israndy
2007 LTV Serenity
Installed the Versa-Lift on my 2005 Sprinter based LTV Serenity RV. The motorcycle I have been trying to carry is just too heavy for conventional drive-on hitch mount racks. And the Sprinter is just too light weight for a monster lift like the CruiserLift, the HydraLift, the OverBuilt, or the Blue Ox SportsLift III.
There is the Mighty Hauler, which even has a Sprinter on their page but at 280 lbs. (what's that in liters?
) plus the weight of the bike it would just be too much for the single hitch attachment which is rated at 500 lbs. tongue weight. Their photos are all of the mid-length Sprinter so there isn't nearly as much overhang as my 23+ foot Serenity has.
I had been posting here for months looking for ideas. In the states it is pretty much just motorcycle trailers that people recommend. If you don't like the cost and space taking of a full covered or open trailer, there is trailer in a bag or the castor wheel trailers like the Sport Carrier II and the SwivelWheel models. You can flip up the trailer in the hitch when the bike is down to save campground space, but it's still a trailer and may require licensing and storage. They also hang way far off the back, so you are driving a convoy down the highway.
There are some French and British designs that keep the bike level while keeping it tight against the back of the RV, like my favorite the Hydra Trail. These allow you to load the bike from the curb and castor wheels allow them to follow your direction of travel yet they don't add much more than a few feet on the back to watch while driving. You do still have an additional axel to worry about when going thru toll booths or onto ferries. Also, they won't export to the US, don't have insurance to cover any problems with the design.
There is the explosion of hitch mounts that hold the front tire while you tow the bike on it's own back tire. Nice, but it will jack knife on ya so don't back up and you are stressing the rear tire. I am trying to tow an electric bike and while one of these under $200 units would be great for emergencies, it seemed to constantly run the electric motor thru the transmission w/o the computer driving the bike would do damage. I could not get the vendor (Vectrix) to comment pro or con.
Then I came across the VersaLift which others were selling on their storefronts but I didn't see any reviews. I called and was subjected to questioning by the manufacturer about my intended use, apparently people hook these to weaker vehicles and tow full dress cycles and break frames. The lift claims to be just 75 lbs so I could unhitch and move it myself, and added to the bike weight is JUST over the tongue weight. The lift takes the bike up off the ground, then you slide in these two additional steel bars (porting tubes) into additional receivers you mount to the vehicle and then lower it back down so all three receivers are holding the bike up.
She sent me pictures...
...and off to find the local fabricator and he said much of his work was people trying to attach things to their vehicle they were not originally designed to take. I explained what I was trying to do and he said he could fabricate whatever I needed. He looked at how the hitch was bolted to an extension of the frame and thought it would be pretty easy to install. I think the LTV was a particularly easy fit as it comes with the airbags in the back for extra load carrying capacity, and it has the two 36 gallon waste tanks back there that I just need to keep empty when traveling with the bike. Also easy to get to, as mine is the Serenity that got hit by the local garbage truck, the fiberglass bumper was knocked off and has still not been replaced as the local dealer (La Mesa) flaked.
So I ordered the lift and a couple of weeks later (apparently a bunch of orders came in after my initial call and posting here) it showed up. The time at the fabricators was pretty short, he welded the two receivers that came with the lift just below the bumper but way above the hitch receiver. This gave travel to the ground and lift to the porting tubes in the two feet of travel the lift has. Still could drag, as the item sticks out a ways. He did have to drill another hole in the lift to get it as high as he did, most RVs have their hitch higher... He welded on support structures that make the whole hitch much stronger, fortunately he did not weld the whole thing in place, which I was afraid he might do. If I get hit and the hitch destroyed it can still be unbolted, not cut away from the frame. I did have to sacrifice the tube that holds my dump hose, but I intend to get a macerator pump for back there anyway when I get to Manitoba, Canada to get the damage from the garbage truck repaired.
Yesterday I got the chance to hitch everything up and roll the bike onto the lift. It has a wheel chock that grabs the bike and keeps it upright. The lift easily took my bike up after I tied it down. Still don't have it wired, but temporarily I am using a long wire run to the battery to operate the motor, eventually it will be wired into the trunk and I will take the motor out to raise and lower, and put it away when traveling. The motor is not in the photos but it is at the top of the shaft when operating. I added the porting tubes and tied the bike down there too and drove around the block. Discovered that the bike had freed itself of the tie-downs, when it bounced they came off. Glad for the wheel chock, it was the only thing keeping me in place. Discovered the attachment points on the bike for next time, also discovered self tightening straps, I'll use those before I hitch it up again, I'll post some photos of the work when I get it up there again all strapped down. Too bad I don't have the fiberglass bumper to make it look good, but at least I got it done before they go to put it back so they can run holes thru to the receivers now.
The best part, it folds up when the bike is down and can store it there or travel like that, so I don't have to put it away to drive the RV after removing the bike... The worst part was the cost, if I keep this RV for the next 20 years like I plan, shouldn't be a big deal, but at the moment, the $1500 (free shipping) for the lift and the $400 for the modifications make this one of the biggest non-home or vehicle purchases I have ever bought. OK, the HDTV was more, but I get more use out of it.
