[tfactor]

Hello, I've been lurking on the forum over the past year, enjoying the posts, thanks everyone. I searched the forums for opinions on the Ultimate MX hauler, and found some conflicting ones -- hoping to get some resolution.



I have a Toyota Tundra truck that we use to haul a little camper. We also do a lot of river shuttles (taking the truck to the takeout so it waits for us), which now involve either another car or someone driving the truck while I drive the TW200. I'd like to get a hitch hauler so that I can run the shuttles by myself, and perhaps eventually mount it on the front of the truck so we can pull the small camper too.



I looked at the Versahaul, but am a little nervous about the back tire not fitting in the rail. The Mototote looked good, wide enough and sturdy, but pretty heavy and big storage-wise. The Ultimate MX looked very nifty, and seems like a bomber product. Someone wrote that the TW200 pegs don't align with the hauler holders. Is that true with the new haulers? I wrote the guy who makes them but other than saying he knows people that use his hauler with TW's, he didn't give any details.



Any other options I should consider? I'd like to add that we bought the TW as a starter bike for my wife -- so ideally she'd be able to load/unload the bike herself. Another reason why I'm tempted to stay away from the rail-style haulers...



Thanks for any opinions/suggestions!

 

[peruano]

T-factor, While I'm not familiar with all of the name brands you are comparing, I might clarify a couple of points of consideration for you. First tray width need not be as wide as the maximal width of your back tire, because the tire is only that fat several inches off the surface. I have two racks (a joehauler and a tiltarack (aluminum) and both have trays that are 5 3/4 inches wide (wide enough to hold the TW back tire and yes narrow enough that you want the bike lined up when you go in or out of the tray, but that would be true of any width tray because our tires could roll over the 1 inch lip of nearly any tray if not lined up correctly.

Hitch racks for hauling the TW are not ideal but they are damned handy if you don't want to screw with a trailer (size, registration, cost, etc.) I can load the bike by myself and so too could your wife, but smart money says have a second person there if at all possible to catch, guide, act as extra eyes, and pass the strap when it falls at the wrong time. I do know RickClick (this forum) has a hitch rack that has the feature of holding the bike by the pegs and not requiring straps. He loves it, but I can't tell you what model it is, but it may be in one of his old posts, or you can write to him for specifics.

I have an aluminum rack solely because its lighter to mount and carry from the backyard and thats so my wife can drag it out and mount it easier than the other one when I call her from the boonies saying bring the PU and rack and rescue me. So far that hasn't happened but it will some day and I'm thinking of her comfort (what a guy I am).

Good luck in your deliberations.



Fat tire in a 5 3/4" wide tray (this is the joehauler).

Tom

 

[twjay]

I ordered an inexpensive 300lb capacity hauler off of ebay and it worked great for years. I hauled my CR250 and TW with no problems. The back tire doesn't sit all the way down in the track, but if you tie down

the bike like you should, it won't matter. I attach the handlebars to the front and rear of the rack side opposite the tail gate and on the tailgate side, one strap from the handlebars to each of the rear corner bed tie downs. I also strap the rear swing arm to the rack. Hooking the bars to the bed and rack adds a ton of stability. It's pretty stable without it, but rock solid when strapped to the rack and the truck bed.



I agree with peruano, hitch haulers are very handy, but not ideal.



I also have a trailer and given the choice, a trailer is much easier. Those MX haulers aren't light, and carrying it out to your truck, putting it in the hitch, lining up the pin holes, putting the pin in, then tightening the stabilizer, unscrewing the ramp, then loading up, tie downs etc, does get tedious after a while.



It's much easier for me to connect my trailer, drop the ramp, tie the tw and/or atv down with a couple straps, raise the ramp and drive off. I'll usually just back the trailer in my garage when I'm back from riding and not have to unload (especially if I'm only hauling the quad).

 

[TW-Brian]

Hey T-Factor,



Just a few comments based on my experience with the following:



-Versahaul - These are very well made but are also very heavy. I found it hard to manage mine single-handedly, both while mounting on my vehicle and also storing in the garage. The rail on the Versahaul has sidewalls that are angled outward and would actually work very well with the TW's rear tire.



