For those who carry heavy loads in their Pathy, I need some advice...

[noseknows]

I'm planning on taking a 2000mile round trip and want to bring my motorcycle down with me to ride around while my lady can use the Pathfinder. I have a beefy motorcycle hitch carrier rated for 600lbs with an aftermarket class III hitch rated for a 500lbs tongue load capacity. My motorcycle weighs roughly 420lbs or less depending on how full the tank is. I have LR9449 coils in the back and AC Heavy Duty coils up front. I'm planning on reinforcing the carrier with straps to the roof rack and tow points to stabilize the carrier and reduce any wobble. I'm pretty confident the Pathy will handle the weight but is that going to make the handling sketchy having that much weight sticking off the back of it? Anybody have any similar experience doing something like this? Thanks in advance!  

[03TroutFinder]

Should be no issue. I’ve carried a truck on a 15ft trailer nearly 800 miles. Just keep it around 60-65mph. Don’t drive like you normally would with no load.
When I did that it was fine. When I started to get north of 70mph constant for a significant period of time, it wasn’t too happy with me and let me know it. Got just a tad warmer than normal and went into safe mode. Let it rest for about 30 minutes at a gas station and we were back in business.

[XPLORx4]

If you already have the motorcycle carrier and the motorcycle, you should just drive around locally and see how it feels. Before you attach everything, measure your front and rear ride height, then repeat after you've loaded up the bike. If it feels unsafe locally, it'll probably feel unsafe on a road trip. Similarly, if it feels safe locally, you're probably fine if you keep to the same driving patterns during your road trip.

[yeedonkey]

On 1/31/2023 at 6:52 PM, noseknows said:

I'm planning on taking a 2000mile round trip and want to bring my motorcycle down with me to ride around while my lady can use the Pathfinder. I have a beefy motorcycle hitch carrier rated for 600lbs with an aftermarket class III hitch rated for a 500lbs tongue load capacity. My motorcycle weighs roughly 420lbs or less depending on how full the tank is. I have LR9449 coils in the back and AC Heavy Duty coils up front. I'm planning on reinforcing the carrier with straps to the roof rack and tow points to stabilize the carrier and reduce any wobble. I'm pretty confident the Pathy will handle the weight but is that going to make the handling sketchy having that much weight sticking off the back of it? Anybody have any similar experience doing something like this? Thanks in advance!  

Did you ever try it out? I am curious about how it rode and handled as i am looking to do something similar 

[noseknows]

On 2/28/2023 at 11:34 AM, yeedonkey said:

Did you ever try it out? I am curious about how it rode and handled as i am looking to do something similar 

I did try it out. Just under 2000 miles on mostly interstate. It really wasn't as bad as I thought. I wouldn't do it without heavy duty springs or air bags but it handled...ok. It sorta felt like towing a trailer as far as handling goes. But the power loss was negligible. Can't make fast maneuvers otherwise you'd really feel it get squirrely though. Every big bump stressed me out but nothing came undone or broke. Really wasn't worth the hassle for how little I got to ride around on the vacation. It wasn't dangerous or all that sketchy in the end.