break off and I end up driving over it.

**DQDick** · 06-12-2013, 03:36 PM

Got ours from Amazon. We use this one with an adapter for the small hitch and the bike rack option to hold our bikes. I shim up the connection so it is tight and while you'll hear a lot of negatives we've used it for three years without problems and have only had to repaint it once. Repainting was necessary due to sun exposure.

Irlpguy · 06-12-2013, 04:01 PM

I purchased a bike rack and 2 bikes and carried them home from Arizona on that crap of a hitch that comes on the Montana's. Strapped everything to the ladder as added support as well. As soon as I got home I took the hitch off and beefed it up. I still would not hang a carrier off the back and carry any generator on it.

Take a close look at it and you will see why.

If you want to carry your generator back there, get a good welding shop to fabricate a proper 2" hitch and good strong frame attachment method, then you won't have to worry about it bouncing down the highway behind you. JMHO

BusyCarol · 06-12-2013, 08:00 PM

We are currently using our rinky dinky hitch to carry my bike, my husbands bike, and Andrew's bike and I HATE the da** thing!!! I didn't realize how bad it was until he had to drive around the block after dropping me off and I was petrified watching him go around the corner with the bikes BOUNCING all the way!!! It scares the daylights out of me. Unfortunately, can't do anything about it until we get home so pray that nothing happens between here and there! Once we get there I told DH that I will NOT go anywhere with that system again! I would rather shove my sons bike in the pass through and leave ours at home. So I agree with the others that have concerns. I would beef up your current system before adding to it.

I hope to get a PROPER hitch welded to the frame and then add a rack so we can carry our bikes and whatever else we want to!

Chip · 06-13-2013, 12:35 AM

I had to make two trips to a welder to beef up the hitch before I was satisfied.

I think that is why they eliminated the hitch from the new Montana's.

Put a bar in the receiver and stand on it and bounce a little and you will see what everyone means. It's bad.

Hooker · 06-13-2013, 12:14 PM

I don't think the hitch is the problem, you can get a good hitch from a number of places. The weak link is the frame, you can mount any hitch on the frame but if the frame can't handle it, you are out of luck.

Ozz · 06-13-2013, 02:07 PM

If done properly, it is fine.. on my 3400RL anyway.
I would suggest setting it up at a 30 degree up, Rainer is spot on, for some reason.. and it is the 'slop' in the square steel, they droop. Mine did it and I had that reversed by a good welder.
I have at least 10,000 on mine, the frame is fine. I have a Honda generator, a bike rack and 2 bikes on mine.
Any good hitch company will have a good one. Make sure you have 2 outriggers on it (Supports)

Irlpguy · 06-13-2013, 04:02 PM

Ozz if you have 10,000 on yours I would love to see the pictures of that mod. However I think that was a typo error. Any hitch that is properly fabricated and installed should be "level" not sloped either up or down. I think Rainer's reference was the thing was sagging at least 30 degrees, as in too much weight on something not designed to carry it.

I am sure others as well as myself would be interested in the hitch and platform you have on your unit, particularly it's attachment to the frame.

Ozz · 06-13-2013, 04:16 PM

Yea, that is what I thought, but because of the slop in the square stock and the weight on it, I stand by my statement.
https://picasaweb.google.com/Jimsue1...eat=directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/Jimsue1...eat=directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/Jimsue1...eat=directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/Jimsue1...eat=directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/Jimsue1...eat=directlink

Nu5r · 06-13-2013, 04:32 PM

I agree, it looks iffy for most anything with some weight. I'll just keep it (genny) in the truck for now until I make up my mind to go to a welding shop. Thanks all for your responses. Have fun!

Ozz · 06-13-2013, 04:35 PM

I should explain further, the kit used on mine, and many trailers, has a loose fitting set of brackets that the square-stock fits into, it is adjustable a 3 pc. kit, you cut the square stock to fit the width of your individual trailer. It has to be a loose fit, (probably not as loose as it is) has to be loose so the brackets will slide on it. Then it is secured by big bolts, and bolted to the frame. I drilled holes for that. You could weld it, but I did not want to take the chance of burning something up under there. I beefed it up with two supports, or outriggers, as shown in one of the slideshows.
I was a machinist in the Navy, fixed Nuke and conventional Subs at the New London Sub base, and worked at a defense plant, so do know my way around metals and fabrication. Not an expert in any sense, and make my share of mistakes. I can speak to this as it is on my Monte.

BusyCarol · 06-13-2013, 04:36 PM

Geez Ozz you don't do anything halfway do you? That thing needs its own weight on the CAT scales!

so want to have my husband build one like that but he is just learning to weld so it might be a while before he is ready for that ambitious of a project!

bncinwv · 06-13-2013, 04:42 PM

It is not the frame that is the problem with the 1 1/2" receiver, it is the support bar that the receiver is attached to. That is what has the flex to it (you can grab the receiver and move it yourself to see exactly what is flexing). We carry two bikes on a four bike rack on the 1 1/2" hitch and I have ratchet straps from the bike rack to the frame. I can monitor the bikes with the rear view camera, and the straps have eliminated the bounce. I do plan to add a 2" receiver (hidden hitch) at some point so I can carry four bikes, but if care is taken, two bikes on the 1 1/2" receiver are not a problem.
Bingo

Irlpguy · 06-13-2013, 05:22 PM

Now that's the kind of welding I would have liked to have seen under my upper deck when that was exposed. You did have these posted before OZZ and it is indeed impressive and a very nice job.

I was more interested in the method of attachment to the frame itself. We all have an I beam frame and wondered how it was attached to that and where the "outriggers" were attached.

That as Carol would say is NOT a "rinky dink" platform.

Rainer · 06-13-2013, 05:59 PM

On my previous trailer (which as of today I still own), I had a 3' extension added to the rear of the trailer so that I could add a platform to carry my Cummins-Onan p4300ie generator plus a box to hold fuel tanks and related generator paraphernalia.

http://bit.ly/11euakX

My edit fixed the link

Ozz · 06-14-2013, 12:52 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Irlpguy

Now that's the kind of welding I would have liked to have seen under my upper deck when that was exposed. You did have these posted before OZZ and it is indeed impressive and a very nice job.

I was more interested in the method of attachment to the frame itself. We all have an I beam frame and wondered how it was attached to that and where the "outriggers" were attached.

That as Carol would say is NOT a "rinky dink" platform.

Thanks Ed, when I got it done, I was afraid it was too heavy for the frame. I constantly check the mounts and frame area for stress cracks, but it is holding.
Ray, if mine is holding, a smaller, lighter platform should be fine. I think Deiselguy has a stout carrier as well. Michael and Kat have a platform that is holding also.

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