-Ultimate MX Hauler - I have had several Moto-Jack Racks, which are what the Ultimate MX Haulers are copied from, and I love them. In my opinion, they are by far the fastest, easiest and best way to carry a single bike. Before carrying your TW on one of these, I would strongly suggest making the two following common mods. First, get the wider foot pegs. These will make it easier to position the locking pins that secure the bike. Second, get a Ricochet skid place. The TW doesn't have a frame that goes under the engine, just the cheesy stock skid plate that is made from old dog food cans. You would essentially be supporting the weight of the whole bike on the bottom of the engine. The Ricochet skid plate provides a broad, solid platform that is mounted to the frame. One downside of using this type of carrier is your bike can block your rear license plate and possibly your taillights/turn signals from being seen.



My vote would be for the Ultimate MX Hauler.



Brian

 

[tfactor]

Thank you everyone, your opinions are much appreciated.



Trailer would be simpler, no doubt, but sometimes I'm already hauling a rafting trailer -- and I might bolt something onto it to hold the bike too.



I'm leaning towards the MX hauler, and the Ricochet skid plate makes lots of sense. Now I just need to find out if the MX hauler in fact works with the TW. If anyone else has any suggestions, please keep 'em coming

Thanks!

 

[tfactor]

Thanks again! I ordered the MX Hauler, it arrived today. Pretty easy to put together, good instructions. Product isn't too heavy (I'm guessing 50 lbs), easy to lift. A bit hard to align the holes in the hitch receiver, esp. since the MX Hauler uses an anti-sway threaded bolt there.



I bought the Ricochet skid plate and wider pegs, both those items were key -- thanks for those tips, Brian! I did mistakenly buy the aluminum pegs, so I put in an order for the steel ones and will be selling the others here.



There are a few mods that I'm already considering, namely a way to tightly attach the top of the skid plate to the side of the platform, like shown in this review: <http://bit.ly/hsYP7x>. I ordered a 4" drop hitch which fits nicely under the bike, but it made everything a bit lower and further from the truck. I fashioned a simple 5" ramp for the front wheel which gets the bike high enough to load without the drop hitch, and now all sits higher up and closer to the truck.



I'll take it for a test drive tomorrow and post some photos then. So far it looks like a winner.

 

[TW-Brian]

Hi T-factor,



I also use two tie down straps from the handle bar side that is closest to the truck. One to secure the bike to left rear of the truck, and one to the right rear. My 4Runner has tie down hooks on each side of the frame that work well for this. This will keep the front wheel from flopping around and also help keep the bike from wobbling. This helps me with additional peace of mind so I don't have to constantly be checking my mirrors to be sure the bike is okay.



Brian

 

[tfactor]

The tie-down straps definitely helped. I'm very pleased with this solution -- I drove the bike over some washboard and slightly rutted roads, it stayed on very well. Some shots from today's testing, including my ad-hoc ramp:

 

[old mad max]

My wife and I put both T-dubs into the back of our F-150 with a 6 1/2' box.. The box is long enough to close the tailgate... OMM.

 

[qwerty]

I hauled a wrecked Tacoma this morning. Partial load of camping gear in the bed, XT250 in a carrier in the Class III receiver. Kind of windy today--the driver said he was driving down the road at the 70mph speed limit, the truck started to drift, he turned the steering wheel, and nothing happened--the truck kept going straight. Then all of a sudden, the front end jerked sideways and the truck rolled 3 times, coming to rest right-side up, 90* to the direction of travel in its own lane. My guess is a gust of wind got under the truck, lifted the front wheels, and the wheels were turned when the tires touched down. Fortunately, nobody seriously hurt, but the truck and motorcycle are totalled. I noticed new helper leaves added to the rear springs.



Wind gusts today up to 40mph. Apparent wind at 70mph road speed into the wind would be 110mph. '58 Chevies gutted for racing lifted their back wheels off the ground with apparent winds of 110mph. Think about that before running a carrier on a smallish truck, especially a tall one.

 

[tfactor]

A year or so later: the hauler has been working very well. We carried the motorcycle this year from Colorado to Wisconsin and back, and I love the simplicity of attaching / detaching / loading the motorcycle. The one negative was the change in how our truck (2006 Toyota Tundra) rode -- I could definitely feel the weight on the back. In fact the first 1/2 hour of the trip feels like the truck is doing a bit of a wheelie

But the MX Hauler sits closer to the bumper, so I imagine this feeling would be magnified with other hitch carriers.



I'm considering getting a superleaf installed in the rear, which would absorb the additional weight -- and not affect the ride the rest of the time. But the truck worked fine without it, and gas mileage was good.



