Can I put dirtbike on my Curt hitch-15xt?
I have this Curt hitch on a 15xt and I want to hang a 250lb bike off of it. Curt site says “Trailer hitch weight ratings are limited to vehicle manufacturer's stated capacities”. Anyone have any ideas how to find out or have any experience? I want to make sure the subframe etc would be strong enough and I’m sure there’s a number associated with how much weight a forester’s hitch would take aside from towing capacity. Thanks!
Posted Sep 20, 2021, 5:07 AM UTC
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Never mind found it. 150lbs😔
150 is right but that’s the towing tongue weight. Since your not towing I believe you have more tongue weight available. What that number is I don’t know. I’ve seen plenty of people with a cycle rack for dirt bikes without issue.
I’ll keep looking around for more info, thanks for the insight that towing tongue might be different than standalone tongue capacity. Also concerned that it might affect the rear shocks, too.
Since a recall was out for the rear springs I went ahead and upgraded to king springs in the rear. Much stiffer now and less sag.
Dang, pretty sure I already had it in for that. Great idea though.
The Curt and OEM Forester hitches are made alike and have tongue weight capacities of 350 lbs.
Page 8-20 of the Owners Manual says: Ensure that the trailer tongue load is from 8 to 11 percent of the total trailer weight and does not exceed the maximum value of 200 lbs.
I thinks it’s like a liability thing, they don’t want you accidentally messing something up and then blaming them for it. I’m sure if they roads aren’t full of pot holes you’d be fine.
Curt class III is 525lb tongue capacity or something, I’m more concerned with overloading the car frame/hitch interface or the rear suspension. I know the hitch itself and the hitch/rack interface can take it. Thanks for the response, friend.