Tandem trailers is legal as long as the primary trailer is a fifth wheel or gooseneck, and the whole rig is less than 60' (I think, not sure on the number) in Texas. We have towed this setup cross country several times with no problem at all. Just don't back up! The rig with the scooter up front is a rare occasion, and we don't do it at night! Visibility is limited, but you can see around it OK, just be careful. I was just trying to show one extreme of mounting stuff on the front of a truck. A properly made bike rack should work just fine.

 

Ditto... On both counts!!

The reason you mount the bike racks on one side of the roof or the other is accessability. Sure, it looks nicer mounted in the center, but then the only way to get the bikes on and off (which is the last thing to load before you leave and the first thing to load when you get there) is to climb across the roof.

As for the rain/leak issue, as long as you use a good brand of marine-grade, UV-stable silicone on the bolt-holes, there's no chance of it leaking. People with boats install tie-down loops, cleats, bow loops, line chocks, windlasses, and countless other items on teh decks of boats with no leak issues. The key is using the right grade of UV-stable silicone and LOTS of it!!

The other thing to make sure of is that the roof is properly reinforced to take the loads of the bikes. No matter how rigidly or tightly you mount them, they will wiggle with the bikes on them, and you want to be sure it doesn't cause stress-cracks on the roof around the bolt-holes.

-Joe

 

Thanks for all the feedback! I've pretty much decided on the bike rack mounted on the pop-up. I've just learned that the pop-up manufacturer has one in their catalog, so I can get their dealer to install it, that way someone is (hopefully) accountable for installing it properly

 

I use a Draw-Tite front hitch on my '04 FX4 SCAB, with a Draw-Tite cargo carrier with a bike post on it. I haul three bikes on the front, with no problem with visibility, airflow, or headlights. The hitch came from Plattsburgh Spring in NY - good folks to deal with. It was just a bolt-on. Get the "J-pin" too. Its a locking hitch pin that works with a special hole in a Draw-Tite receiver to take up slack and keep the rack from wobbling. I drilled a matching hole in my factory rear receiver and use a J-pin back there, too.

I don't think I can post pics (If I can I don't know how) - but I can send one to a personal e-mail address. I don't have a pic with the bikes on it but I have pics with just the cargo carrier on there from our recent trip to Rodanthe, NC. I take the cargo carrier off to drive on the beach, but I have been off-road in the woods and on the beach, and driven through the winters we have here, with no problem with clearance. I had another thread soemwhere that had some pics of the hitch itself - you can probably find it pretty easy because I don't post too often.

We pull a Coleman pop-up with the bikes on the front - not a problem at all. I would NOT put a rack on the back of a pop-up. The weight of the bikes will reduce the tongue weight and the added tail weight makes it more likely to end up with sway.

We have a front receiver on my wife's 2002 Explorer, too - and do the same thing when we don't want to use the truck.

That's my 2-cents worth.

Update - Found some old info:

http://img55.imageshack.us/img55/9938/hitch61bt.jpg

http://www.reeseprod.net/pdf/N65043.pdf (Reese and Draw-Tite are made by the same folks)

 

 

Yup - that's mine!

 

I just ordered the Drawtite front hitch for 04 subercab. It says there are 2 mounting height options and indeed in the photo I see 2 heights of holes. I'm guessing that cutting some plastic is required for the higher height. Any comments from somone who has installed one? thanks.

 

All of the catalog pics I've seen of the Pop-up roof bike racks show the bikes just a little forward of the trailer's axle, so I would think it would be pretty stable. The hitch and coupler can both hande the added tongue weight. Right now it's 2 adult bikes, a pre-teen's bike, and a small bike with training wheels, so it's probably no more than 250lbs plus the weight of the rack. Without the bike rack I have about 160 pounds of tongue weight, so I've got some buffer even after adding the bike rack

 

Stand on a bathroom scale then stand on it again holding a bike.
I'd tend to believe all four bikes weigh less than half that.

My cheap mountain bike only weighs 38 lbs.

If your 4 bikes really weigh a total of 250 then I'd bet that everyone in your family including the one on training wheels can easily kick 65 yard field goals.

 

Our 3 yr old daughter has some pretty hefty training wheels





Sorry - couldn't resist

 

If that's what your 3 year old daughter rides, I'd hate to see what your older son rides...sorry, couldn't resist too.