A minor nitpick was having to take the mirrors off -- so that I could open the topper hatch while the motorcycle was up. Very minor, and installing the doubletake mirrors would be another solution.



Thumbs up on the MX Hauler.

 

[Kifo4173]

Hey T-Factor,



Just a few comments based on my experience with the following:



-Versahaul - These are very well made but are also very heavy. I found it hard to manage mine single-handedly, both while mounting on my vehicle and also storing in the garage. The rail on the Versahaul has sidewalls that are angled outward and would actually work very well with the TW's rear tire.



-Ultimate MX Hauler - I have had several Moto-Jack Racks, which are what the Ultimate MX Haulers are copied from, and I love them. In my opinion, they are by far the fastest, easiest and best way to carry a single bike. Before carrying your TW on one of these, I would strongly suggest making the two following common mods. First, get the wider foot pegs. These will make it easier to position the locking pins that secure the bike. Second, get a Ricochet skid place. The TW doesn't have a frame that goes under the engine, just the cheesy stock skid plate that is made from old dog food cans. You would essentially be supporting the weight of the whole bike on the bottom of the engine. The Ricochet skid plate provides a broad, solid platform that is mounted to the frame. One downside of using this type of carrier is your bike can block your rear license plate and possibly your taillights/turn signals from being seen.



My vote would be for the Ultimate MX Hauler.



Brian

Which wider pegs work best for the Ultimate MX? Thanks!

 

[psunami]

View attachment 175185
must bring toys...customize the ride!

 

[JerseyJeeper]

Awesome!

must bring toys...customize the ride!

 

[psunami]

I did try mounting a bike on the front, but it created way more wind resistance than I thought, and actually caused the truck to overheat if I went over about 55mph...blocking air to the radiator I suppose, but I am a little underpowered with a v-6. next truck will have a bigger engine because I just can't give up on the dream of having no trailer and keeping access to the rear open. The trailer does limit your camping options occasionally.

 

[Fred]

Quite a nice toy load on that Chevy!
Considering the hassles of dealing with the tailgate and trailer I would revisit idea of the TW being carried on front of truck.
Removing grill elements, back flushing entire cooling system, suplemental electric fan(s), larger core radiator, more efficient mechanical fan, new fan clutch, new fan clutch thermostat, etc...any approach could conceivably increase cooling capacity sufficiently. Auxiliary lighting can address any blocked forward forward facing lights.

 

[jflynn]

I hauled a wrecked Tacoma this morning. Partial load of camping gear in the bed, XT250 in a carrier in the Class III receiver. Kind of windy today--the driver said he was driving down the road at the 70mph speed limit, the truck started to drift, he turned the steering wheel, and nothing happened--the truck kept going straight. Then all of a sudden, the front end jerked sideways and the truck rolled 3 times, coming to rest right-side up, 90* to the direction of travel in its own lane. My guess is a gust of wind got under the truck, lifted the front wheels, and the wheels were turned when the tires touched down. Fortunately, nobody seriously hurt, but the truck and motorcycle are totalled. I noticed new helper leaves added to the rear springs.



Wind gusts today up to 40mph. Apparent wind at 70mph road speed into the wind would be 110mph. '58 Chevies gutted for racing lifted their back wheels off the ground with apparent winds of 110mph. Think about that before running a carrier on a smallish truck, especially a tall one.

I have a Tacoma, and bought a Mototote a few years ago. I am not a fan of these hitch carriers on a small truck or SUV for anything but short trips. All that weight on the back turns your truck into a teeter totter, with the fulcrum being the rear wheels. It's squirrelly in wind and on the sorts of dirt roads you have to go on to get to trails. A small trailer is more of a pain and more expensive, but worth it.

 

[Fred]

....unless the trailer prevents one from getting into, parking, turning around and leaving the intended destination, say something like your camp site. Depending on where one goes this can be a serious concern. Unless I am doing a group ride I usually end up someplace a trailer would not readily get in and out of in the mountainous west.
Takes balls and perhaps blind faith in one's trailering skills to push down and explore what is a likely dead end road one has never seen before. It all depends on how far one is willing to back a trailer up on narrow primitive tracks.
Non-trailer transport of one's motorcycle can allow one to more readily explore and discover new destinations with confidence of getting back out. This is of course for those who like to get off the beaten path.
Trailers are very good for open country though.