90 degree receiver hitch adapter

[Al Waters]

To those of you who have experience with trailers and towing. I am looking at putting a hitch on my 2009 GW. I want to be able to mount a bicycle rack on the rear to carry my wife's walker as she can't get around very well. I have seen the 11x16 rack that WingStuff carries for coolers that will attach to the tongue of the hitch but that seems too small to strap a walker to.
What I need is a 90 degree 1 1/4 inch to 1 1/4 inch vertical receiver adapter. Then the bicycle rack could slide in to the receiver. Curt makes a 2 inch to 2 inch 90 degree receiver adapter but that would be too big. I understand the tongue weight for pulling motorcycle trailers to be 30 pounds. This would be considerable less weight.
If my idea is not a good one, what have some of you done to accomplish what I am trying to do?

Thank you for your help.
Al Waters

[mrtwowheel]

I think that a bicycle rack alone would block your tail lights and turn signals enough to raise a red flag to most police officers. A trailer might be a better idea.

Scott

[Al Waters]

I appreciate your concern. I am lit up like a Christmas tree in the rear and it is just a walker. I do have a friend whose son is a CHP so I will check with him and see how he would view it.
Thanks for your input.

Al Waters

[Al Waters]

This is what I came up with. I purchased a trailer hitch from Wing Stuff and had a friend who welds duplicate the vertical 1 1/4 inch vertical channel but finish up with a 90 degree 1 1/4 inch horizontal channel rather than using the tongue and ball. I have since painted the channel black. I am going to add additional lights to the bike rack even though I have no plans of using this setup at night. The night picture looks a little offset but everything is straight. The bike was on its side stand.
I have read that 30-35 pounds of tongue weight is recommended for pulling a trailer. This total weight is considerably less. I test drove this setup and everything was stable, straight, and handled the same as before the addition.

Thanks,
Al Waters

[WingAdmin]

That looks really great! You might want to think about putting an elastic strap or bungee or something around the walker if it doesn't already lock in the folded position, to keep it from unfolding from bumps while riding.

[Al Waters]

Good point. I had a bungee around the bottom when I took my first pics but removed it because I thought it looked a little cheesy. I didn't catch that the seat came down until I posted the pic here. You are correct that it needs to be held at the bottom and the seat restrained.

I have some industrial grade velcro from McMaster-Carr that I now use that works well and looks cleaner.

Somebody sent me an e-mail asking if the walker seat was so that a passenger could see where they had been instead of where they were going.

Thank you for your opinion.

Al Waters

[redial]

Do your State laws allow a projection that far beyond the rear end of the mc? Ours requires it to be no more than 150mm (about 6 inches). Just asking. It does look good though.

[Al Waters]

Here is what I came up with doing some research for California.

Projections to the Rear
#35410.
The load upon any motor vehicle alone or an independent load only upon a trailer or semitrailer shall not
extend to the rear beyond the last point of support for a greater distance than that equal to two-thirds of the length of the
wheelbase of the vehicle carrying such load, except that the wheelbase of a semitrailer shall be considered as the distance
between the rearmost axle of the towing vehicle and the rearmost axle of the semitrailer.

What I am not positive about is the last point of support. If it was a truck with the tail gate down, it would be the furthest edge of the tail gate. With this hitch, would it be the furthest most point of the channel (bike rack) or closer to the bike where the channel ends and the bike rack channel begins?
In not taking that chance, measuring from the shortest point of support, the bike rack still stays within the 2/3 wheel base distance.
What it really comes down to is I am going to take my own advice and check with my friends son who is a CHP. Best to side on the error of caution.

Thanks,
Al Waters

[redial]

extend to the rear beyond the last point of support for a greater distance than that equal to two-thirds of the length of the
wheelbase of the vehicle carrying such load,

In my experience, they mean from the axle. So measure the distance between the front and the rear axle, then from the rear axle to the tip of the rear projection, and that distance is not to exceed 66%, or in Oz it is 60%. Also, do you have to have a number plate visible, complete with light, and a tail light (red) fitted so that it covers the frame distance? These are some of the things that they pull you over for in Oz, so that they can determine if you are roadworthy, DUI, or licensed for the vehicle, or just do a registration currency check. The LEOs have to fill in their time somehow.

[Al Waters]

I read it as 2/3 of the distance between the front axle and rear axle of the Wing. I don't see where it says measuring from the rear axle to another point back except for semi trailers. If my wheel base is 6 feet, then I should be able to go 4 feet behind the furthest point of support. If I use the vertical channel of the hitch which is covered under the fender and measure to the furthest point that the bike rack handles are from the Wing, I am at two feet.

And yes to your other questions..............

Thanks, Al Waters

[redial]

I think you are being careful with your mods. But to make sure your measurements are correct, I took the opportunity to look up Wikipedia, and found this definition for wheelbase:

In both road and rail vehicle s, the wheelbase is the distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels.

With that in mind, the measuring for the back bit, should be from the center of the rear wheel (aka axle) to the back of the load.

If you wheelbase is 6feet, then measuring from the center of the rear wheel should give you not more than 4feet to play with. That should be enough for your purpose.

[dingdong]

The only issue I see here is the possible blocking of the license plate. The extended length will be a non issue here in the USA. There are lots of hitch mounted carriers being used here that extend way beyond 6 inches. Such as this.

http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z44 ... 9-back.jpg

[redial]

We can go to our motor registry and get an additional number plate. They normally use these for carrying bicycles on the back of cars. The big offence is not to have the number plate visible, and capable of being lit up. The LEOs just want to be able to identify you, and check that your insurance etc is uptodate. It also applies to speed cameras, automatic tolls, and similar things that they use to keep a track of honest citizens.

The additional number plate should not cost you much - about $20 here.

I know that my experience is only based on vehicles in Oz, and all I am trying to do is give you things to consider. I dont mind if you reject them, as some of these points may not apply to your situation. HTH

[Al Waters]

Thanks for the replies. It helps considerably when getting the observations of other bike riders.

And that is one clean looking setup on the Wing with the trunk extension.

Thanks, Al Waters

[WingAdmin]

We can go to our motor registry and get an additional number plate. They normally use these for carrying bicycles on the back of cars. The big offence is not to have the number plate visible, and capable of being lit up. The LEOs just want to be able to identify you, and check that your insurance etc is uptodate. It also applies to speed cameras, automatic tolls, and similar things that they use to keep a track of honest citizens.

The additional number plate should not cost you much - about $20 here.

I know that my experience is only based on vehicles in Oz, and all I am trying to do is give you things to consider. I dont mind if you reject them, as some of these points may not apply to your situation. HTH

That won't work in the US or Canada. They don't typically issue "extra" plates, and even if they did, your annual registration sticker has to appear on the rear plate - and that's going to be the one attached to the bike.

If there is a problem with plate obstruction, you could always just detach it from the bike and sling it over the back of the walker. That said, no decent cop is going to pull you over for this, unless he's already pulled you over and is searching for something to write you up for.