Long Distance Move - Advice

Planning a cross country move in the next few months. For a number of reasons (pregnant wife, cheaper, allows for some riding along the way) we're planning on taking one of the bikes, along with a moped, in the back of the Tacoma. The difficulty is that it's a fairly large bike in a short bed.



With the wheel in the corner the back wheel is close to the front of the gate (as pictured). Straight in, the back wheel is way at the back of the tailgate (maybe 3-4 inches from the end). We installed one of the mobtown reinforcement plates to avoid bending the gate, but I don't think I trust the strength of the gate to ride with ~250 lbs. on it for 3000 miles.

Any advice on other things to keep an eye on / modify ahead of time to make the trip go smoothly? I plan to strap to the horizontally mounted hard points (not the adjustable tracks) rather than the D-rings - or should I reinforce the D-rings?

Any advice is welcome

 

Trailer.....

 

Gavin,

Welcome to TW and congrats on the soon to arrive new family member.

I agree with the above. I'd kick down some loot to rent a tailer or at lest use this as an excuse to buy a receiver hitch carrier.

 

Where you moving to/from. And how are you transporting all your house stuff? If your having a moving service do the house stuff i wpuld say rent a uhaul trailer

 

Just as an update on the course of action I took and an FYI for those interested in long distance moving-of-bikes...

Took inspiration from a suggestion I got from another forum and used my ramp folded out upside down to act as reinforcement for the gate. ~3000 highway miles and a few dozen off road to get to climbing & campsites and the bike / bed / gate are all great.







Important mods that made it happen: mobtown steel tailgate skin, new D-rings under the front bed bolts for the main straps, and carpet grippy stuff / extra straps to keep the ramp from sliding around under the bike (it was very slick against the plastic of the bed).

Here is the other bike strapped in for a relatively short 400 mile trip.

 

But how do you get the bike into the bed with the ramp sticking out past the tailgate? Or how do you get the bike ontop off the ramp after loading it?

 

Hawkshot - both bikes have center stands. I ramp the bike in, put it up on it's stand, slide the ramp (upside down) underneath the wheels, then push it off the center stand into the configuration you see in the pictures. Getting the bike out is simply the reverse. If you had a few friends, you could do it without a stand and just lift the bike while you roll the ramp underneath the wheels.

 

With a center stand I guess that's not to bad, but now you can't use a wheel chock for the front. Both my father and I have logged many miles with our bikes in the beds of our Taco's with no problems. He has a Honda Shadow, and I a Kawasaki Verseys. Both trucks are LB's, and the rear wheels sit dead center on the stock tailgate with no problems.
I would be terrified of the metal slipping on my bed, and the bike crashing down. The rubber of the tires (especially if lined up in a groove of the bed) allows zero slippage.

 

Yeah, the lack of chock was nerve racking for the cross country trip. The front of the ramp does a lot to keep the wheel straight, and I strap the bottom front of the wheel to keep it straight as well. I strap the ramp to the bed as well to keep it from sliding. I really felt I needed something to reinforce the gate as the KTM sits about three inches from the edge. Given that I had ~a week to figure out a set up for getting it across the country, I'd say it turned out okay.

I'm actually working on a set up now that gets rid of the ramp and uses a chock along with some aluminum that will reinforce the gate.

 

Reviving an old thread but was curious about your final design/setup? Trying to load ether a 690r or 1190 r into our 17 short bed and am really concerned about the safety issue. Thanks a lot.

 

If you’re not experienced in loading bikes make sure you check out YouTube videos on what NOT to do when loading/unloading bikes. The biggest mistakes people make: failing to strap the ramp to the truck; and they underestimate the clearance needed underneath the bike to transition onto the tailgate (mainly when loading street bikes)....good luck.