Does anyone have experience with a VersaHaul VH-90 ATV hitch mounted ATV (or motorcycle) carrier on an Expedition / F-150?

My wife and I dogsled and our 1998 Expedition 4WD XLT is our dog truck. We have both a three wheeled and four wheeled training cart (http://www.bewe-sleds.de/english/index.htm) that we used for training the dogs when there is no snow. The three wheeled cart (~70 lb) collapses and fits inside the truck with the dogs. The four wheeled cart (~140 lb) does not fit as easily into the truck.

Our options are a hitch mounted ATV carrier or a utility trailer.

We live on a very narrow street with a tough turn onto the road, which is one reason we would prefer a hitch carrier over a utility trailer.

Looking at some of the VersaHaul charts 2005 & 2006 Expeditions, the maximum ATV weight would be 280 - 312 pounds. They do not list 1998 Expedition maximum weights. Our carts weigh well less (140 lb) than typical ATV weights (500 - 700 lb).

Does anyone have any experience with the hitch mounted ATV carriers?

-Eric
1998 Ford Expedition XLT 4WD

 

Not necessarily the ATV carriers but use a standard hitch carrier for all kinds of things. I used it on both my Excursions, 03 Expedition, minivans & 04 F150 even. Very versatile.

I would say the only challenge you may have with that carrier would be it's lack of versatility. All you could really use it for would be the cart (very cool BTW ). If you ever needed to carry something else , such as a lawnmower, bulky items, etc. etc., you may run into problems securing it that carrier.

How wide is that 4-wheel cart? Would it work on a standard carrier?

Is it difficult to train dogs to pull? It doesn't seem like it would be. I have 8 dogs. 6 who would be good at pulling, I think. They are all 60+ lbs, 4 are still less than 2 years old and very energetic. Got any recommendations?

 

Monsta -

The big problem with the four wheeled cart is that it's about 72" long x 40" wide. Most of the cargo or mobility carriers are more like 24" x 40", although some are a bit bigger. I haven't found any non-ATV carriers that could cover the 72" length.


As far as training the dogs, we started with two siberian husky mixes mainly as an outlet for their energy. The one girl is very responsive to commands and immediately took to it. It's taken a bit longer to train her to the right and left commands (gee, haw). After that, the third dog was added because he was such a good fit. Dog four was a search for more horsepower (where have we heard that before...). The difficult thing is trying to train the first dog, once you have one (or two) trained, the others can be put into the team and it goes much faster. We went to Mushing Boot Camp last year and it made a big difference on training.

We trained about 400 miles last year, 100 on snow, the rest with the three wheeled cart.

A great source of information is www.sleddogcentral.com.

PM me if you want to talk in more detail!

-Eric

 

(Bump)

I built the hitch mounted carrier and it seems to work out ok. My design is based on the VersaHauler VH90. Our website: www.marylanddogsledding.com/HitchCarrier.htm has pictures and details.

The one thing we noticed is that we get a lot more play in the suspension at speed... any expansion crack and it's up and down for a while. Not surprising given that there is ~300 lb between the hitch carrier and rig and the truck has about 113k on the shocks.

The question is... what is the best way to improve the handling or ride characteristics with the hitch carrier on? Would it make sense to replace the rear shocks with heavy duty shocks and/or supplemental air helper springs?

-Eric
1998 Ford Expedition 4WD 5.4L XLT