M/C lift, 36' Itasca and towing a Jeep, "We're off"

FIRE UP · 09-02-2011, 07:56 PM

Gents,
Well, we finally got out on the road with our new rig and setup. Some of you followed my install of a "Hydralift" on the back of our newly acquired Itasca 36GD, with the 330 CAT. We headed out of San Diego yesterday with fingers crossed. Well, some folks out there thought the back of the coach was going to disintegrate, the roof was going to pull off, the front end would never touch the ground, and all sorts of other catastrophic effects would happen when I put that lift on that rig and, put the GL 1800 Honda Gold wing on it.

Well, the world did NOT come to an end. The rig runs flawless down the road. No wander, no squirreling, no front end problems, no issues AT ALL. We put the bike on, tied it down, hooked up the Jeep and headed out. From San Diego to Vegas, without a hitch. Well, we've got one, my rear view monitor is on the fritz. Hmmmm. Any way, for those that followed my install of the lift, it's worked superb. I'd do it again in a heart beat. We're now in Richfield UT and all is still great. The weathers perfect. Life is good.
Scott

Sammie · 09-02-2011, 09:57 PM

I'm jealous! What a good looking rig.

Hope you have a great trip with no problems.

Sammie

SargeW · 09-03-2011, 09:41 PM

Looks great Scott! Just a word of advice. Find yourself a scale and get weighed. Be particularly concerned with the weight on the rears. You really want to keep enough air in the tires back there to hold the extra weight without heating up.

I would also recommend a TPMS system, if you don't have one already. Really cheap insurance, and get it for the Jeep too.

As a side note, where in San Diego you from? I from down that way too......

Sarge

FIRE UP · 09-03-2011, 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SargeW

Looks great Scott! Just a word of advice. Find yourself a scale and get weighed. Be particularly concerned with the weight on the rears. You really want to keep enough air in the tires back there to hold the extra weight without heating up.

I would also recommend a TPMS system, if you don't have one already. Really cheap insurance, and get it for the Jeep too.

As a side note, where in San Diego you from? I from down that way too......

Sarge

Sarge,
Thanks for the nice comments. One of the guys I go jeepin' with is also recommending a TPMS for the M/H and the Jeep. His ran him about $500-600 and then had to add more for the Jeep too. So, I've got to think about that. I keep my tires up to snuff so, thanks on the tip. Yes, I've already weighed it. Suffice to say, it's at the limit. And, where are we actually from, we live in Ramona. If you know San Diego, you'll know where that is. It's getting too crowed up there too, just like the rest of the state. Thanks again for the tips. So far, so good.
Scott

Roadking · 09-17-2011, 12:27 PM

Scott: Nice looking set up. We too lived in Ramona (off of Mussey Grade road, sold in 2004) and have a set up similar to yours. However, recently we sold our Jeep and now tow a Honda Civic 4-down. For the bike I had a "Toy Trax" installed back in 2003. The Toy Trax loads from the passenger side via a winch. Joe Hauler up in San Marcos did the custom installation. We haul a full dress touring Harley which is just a few pounds less than your Interstate, and now have over 50,000 miles on the setup without a problem. Indeed we are "at the limits" on rear axle weight but no concerns. In 8 years, never a problem and we've hit some pretty good bumps and pot holes and the setup is perfectly fine and the rig handles just awesome. Life is good. No, life is great.

FIRE UP · 09-22-2011, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roadking

Scott: Nice looking set up. We too lived in Ramona (off of Mussey Grade road, sold in 2004) and have a set up similar to yours. However, recently we sold our Jeep and now tow a Honda Civic 4-down. For the bike I had a "Toy Trax" installed back in 2003. The Toy Trax loads from the passenger side via a winch. Joe Hauler up in San Marcos did the custom installation. We haul a full dress touring Harley which is just a few pounds less than your Interstate, and now have over 50,000 miles on the setup without a problem. Indeed we are "at the limits" on rear axle weight but no concerns. In 8 years, never a problem and we've hit some pretty good bumps and pot holes and the setup is perfectly fine and the rig handles just awesome. Life is good. No, life is great.

Yahooo,
Another ex-Ramonanite. Yes, ours too is at the limits of weight. So far, in this trip, we're at around 1200-1500 miles, haven't kept that much tab, and it hasn't fallen off yet. I've checked the welds, the mounting bolts, the attachment places, all critical areas etc. and all is well. Man, we got some bad roads out there. Maybe our new health care plan will help us with them. Yes, life is great.
Scott

asodergren · 03-02-2012, 09:13 AM

What is the distance from the rear of the motorhome to the front bumper on the car with the Hydralift installed? Did you need any receiver extensions to maintain separation between the vehicles in a tight turn?

,I'm having a Hydralift installed in about 10 days and was wondering what to expect

Abnmarine · 03-02-2012, 04:33 PM

Nice setup. I'm a fellow Jeeper too and notice several mods done to yours. Congrats!

FIRE UP · 03-02-2012, 09:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by asodergren

What is the distance from the rear of the motorhome to the front bumper on the car with the Hydralift installed? Did you need any receiver extensions to maintain separation between the vehicles in a tight turn?

