Mounting Adjustable Width Trailer Hitch on Puma Ultra Lite Camper

Question:

I have a Puma ultra lite 16BHX. https://palominorv.com/travel-trailers/puma-ultra-lite/16BHX/4739. I wanted to put this on it so that I could put my bike rack on the back I have to haul 4 bikes. I could try to do two bikes in the front of the A Frame, but im concerned with how narrow it is in that space they will actually hit against the kayaks I carry on my ladder racks i have an F150. Issue is that at the back of the trailer the black water tank is pretty snug against the frame and is about 4inch down from the frame the on this being 3.5inch I didnt know if there was wiggle room to bolt it slightly lower on the frame. Im including some pictures of the camper rear area from a few angles.

asked by: Andrew B

Expert Reply:

I'm attaching the installation video for the Adjustable Width Hitch # 13703 to this answer, but as you can see at about 5:00 into the video, the side plates of the hitch are going to sit directly on the ledges of your I or C beams of the frame of the trailer. For that reason, you're not going to be able to mount it lower than those plates are going to sit. I don't know if the black water tank will come into play as much as I would worry about the stabilizer jacks being the part that keeps you from getting this mounted. The mounting plates are going to go right where the stabilizer jacks are mounted, it would appear. If there is a place that you could move those stabilizer jacks to without upsetting the leveling of the camper- that might be an option.

The other thing that probably needs to be noted, that wasn't brought up by you but I feel obligated to mention, is that you'll want to make sure that the bike rack you're hoping to mount on the Adjustable Width Hitch #13703 is rated for use on the back of a motorhome or RV-not all of them are.

With all of that being said, you may be able to get away with a bumper mounted hitch like the Curt # C19101 depending on how much weight your trailer manufacturer says the bumper can hold; I noticed you're already carrying a spare tire on it, so that may not be totally feasible. The other idea would be to use a dual hitch adapter like the Curt # D210 with your current bike rack. I know that interfering with the kayaks is a concern so if you can let me know what kind of bike rack you have I may be able to do some math and determine if that idea might work.

expert reply by: Erik B