Harly Hauler--I wish

[chris cross]

I recently purchased a 2004 40' fdts. It came with a Harly Hauler. It carries the Hog on the rear of the coach and raises and lowers via a winch motor. Thats the good news. The bad news is that my wife nixed the Hog. Anyway, I'm disabled and use an electric cart. The Hauler manufacturer says I can add an extension to the unit and use two tracks for my "ride". I have two electric rides. One weighs 200 lbs. and the "gorilla" is 580 lbs. The Hauler guy says the capacity is 850 lbs. I would appreciate any input about this. Thanks

[chris cross]

I recently purchased a 2004 40' fdts. It came with a Harly Hauler. It carries the Hog on the rear of the coach and raises and lowers via a winch motor. Thats the good news. The bad news is that my wife nixed the Hog. Anyway, I'm disabled and use an electric cart. The Hauler manufacturer says I can add an extension to the unit and use two tracks for my "ride". I have two electric rides. One weighs 200 lbs. and the "gorilla" is 580 lbs. The Hauler guy says the capacity is 850 lbs. I would appreciate any input about this. Thanks

[Cruzer]

As long as the mfgr of the hauler says it's OK, I don't see a problem with the hauler end of it. The other things to consider is that the weight of both the hauler and the "gorilla" is going to take away from your cargo carrying capacity. If you do this, load up the gorilla and run your coach (as fully loaded as possible) across a set of scales. Pay particular attention to the rear axle weight versus rear axle capacity rating. If you do add weight on the back end of the coach you will undoubtably lighten the front end, due to the "teeter-tooter" effect over the rear axle. As long as the front end doesn't lighten too much you'll still have a good steering coach. Shifting your heavier cargo towards the fronmt of the basement storage can also help.

[EngineerMike]

The switch sounds easy at least from a capacity standpoint. The existing cap = 850#, proposed is 580, and the only real issue is center of gravity. A wheelchair-like device is probably wider than the Hog, so will sit, CG-wise, farther aft but not by much. The Hog CG was over the wheel centerlines & the Gorilla's will be ~halfway between its drive wheels. If 850 times the distance from the face of the hitch receiver to centerline of Hog is greater than 580 times dist. from face of receiver to centerline of Gorilla, then the engineering works. Check this math in both up and down positions.
Another way to look at it would be 850/580= 1.47, or about 1.5, so if the CG moves less than 50% of the original rec'vr-CG distances (either up or down) back from the coach, you're within original design load.
Mike
p.s. distances are on the horizontal only, not on the slope, so measure straight out from receiver in all cases, not at an angle up or down.