-Randy
There is the Mighty Hauler, which even has a Sprinter on their page but at 280 lbs. (what's that in liters?
) plus the weight of the bike it would just be too much for the single hitch attachment which is rated at 500 lbs. tongue weight. Their photos are all of the mid-length Sprinter so there isn't nearly as much overhang as my 23+ foot Serenity has.I had been posting here for months looking for ideas. In the states it is pretty much just motorcycle trailers that people recommend. If you don't like the cost and space taking of a full covered or open trailer, there is trailer in a bag or the castor wheel trailers like the Sport Carrier II and the SwivelWheel models. You can flip up the trailer in the hitch when the bike is down to save campground space, but it's still a trailer and may require licensing and storage. They also hang way far off the back, so you are driving a convoy down the highway.
There are some French and British designs that keep the bike level while keeping it tight against the back of the RV, like my favorite the Hydra Trail. These allow you to load the bike from the curb and castor wheels allow them to follow your direction of travel yet they don't add much more than a few feet on the back to watch while driving. You do still have an additional axel to worry about when going thru toll booths or onto ferries. Also, they won't export to the US, don't have insurance to cover any problems with the design.
There is the explosion of hitch mounts that hold the front tire while you tow the bike on it's own back tire. Nice, but it will jack knife on ya so don't back up and you are stressing the rear tire. I am trying to tow an electric bike and while one of these under $200 units would be great for emergencies, it seemed to constantly run the electric motor thru the transmission w/o the computer driving the bike would do damage. I could not get the vendor (Vectrix) to comment pro or con.
Then I came across the VersaLift which others were selling on their storefronts but I didn't see any reviews. I called and was subjected to questioning by the manufacturer about my intended use, apparently people hook these to weaker vehicles and tow full dress cycles and break frames. The lift claims to be just 75 lbs so I could unhitch and move it myself, and added to the bike weight is JUST over the tongue weight. The lift takes the bike up off the ground, then you slide in these two additional steel bars (porting tubes) into additional receivers you mount to the vehicle and then lower it back down so all three receivers are holding the bike up.
She sent me pictures...
...and off to find the local fabricator and he said much of his work was people trying to attach things to their vehicle they were not originally designed to take. I explained what I was trying to do and he said he could fabricate whatever I needed. He looked at how the hitch was bolted to an extension of the frame and thought it would be pretty easy to install. I think the LTV was a particularly easy fit as it comes with the airbags in the back for extra load carrying capacity, and it has the two 36 gallon waste tanks back there that I just need to keep empty when traveling with the bike. Also easy to get to, as mine is the Serenity that got hit by the local garbage truck, the fiberglass bumper was knocked off and has still not been replaced as the local dealer (La Mesa) flaked.
So I ordered the lift and a couple of weeks later (apparently a bunch of orders came in after my initial call and posting here) it showed up. The time at the fabricators was pretty short, he welded the two receivers that came with the lift just below the bumper but way above the hitch receiver. This gave travel to the ground and lift to the porting tubes in the two feet of travel the lift has. Still could drag, as the item sticks out a ways. He did have to drill another hole in the lift to get it as high as he did, most RVs have their hitch higher... He welded on support structures that make the whole hitch much stronger, fortunately he did not weld the whole thing in place, which I was afraid he might do. If I get hit and the hitch destroyed it can still be unbolted, not cut away from the frame. I did have to sacrifice the tube that holds my dump hose, but I intend to get a macerator pump for back there anyway when I get to Manitoba, Canada to get the damage from the garbage truck repaired.
Yesterday I got the chance to hitch everything up and roll the bike onto the lift. It has a wheel chock that grabs the bike and keeps it upright. The lift easily took my bike up after I tied it down. Still don't have it wired, but temporarily I am using a long wire run to the battery to operate the motor, eventually it will be wired into the trunk and I will take the motor out to raise and lower, and put it away when traveling. The motor is not in the photos but it is at the top of the shaft when operating. I added the porting tubes and tied the bike down there too and drove around the block. Discovered that the bike had freed itself of the tie-downs, when it bounced they came off. Glad for the wheel chock, it was the only thing keeping me in place. Discovered the attachment points on the bike for next time, also discovered self tightening straps, I'll use those before I hitch it up again, I'll post some photos of the work when I get it up there again all strapped down. Too bad I don't have the fiberglass bumper to make it look good, but at least I got it done before they go to put it back so they can run holes thru to the receivers now.
The best part, it folds up when the bike is down and can store it there or travel like that, so I don't have to put it away to drive the RV after removing the bike... The worst part was the cost, if I keep this RV for the next 20 years like I plan, shouldn't be a big deal, but at the moment, the $1500 (free shipping) for the lift and the $400 for the modifications make this one of the biggest non-home or vehicle purchases I have ever bought. OK, the HDTV was more, but I get more use out of it.
-Randy
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