Cargo rack on the front receiver

[Matt o]

I have a 2007pw excell. It has a 2in reciever in the front. Has anyone had an issue using cargo rack ? I would really like to be able to pack my Clam screen house an a couple of camp chairs on it. Outside of them getting dirty, any problems with handling? Engine cooling? I can mount them low not muck higher than the bumper.
The clam folds into a bag that is about 6' by 8"×8". Any thoughts or ideas?

[<<B-Guy>>]

I would doubt that you would have much of a problem, especially if the load is so low as to have little effect on engine cooling and presumably no effect on lighting.

When we were towing travel trailers before buying our camping van, We carried a couple of mountain bikes on a front mounted hitch on a Safari mini van, then a Sierra 1/2 ton, then on a Sierra 3/4 ton truck for more than 20 years with never an issue of any sort -apart from dirt and bugs on the bikes.

I adjusted the bike rack height such that the bike seats and bars were just barely visible from the driving position - didn't obscure visibility in any way and I could ensure thatall was well with the bikes.

There was minimal impact on the headlights, not really a problem, and we rarely were on the road with the bikes after dark.

I suppose technically an overly diligent officer could have taken exception, but that never happened.

Good luck with your plans, I think it is worth a try - if any unforeseen problem should arise, you can just make other plans with little investment involved since you already have the hitch mount.

Brian.


(Edit - license plate could be an issue? We use a bike rack and a cargo rack together on teh back of our Sprinter and that combination obscures the license plate. I set things up to secure the plate to the van with three strong magnets and in this way can quickly swap the plate to the back of the cargo rack when needed. I added an LED license plate light to the cargo rack powered from teh 7 pin trailer socket on the sprinter.)

[JebTN]

Put poles in the front corner high enough to see from the driver seat. You can easily forget it is out there and pull in to a parking spot and run into something. I have a pair of orange driveway marker poles on the corners of mine, I cut them down to the right size. Mine have a strip of reflective tape around the top. Even with them in plain site I have come close a few times.

Mine is actually an enclosed box, I only use it for a couple of events per year when I have more to haul than I want inside and it has around 200-250 lbs in it and have had no problems. Been using it for 10 years or so on two different vehicles, an F250 and an E250.