Quote:
Originally Posted by dockinn
We are new to RVing, purchased a 99 London Aire pusher. Would like to take a car and motorcycle with. Have looked at Racecity dolly's and am considering GMC Canyon 4x4, Chev Colorado 4x4, or Dodge Dakota 4x4 for flat towing with the Harley in the back. Any idea's or expertise in this area would be appreciated. Thanks BD
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dockinn,
There's been a number of posts on this requests on this subject. And, there's a few ways to do it. You can find a "double duty" dolly in which, a full sized motorcycle will fit crossways in the front section and, a toad in its normal position, over the axle or, just a hair behind it. But, with this method, you have to find room for that dolly, each and every time you park in camp spot/RV park. To some, they've coped with it, it would not work for me, to cumbersome. Then there's the trailer method. Yep, that works too. But, you still have to find a place for it, again, each and every time you find a place to camp.
The second method is, to "Carry the bike" on a lift, on the back of your coach. We used a "Hydralift" on the back of our '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the 330 C-7 CAT. There's one pictured in a post above mine, in the folded up position. The Hydralift is by far, the best lift/carrier on the market. It's the most stable, the least amount of moving parts, very, very dependable, and as stated, will handle at least 1000 lbs. without issues. They're very proud of it too. Those lifts hover around $4,500 BEFORE shipping and taxes.
That was a great way for us to haul our '08 Honda GL 1800 Goldwing. I had absolutely ZERO issues when hauling it. I was told the back end of the coach would fall off, the front end would pull wheelies, the handling would be drastically effected and much more. Well, NONE of that happened. It handled flawlessly. No wandering, no porpoising, no ill effects what so ever. Yep, I was overweight back there, but, I calculated that into the facts before I installed it. The weight of the lift and the bike, removed exactly "100" lbs. off the front end, big wow!
Anyway, that was then, and this is now. We've since changed methods of hauling the Wing. We both like trucks so, we sold the CRV that we were dragging along with us, sold the Hydralift and, purchased a 2011 GMC Sierra 1500 Extended Cab 4x4. And, along with that, we purchased a used, but in flawless condition, "Rampage" lift/carrier for the back of that truck. That system, works outstandingly well. It has "0" problems loading that 900 lb. Wing into the back of that truck. Start to finish, it takes me about, 8 minutes to load and lock down the bike, and two bicycles plus.
As far as dragging a full sized truck, that truck is exactly 5300 lbs. The coach handles it just fine with the exception of the biggest, steep grades. On those, it hunkers down to about 35 mph. Oh well, we get there when we get there. I've got that Rampage system setup so that when it's not in use, hauling the bike, it's out of the truck in about 1.5- 2 minutes and on a cart, wisked away to a storage area for it. Easy-peasy.
Well, you've got some choices out there, it's a matter of preference and, money too. The Rampage lift normally sells brand new for close to $3,000.00. I picked one up, about 6 hours from us, that was used twice, for $1,500. It's perfect. The install was cake, way easier than the Hydralift and I installed that too. Good luck.
Scott
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2018 Goldwing Tour DCT Airbag
Linear Mode
