I have a 2 door rubicon with 4.10 gears.
Im wondering if anyone has used a double motorcycle hitch carrier to transport a couple of 240 pound dirt bikes (about 500 pounds total tongue weight).
I imagine carrying one dirt bike isn't a problem, but not sure about two bikes?
My rubicon has a 3 inch lift w shocks and springs w 35's.
Is carrying 2 bikes a bad idea?

Thanks

 

Sounds like a lot of weight right off your bumper. Definitely going to be sitting really low in the rear. I put 15 30 pound bags of gravel in the back of my 4 door and I didn't want to drive very far. That's over the axle. And yours will be cantilevered out beyond the bumper. Doing wheelies. IMO I would say not a great idea.

 

I vote no unless you've got air bags in the rear. I've had a single dirt bike on one of those carriers and you can feel it move. I have a heavy duty tire carrier and bumper so I strapped the carrier to the bumper and the bike to the tire to make sure it didn't go anywhere. That was with 2.5" of lift and it wasn't comfortable. On the flip side- I've also put 15 bags of gravel (50lbs each) over the rear axle and aside from increased braking, the ride wasn't abnormal. I also used to tow 2 ATV's on a stout 5x10' trailer about 12-14 hours on the highway and again- except for stopping distance, it wasn't bad. That's the direction I'd go if I were looking to carry more than a bicycle on the back.

 

Yea I had some 10 year old ProComp 4" springs at the time. Was more concerned with blowing a shock out. It did have a nice smooth feel to it though, before it would bounce off the the bump stops. When it came time to replace all my springs they were all different lengths. I was just thinking about it being a 2 door and putting 500 pound 2 or 3 feet beyond the rear bumper would really lighten up the front end. Doing 60 or 65 down the highway coming into a dip might get a little squirrelly.

 

Even with airbags I don’t think I would want to drive very far with the levered weight like that, my vote would be get a small trailer

 

+3 (or 4) as the trailer route being a much better idea.

 

I built a carrier using a donor double dirt bike carrier as my starting point. After I built it, I put it on my stock JK and stood on the deck of the carrier. I weight about 280 pounds. I was shocked at how much the ass end of the Jeep sagged down. 500 pounds that far out of the lever arm would be pretty bad.

 

I ended up going with one 240 pound bike on the motorcycle carrier. So total it was about 300 lbs. It drove fine. Barely noticed it except for hitting dips on the highway.
Putting a second bike seemed like a bad idea.

 

That's still a TON of weight on the rear crossmember that it wasn't designed to carry. I'm glaglad you made it safely, but whew, what a load.

 

Isn't the receiver rated for a 500 pound tongue weight, or is it 350? But for me, if I was hauling this frequently, I would install the XRC rear bumper so that you're not relying on that cross member. That's what I did back when I was towing that 5000 pound toy hauler trailer. I loved that bumper.