Tongue weight question, any experienced towers?

[ElysianComrade]

Hey guys, I'm currently on vacation and picked up my first street bike and looking to get it back home. I have a motorcycle carrier that we bought for our tundra to work with. I have LC 8 wraps and bilsteins and an off-road bumper that adds some weight to the front. The motorcycle is fairly heavy; coming in at 571 lbs dry weight, plus the motorcycle carrier.

The tongue weight for my reciever is 500lbs. With the bike and carrier its most likely pushing 700lbs. My question is this. Since I have upgraded suspension, some extra weight upfront to counterbalance the load in the rear, do I have some play with that recommended tongue weight? Or is it specifically how much weight the metal can handle before it starts to separate? Is there anyone with experience in motorcycle carriers for our 3rd gen? I have other options, this would just be the most efficient if it were plausible. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

 

[IBallEngineer]

Hey guys, I'm currently on vacation and picked up my first street bike and looking to get it back home. I have a motorcycle carrier that we bought for our tundra to work with. I have LC 8 wraps and bilsteins and an off-road bumper that adds some weight to the front. The motorcycle is fairly heavy; coming in at 571 lbs dry weight, plus the motorcycle carrier.

The tongue weight for my reciever is 500lbs. With the bike and carrier its most likely pushing 700lbs. My question is this. Since I have upgraded suspension, some extra weight upfront to counterbalance the load in the rear, do I have some play with that recommended tongue weight? Or is it specifically how much weight the metal can handle before it starts to separate? Is there anyone with experience in motorcycle carriers for our 3rd gen? I have other options, this would just be the most efficient if it were plausible. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

Well you are definitely going to push the envelope. As important as the actual weight is how far away from the hitch that weight is. A typical hitch ball might protrude 6 or 8" beyond the end of the receiver. Your bike probably centers it's weight beyond a foot or 16". The force applied is considerably more than 571# at that point.

Than being said I've seen many people overload the tongue and all that happens is the rear end sags and the front lifts. Which of course is a bad thing, but it won't rip the hitch off.

Send pics with it loaded!

 

[02SE]

Which bike is it specifically? Manufacturers 'Dry Weight' claims are often very optimistic.

The claimed 'Dry Weights' for my streetbikes were 70 and 80 lbs less than their actual ready-to-ride weights.

My point is your bike is likely heavier than you're assuming.

The kind of carrier you're talking about, is best for a light dirtbike.

For your bike, I'd rent a U-Haul motorcycle trailer.

 

[cp99sr5]

I agree with 02SE assuming your talking a carrier and not a true trailer, the carrier effectively puts the entire load on the hitch based on what you stated. A trailer on the otherhand would solve your problem. If you have the 3.4L then the Max tow capacity is 5000 lbs and the max tongue weight is 500 lbs.

For conventional trailers with ball-mounted hitches, proper tongue weight is roughly 10 to 15 percent of the total loaded trailer weight. For instance, if a 2,000-pound conventional trailer is loaded with 1,000 pounds of cargo, the proper tongue weight of the loaded trailer should be between 300 and 450 pounds, or 10-15 percent of the loaded 3,000 pound total.

So a trailer would allow you to safely bring the bike home. - My two cents!

 

[jgue467]

>>>...571 lbs dry weight, plus the motorcycle carrier.

I'd trailer it, period. No need to risk it and look silly going down the road all sagged out. :cowboy:

 

[JayRolla]

General rule of thumb when towing is, Never Go Over Tongue Weight. You can fudge on the others, but with modified suspension you might have a tough trip.

 

[nevada]

Hey guys, I'm currently on vacation and picked up my first street bike and looking to get it back home. I have a motorcycle carrier that we bought for our tundra to work with. I have LC 8 wraps and bilsteins and an off-road bumper that adds some weight to the front. The motorcycle is fairly heavy; coming in at 571 lbs dry weight, plus the motorcycle carrier.

The tongue weight for my reciever is 500lbs. With the bike and carrier its most likely pushing 700lbs. My question is this. Since I have upgraded suspension, some extra weight upfront to counterbalance the load in the rear, do I have some play with that recommended tongue weight? Or is it specifically how much weight the metal can handle before it starts to separate? Is there anyone with experience in motorcycle carriers for our 3rd gen? I have other options, this would just be the most efficient if it were plausible. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Cheers

don't do it. you are asking for trouble.

Which bike is it specifically? Manufacturers 'Dry Weight' claims are often very optimistic.

The claimed 'Dry Weights' for my streetbikes were 70 and 80 lbs less than their actual ready-to-ride weights.

My point is your bike is likely heavier than you're assuming.

The kind of carrier you're talking about, is best for a light dirtbike.

For your bike, I'd rent a U-Haul motorcycle trailer.

this.

 

[Brveagle]

+1 on renting a trailer.

i use a motorcycle hauler to haul my rm250 dirtbike around and i would never even think about putting anything streetbike size on it.

Rent a trailer, haul it home. Success.

Or you could always just buy a trailer off CL for a few hundred dollars, sell it when you get home.

 

[UnderFire]

My 8 wraps squatted pretty good with around 300 lbs on the hitch carrier, I'm guessing another 300 would've gave me some serious California lean and made it a sketchy ride.