Hauling four wheeler on cargo carrier?

[JClark]

Hello. I will be going on an ice fishing trip next month and would really like to take two four wheelers. I will be towing a 23' bumper pull trailer and one four wheeler will be in the back of the truck. The problem is where can I haul the other four wheeler? I do not have a hitch on the back of my camper and even if I did I would have concerns about pulling two trailers since the camper is not a fifth wheel.



This is my question. Has anyone ever tried to haul an atv on one of those cargo carriers that slide into the receiver hitch? I already have a receiver hitch on the front of my truck or I could put a hitch on the back of my camper. If I was able to haul the atv on the front of my truck, do you think the radiator would get enough air flow to keep the engine cool? Would the front axles be able to handle the extra weight?



Any thoughts, comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated and thank you for your time.

 

[swampfox]

ATV

Most ATV's weigh over 500 lbs. You might get away with it if you have "E" rated tires. However, what would you do if you had a problem... ... carrier broke, engine overheated, etc. If you don't have a topper or such on your box and if you have an 8 ft box you might be able to put 2 ATV's sideways in your pickup bed if you leave the tailgate down.

 

[y-knot]

First off, there is know way two ATV's will fit inside a truck bed. The carrier you are referring works great it mounted to the back of the truck, I have used one but only put a lighter ATV on it(250lb). The rear of travel trailers usually isn't built very heavy, so there isn't much to attach a hitch too. Also I would be worried about having that much hang from the rear, I would think it would be easy to drag the ground while coming out of alot of drives. Total lenght, your probaly going to be hanging out about 5 feet from the bumper. I have seen some mounts that allow you to load the ATV's from the side of your truck. They are rather elaborite and expensive.

 

[MUDDY]

y knot is rite. expensive. a member paid more for his 2 place truckrack than i paid for my flatbed. if ya haul 2 atv's much,,,,,get a fb. ezer and safer

 

[DPelletier]

Ok, here goes,



It isn't a good idea to mount a carrier on your trailer. That much weight way back behind the trailer axles will cause handling problems with the trailer due to the decrease in tongue weight. A friend did the same thing with his DRZ400 (290 lbs) and his trailer was unmanageable over about 35 mph. Your load is even heavier and farther back. You could mount more weight on the trailer tongue to compensate, but I still think its a bad idea.



As far as mounting the reciever on the front of the truck goes, I don't have any experience with overheating, etc. but I doubt that would be a problem. I have a winter front on my truck now, and I bet that it blocks off more air than an ATV would. Personally, I think it would be a little ungainly to drive around with an ATV sticking 4' or so in front of the truck, but hey, its possible. If you're determined to try this, two things: 1) weigh your front axle and ATV to see if your over GAWR and 2) check your front hitch capacity vs. your ATV and carrier weight.



My suggestion (assuming this isn't a regular occurence, then a toy box or flat deck would be best), is to build a "snowmobile" deck that sits on your bed rails. Loading and unloading would take some planning, but other than that your good to go.



Cheers

Dave

 

[RThompson]

Have you considered fabricating platform on top of the bed and using a ramp to park them crosswise? With long bed truck there should be plenty of space. A couple of built up ramps and you are in business. I would avoid anything that heavy behind the trailer and putting that kind of weight on cargo carrier is a ticket for diaster. In snow country I see a lot of snowmobiles carried crosswise.

 

[JClark]

During the night I started giving some thoughts to buiding a deck on top of my bed rails and making some longer ramps. I may still try to haul the small ATV on the front receiver but I will give that some more thought also. It is a Yamaha 200 built in 1986 (I think) and it is not all that heavy.



Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions, John.

 

[y-knot]

I think how you solve this problem will depend on how much you value your ATV's. The mounting system that allows two atv's to sit sideways is expensive,cumbersome and damn ugly. The ideal of a front mounted hitch and a platform for the atv to ride on has several problems. The fornt mounted hitches that I have seen advertised usuall only have a weight rateing of 300-500 lbs. The Buckstop bumper I have ties the frame together in several spots and it's front hitch looks strong, but I would think that 500 lbs for an atv and another 50-100lbs for the platform would be too much, at least it would be for me. Also the front-end would be taking a beating, and would wear very fast, bumper=350,ATV=500, platform=75 total =925lbs. Besides it would look goofy as hell, and block your air. The behind the trailer is pretty much out, that is alot of weight to hang behind the axles and the ground clearance would be a problem.

This leaves us to eighter getting rid of the trailer, and replaceing it with a "Sport" model (the kind that has a garage in the back for atv's or motorcycles). Or have someone in another truck follow with the atv in it's bed or a trailer. I have three ATV's myself, and I went with the Sport type trailer option, except they don't offer one with a big enough garage to fit three ATV's inside. So I had a Edge Gooseneck build that has the room in the back, and a "lounge" in the front. And while I was at it I had it built with a higher deck in front , so it would sit level while hooked to my lifted truck. Good luck

 

[BV]

Ask a dealer if the models you have can travel while tipped on their backs. I see a lot of them going down the road like this.



I personally think that the cargo rack idea is not good - Seems it would put a lot of weight out front and block the air flow.



Check out this ATV Rack for pickup bed.

 

[ANCIENT WOOD]

Highrider Systems in Hines, Oregon makes an across the bed rail hauling rack that looks pretty decent. 1-800-914-0018. Actually come to think of it the way they clamp to the bed rails may not be ideal. I built my own setup about 10 years ago and found that if you tie the quad rack to the bed rails, you want to stay away from twisting your truck on uneven ground, it WILL tear the sheet metal. I did that on my old 83 ford, then built a frame that held the racks above the bed rails and tied down to the factory tie downs. Its heavy but works great. just make 2 piece ramps at least 12 feet long for easy loading. I haul 2 600+ pound quads on mine plus pull a 30 foot weekend warrior with 4WD in it and you can feel the weight up high but it is not uncomfortable. Good luck.

DAN

 

[rholcom2]

I used to ride wheelers alot, and we always stood the first one up and put the wheels on top of the cab (little to no pressure, and you can put a blanket or something under the tires. Then for each other wheeler you can just stand them up and rest them against the one in front of it. I think when we went racing we could get three with the gate down, and two with it up. Dont know how much you care about plastics or what not. But for the way I ride, it doesnt matter how you treat them when they are on the truck, for how they get treated when on the track/trail.



Just my opinion... .

 

[JClark]

Thanks for the replies,



I bought the materials that will be needed to build a deck for the bed of the truck. It will be supported by the floor and sit above the bed rails. It won't be anything fancy and I will have to put it into the truck with my loader (200 to 300 lbs)but that won't be a problem.



Thanks again and happy holidays, John.

 

[KGrover]

I'm on my third design for carring atv on the bed rail, My first one started off with two sheets of wafer board and had no problem, then i went to half-inch re-rod with a "truse" design, weight alittle more then 70 lbs. used all the time on my '98,had less then $60 into it. Now i'm using square half inch tubing, about $60 again into materials but now i went to the bed floor of the truck since their was a warning about bed rail weight (2 atvs = 1150 lbs) in the owners manual.



The secret is to try and make the atv sit down into the bed rails, it can be done by leaving a pocket under the atv tires so they sit low,atv can easily pull them selfs out of a 4inch pocket and makes them more stable to tie down. when tyeing them down allow for some movement



I was using 8 ft ramps ( for 4 yrs) for loading until i flipped on over back wards, now i use 10ft expandable ramps that fit into pickup bed, about $90 dollars stuck into them. 15000 lbs gross 8100lbs truck. hope this helps. K