Making the 1.25 hitch on the monty stronger

[dpam]

I have a 2010-3150RL with a 1.25 inch hitch that was installed at the factory. We plan to only carry 2 mountain bikes on the hitch. The 1.25 bar and hitch is welded to 2 brackets that are bolted to a bracket on each side that is welded to the frame. I noticed the 1.25 hitch bar twists when there is movement, therefore I'd like to "beef it up". I'm wodering what would be best:

Unbolt the brackets and take the 1.25" bar to a welder and have an additional metal bar welded to the existing one to "beef it up".

Or

Have a welder cut off the 1.25" bar off the brackets and weld on a 2" bar to the brackets with a 2" received, and then I'd just bolt the brackets back to the brackets that are welded to the frame.

Has anyone "beefed up" their ability to safely carry two bikes on the back of the monty. I would apprecicate input on which solution would be easiest and work best.

Thank you.

[sailer]

I had another sq tube the same size welded to the brackets after i removed them but I moved the 2nd sq tube in about 6" and then had short welded pieces welded every 2' OC from both ends so now it looks like a ladder but it is now solid. I rebolted it back into place and all is well . It took the twist out of the single bar across there....sailer

[denandannie]

I have a 3150 also, year 2011. I am planning on using a Yakima Stick-Up bike rack. Are you saying that the hitch as initially installed is not strong enough to carry a rack with two bikes? Isn't our hitch a class II that is designed to carry 300 lbs? Let me know as I'd like to do what's necessary if I have to.

[DQDick]

It'll hold a rack with a couple of bikes on it just fine. You may need to put a shim or two in the receiver depending on how tight the rack you have fits. If you want to do anything other than two bikes, however, something needs to be done.

[bncinwv]

We carry two bikes in the rack. With the benefit of a rear-view camera, the bikes are in sight at all times. The light-weight manner in which the receiver is constructed does allow for a lot of bouncing up and down. After having to pull over a couple of times out of sheer nervousness, I remedied the situation with a couple of ratchet straps from the bike rack to the rigs frame (prevents sway and holds the entire assembly down to prevent bouncing). A couple of gel-coat protecting dock line wraps protect the finish on the rig where the straps go beneath it. After the strap addition, the bouncing has practically been eliminated and rather than keeping a constant eye on them, I am comfortable with how they ride now. I tried four bikes on the rack once, and will not do that again since the cantilever weight effect of the four bikes was excessive for the bike rack and small receiver configuration. With all of this said, I still plan at some time to beef up the receiver, but at least now it is not a pending emergency.
Bingo

[drknapp]

The flexability made us nervous also with our two bikes on it. Our two bikes wheels are pretty close to the ladder when mounted, so I bought some of that foam you can buy at Home Depot for wrapping air conditioner lines. I then put it on the ladder uprights where the wheels were and used straps to hold the wheels to the ladder. It stabilized them quite a bit.

[dpam]

Denandannie,

I have a cargo carrier that slides into a 2" reciever, so instead of buying a bike carrier with a 1.25" tongue I bought an adapter that converts the 2" to a 1.25" tongue. In order to secure the 2 bikes on the cargo carrier I bolted on 2 front fork clamps, so now I take the front wheels off the bikes and clamp the bike forks down and strap the back end of the bikes to the cargo carrier. The bikes are very secure on the cargo carrier, and I assumed I wouldn't have any movement. Once I had the bikes on the cargo carrier that is on the back on the monty I pushed up and down on the cargo carrier and noticed the 1.25" pipe was twisting with the movement. Because the bikes have a very low profile on the cargo carrier I thought there would be no movement, but after pushing up and down on the carrier to simulate a bouncing movement I saw the 1.25" pipe twisting, which makes me very uncomfortable. Therefore, I want to "beef up" the 1.25" pipe. The cargo carrier and 2 bikes weigh approximately 125 lbs.

I like Sailer's solution that he describes, so I'll discuss that means of "beefing up" the 1.25" pipe with a welder.

Thank you, I greatly appreciate all the responses.

[oldelmer1]

I had my 1.25 inch hitch removed and replaced with a Curt adjustable 2 inch hitch. 600# tongue weight, 6000# trailer weight receiver.

I know its over kill, but I saw how our 2 bikes bounced with the 1.25 inch hitch.

[mhs4771]

For our trip South, I used a 1 1/4" to 2" adapter to accept our Swagman Bike carrier with two bikes. To take some of the bounce and twist out of the setup, I used a ratchet strap from one side of the carrier to the ladder rack and put some tension on it. Kept an eye on it with the rearview camera and they rode fine for 1500 miles.