>> and I carry motorcycles around in the summer, and don't have a
>>storage area for a cap, I put on an aftermarket tonneau cover which'll keep
>>the snow off my ski equipment, and any other cargo I feel like carrying, and
>>I can roll it up in the summer to tote the bikes around...
>
>How do you get your bike on the truck?
>
>I want to use ramps, and they can either rest on the bed or on the folded-down
>tailgate. Problem #1 is I can't get these ramps to rest on the bed because the
>rear bumper gets in the way. I could get extra-long boards, but I'd rather
>not. Problem #2 is that I'm afraid the rubber tailgate "arms" will break under
>the weight of over 500-700 lbs, leaving me w/a nicely disfigured tailgate from
>where it smashes into the bumper. Most likely the rubber arms wouldn't snap,
>but they might slip out of the metal clasps.
I admit I have yet to carry a bike in the Dakota, but in the past,
whenever I have to get a bike into a pickup, I'll try to find a hill, an
embankment, etc. and back the truck up to it so it the bike can be
ridden straight across, or *down* into the bed. I've never tried to load
a bike into the back of a truck on level ground. I've done it for
3 wheel ATVs, but they've got quite a bit more balance than a motorcycle.
I'd be interested to see how others get their bikes into the back...
When an embankment is not available at either the loading or unloading
sites, I use a tilt-bed trailer.
-Jon-
.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Jon Steiger == DoD# 1038 == USUA# A46209 == NMA# 117376 == KotWitDoDFAQ |
| stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu && http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ |
| '96 Dakota SLT V-8, '91 FZR600R /* Just another mangy hacker */ |
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