Can Trailer be Towed and Bike Racks Carried with 2008 Pontiac Torrent

Question:

I have 2008 torrent with a trailer hitch receptacle I purchased from the dealer and installed myself. I originally planned on only using it for my hitch mount bike rack. IT came with the wiring harness mounted to the hitch and the fuses for pulling a trailer if needed. The receptacle is for a 1 1/4inch hitch. Ive recently acquired a 1969 Apache Eagle pop up camper. It is quite small and light. I had a 1 1/4 to 2inch adapter to use for a cargo carrier I had bought also. Now I bought the dual hitch to be able to pull the camper and still use my bike rack with it it. Is this too much for my current trailer hitch receptacle I have installed on the car? I do still have to use the 1 1.4 to 2inch adapter to attach the new dual hitch with receptacle on top. I dont think they make a 1 1/4 dual hitch with 1 1/4inch receptacle Ive been trying to find one for over a year. So I bought your item: D210 Curt Multipurpose Ball Mount with 2inch Receiver for Bike Racks and Cargo Carriers - 7,500 lbs. I do not want to have to purchase a new trailer hitch mount for my car but if the current one is not strong enough I have no choice. This camper is small and pretty light and I only have a two bike bike rack. I tried clamping my original bike rack to the tongue of the trailer and am not comfortable doing that very much. since the trailer is an antique I dont want to damage or alter it any.

asked by: Deborah S

Expert Reply:

The only way I can safely recommend you use a dual hitch mount so that you can carry a bike rack and tow your trailer is if you swap to a Class III hitch like the etrailer # e98865.

You can not use a 1-1/4 inch to 2 inch hitch adapter and then use a dual hitch adapter in that. That would create way too much leverage and would damage the hitch/vehicle frame.

Or the other option is install a roof rack on your 2008 Pontiac Torrent and then use roof bike racks with it. For the roof rack you would want the Thule Evo Raised Rail Feet # TH710401 and 53" WingBar Evo Crossbars # TH711420. Then for bike racks we have the Thule part # TH599000 for each of the bikes.

expert reply by: Jameson C