Dirt bike on hitch-mounted Joe Hauler?

[whosaberg]

Has anyone hauled a dirt bike mounted to the trailer hitch (via Joe Hauler) of a 2011 or 2012 Touareg? How much sag does it cause? Keep in mind that this is not a trailer but a hitch-mounted rack/carrier for a dirt bike. My bike would be no more the 300 lbs. so I'm sure the the hitch strength is not an issue but the lack of self-leveling suspension or air suspension is my concern. Is the sag excessive or not a big deal.

[Yeti35]

It is gonna sag. They new Tregs are softly suspended and that is a lot of weight to hang off the back of them with no way to level it out.

[hi_racing]

Saw a Toyota FJ with TWO bikes on a hitch hauler last weekend. Never even heard of such before this thread. Suspension looked very compressed in back.

My two cents - if you already have the hitch-hauler and it's a one-off trip it probably won't be that bad. If you plan on doing this quite a bit it'd be better to have a small trailer. So much more you can do with a trailer.

[grohgreg]

One major difference between the Toy and the Treg however, is self-leveling headlights. Fat mother-in-law in the back seat, groceries in the cargo area, weight on the rear hitch; the Touareg detects tany deviation from level, and corrects headlight aiming accordingly.

//greg//

[Yeti35]

One major difference between the Toy and the Treg however, is self-leveling headlights. Fat mother-in-law in the back seat, groceries in the cargo area, weight on the rear hitch; the Touareg detects tany deviation from level, and corrects headlight aiming accordingly.

//greg//

Self leveling headlights are good if he gets one with Xenons. If they are halogens they don't do that or at least never did before.

[grohgreg]

Self-leveling bi-Xenon; standard equipment on all 2011+ Touaregs sold in the US. 300 pounds by the way, isn't likely to drop the rear significantly - unless you've already got rear seat passengers and/or a load in the cargo area. I recently loaded fifteen 40 pound bags of topsoil on a folding rear carrier. Slight sag apparent when looking at the car from the side, but not enough to make much difference to what I saw in the mirrors.

//greg//

[Tahoe12]

Self-leveling bi-Xenon; standard equipment on all 2011+ Touaregs sold in the US. 300 pounds by the way, isn't likely to drop the rear significantly - unless you've already got rear seat passengers and/or a load in the cargo area. I recently loaded fifteen 40 pound bags of topsoil on a folding rear carrier. Slight sag apparent when looking at the car from the side, but not enough to make much difference to what I saw in the mirrors.

//greg//

All cars equipped with Xenon headlamps in Europe are required to have a self-leveling system to prevent eye-strain to oncoming drivers. Hence Euro made cars all have them. Wonder if the US has the same law.

"Retrofitment
In Europe and the many non-European countries applying ECE Regulations, HID headlamps may be installed only on vehicles (except motorcycles) with lens cleaning and automatic self-levelling systems. These systems are usually absent on vehicles not originally equipped with HID lamps. If a halogen headlamp is retrofitted with an HID bulb, an improper light distribution with illegal levels of glare will be produced and the headlamp's type approval or certification is no longer valid so the headlamp is no longer street-legal.[30][31]" wikipedia