,I'm having a Hydralift installed in about 10 days and was wondering what to expect

asodergren,
I can't comment on the actual distance from the rear of the motorhome to the car because I've not measured it. You see, I'm not sure if you know it or not, the Hydralift comes with it's own hitch. I removed the factory hitch because I used the bottom of the frame where the hitch was connected, to attach the angle iron needed for the attachment of the Hydralift. Now, even though the Hydralift has it's own hitch, I did use a hitch extension for a couple of reasons.

When I first installed the lift, we hooked up the Jeep and towed it around the neighborhood. My son rode in the Jeep so he could observe the closeness of it in relation to the lift as I made turns etc. What he said was, it's not the turns that was critical, it was the "dips" that needed close attention. You see, we have a platform under the bike that normally is not there on that lift. And, that platform came within about 8" or so of the Jeep hood as the motor home went in and out of dips as you entered or left a parking lot to a street etc.

Can you picture it? The motor home rear wheels dip down and so the the back end of the coach but, the Jeep is still up on level ground because it has not approached the dip yet. Then as the motor home starts to rise, coming out of the dip, the Jeep starts to go down. That's when it's critical. So, an extension was needed. Now, in my case, because the Jeep is so much higher than the lifts hitch, I needed a "raised" extension. So, I built one. It works flawless. The Jeep is now a few more inches back than when we first hooked it up and doesn't come anywhere near the platform on the lift. Hope this helps

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abnmarine

Nice setup. I'm a fellow Jeeper too and notice several mods done to yours. Congrats!

Abnmarine,
Well Sir, thanks for the kind words. We've had seven different Jeeps. (3) CJs, (2) YJs, and (2) TJs. The one you see in the pics is an '04 Rubicon with a 4.5" "Full Traction" long arm lift, and, a 1" body lift. It's got 35"x12.50x15 tires, on board air compressor, special built front and rear bumpers and side bars, by me, and a "Rock Hard" full front interior roll cage with integrated C/B radio in the overhead. There were many other mods I did to it. It's been to Moab several times, Ouray Colorado a few times, many other places, and our local desert a few zillion times.

But, after 20+ years of Jeeping all over this planet, I gave it up just after that picture was taken. I walked away from all of it. Now, we've got the Goldwing and a brand new Honda CRV that we're going to tow behind the coach. I've conquered all the dirt on this planet so now I want to see the roads and small towns of this country. Thanks again.
Scott

asodergren · 03-03-2012, 02:46 PM

Thanks for the detailed explanation, Fire Up. I'm going to be towing a Sprinter van, which has a high front profile. I guess I'll figure it out once the Hydralift is installed. I'm hoping I don't need any extensions as I am already going to be pushing the combined length limits for most states.

dc8cappie · 03-03-2012, 04:09 PM

Scott,

I want to get the Hydra-lift for my Itasca 39K.

Have you weighted the rig with the Wing on board. What were the four corners?

FIRE UP · 03-03-2012, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by asodergren

Thanks for the detailed explanation, Fire Up. I'm going to be towing a Sprinter van, which has a high front profile. I guess I'll figure it out once the Hydralift is installed. I'm hoping I don't need any extensions as I am already going to be pushing the combined length limits for most states.

asodergren,
You're certainly welcome. A picture and or a phone call is way shorter than a novel in terms of trying to explain, in detail how a system works, and what to look out for. I went though a lot of trial and error and some loading and unloading issues with the Goldwing and this lift. There's some serious considerations when having this lift installed. And I'm not talking about the weight. That's another issue all on it's own. The angle of the parallel arms in relation to the lift, at it's lowest point, really makes a difference in how you load the bike onto the lift. At least for a Goldwing that is. What I'd like you to do is, look the picture I'm including with this post and click on it.
When you do that, it will take you to where you can see it in action, moving up and down. That angle I'm talking about is very "acute" when the lift is on the ground, for loading the bike. The problem, the Wing motor and crash bars are so wide that I still have to lean the bike away from those arms in order to clear them until the bike is in it's final resting position, in the front wheel chock. The foot peg comes real close too.

In fact, that foot peg (right side) come so dangerously close that if you don't lean it enough while off-loading the bike, it will catch one of those parallel arms and break off, don't ask me how I know.

If anyone is considering having one of these lifts installed, I'd urge you to PM me and I'll say more about considerations you need to take in. Don't let me dissuade you from installing one, I just want to make sure you know about the issues before taking the plunge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc8cappie

Scott,

I want to get the Hydra-lift for my Itasca 39K.

Have you weighted the rig with the Wing on board. What were the four corners?

dc8cappie,
The longer the rig, the more tolerable the coach will be towards the lift install and, weight carrying capabilities. No Sir, I have not weighed the rig AFTER the install of the lift and with the bike on there. I did weigh it before I did the install. My rear was 1300 lbs shy of the rear axle weight limit. The front, which is a 10,500 GAWR unit, was at 9000 lbs.

I know I'm over the rear axle weight limit when the bike is on there. And, I'll get a weight when I get a chance. But, as I've stated several times when asked, this rig handles absolutely flawless with the lift and the bike on there. Obviously hooking a toad to it makes almost no difference because of no tongue weight. So, at this point, the rig is handling just fine, steers straight and has no porpoising what so ever.

I was a bit scared it would porpoise being that it's 36' rig but, never happened! If you were to go to the Hydralift web site, you'll see many rigs with the lift on board and a very large percentage of them are longer than my 36' and, many have tag axles. So, I was unsure of the outcome. Well, I've proved to myself it's all just fine.
Scott