Would you trust your tailgate cables to roll your Harley over the tailgate?

Doing a road trip up North to my home town in Jersey soon and I want to bring both bikes. Harley and dirtbike. I don't think that I want to trailer the bikes as it will slow me down considerably.

I want to consider the option of putting the Harley and the dirt bike in the bed. I have to do a trial run this week to see how to fit both bikes.

I am concerned about rolling the weight of the bike over the tailgate with the stock tailgate cables. I thought about taking the tailgate off and loading the bike straight onto the bed, but I am concerned that I may not be able to get the tailgate at the right angle to re-install it once the bike is in, due to the length of the bike.
I want to have the tailgate on and tie it up a high as I can to help hold in all the other junk that will be in there.

What to do?

Thanks
Ian

It depends on what size harley you have and the length. I would say that the cables would take a awful lot of wait. I easily put my 1000 pound quad in the bed by driving over the tailgate. However taking the tailgate off wouldnt hurt.

Id say if you can take it off but if you can't it will be ok. :cool_shad

Here is the guy you need to talk to.
VR Straps (http://dieselplace.com/forum/member.php?u=224)
http://dieselplace.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=632&d=1103346754

I have loaded my Road King in the bed many times with the ramps out on the edge of the tailgate... No problems yet, got the re-call done a little while back, no problems with them either...

I wouldn't drive with the rear tire on the tailgate, but loading should be OK. I have the long bed, so the gate is shut with the bike un the bed...

Here is the guy you need to talk to.
VR Straps (http://dieselplace.com/forum/member.php?u=224)
http://dieselplace.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=632&d=1103346754

:ro) my tailgate will bend before my "VR" straps break. :exactly:

The weight rating on the tailgate is 600 pounds. I would imagine the cables if GOOD would hold the same.

VR Straps are the way to go!

I definitely like those VR straps, have not seen them prior to this post. Nice!

I think I would trust the GM cables as long as they were the new stainless steel ones since only 1/2 of the weight would be on the tailgate at a given time.

I wouldnt worry too too much. I've loaded my ATV on my truck plenty of times and even had the rear sitting on the tailgate during travel.

I've loaded my road king in the back several times too. I kicked the back to the side for transport to keep the tire off the gate. I don't have the recall yet, but I got new cables just before the recall because mine broke with me standing on the tailgate.

I am a bit concerned due to the un-equal length of the cables. When the gate is down. One cable is taught and the other has considerable slack in it. Wich leads me to believe that there would be dis-porportionate weight on one cable more than the other.

I don't know if I should just remove the short cable and oblong the hole a bit or if I should try to get my dealer to find a match for one or the other. Somehow I don't see this happening.

Thanks for your input. I'll roll it up there. If I destroy my gate or my bike, I'm commin after all of you. :muahaha: :joke:

thanks

Ian

Don't worry about the unequal length. By the time you get your bike on it they'll both be tight since the tailgate will bend some under the weight. I'm on my third set of stock cables you just need to check them once and a while. If the black covering starts the crack check the cable close, since its probably starting to rust.
I had two break, luckely only one at a time or I would have been on my Arse in a hurry!
By the way I had 1,000 of stone sitting on mine and drove with half of it sitting on the tailgate, no problems.
Just check them close.

It'll be fine.

:ro) my tailgate will bend before my "VR" straps break. :exactly:where did you get the vr straps?????

where did you get the vr straps?????

Email the member in the link posted by WanaDmxsub.

It depends on what size harley you have and the length. I would say that the cables would take a awful lot of wait. I easily put my 1000 pound quad in the bed by driving over the tailgate. However taking the tailgate off wouldnt hurt.

Id say if you can take it off but if you can't it will be ok. :cool_shad

You have a 1000 lb quad?? What is it? I load my Kawi 750i regularly into my truck bed with no problems. It weighs 610 lbs plus me of 150lbs = 760 lbs. My buddy tested the durability of my tailgate by trying to load the ATV with no cables on the ramp. Kicked the ramp out when the front tires were in the box and rears weren't. Slid back, the plow bracket took a chunk out of the plastic and the wheeler fell to the concrete floor bucking him off. He weighs a lot more than I do and the impact on the 'gate didn't hurt anything (except his pride). We laughed after we knew he was OK.

Does VictoryRed still make/have the VR straps?

You have a 1000 lb quad?? What is it? I load my Kawi 750i regularly into my truck bed with no problems. It weighs 610 lbs plus me of 150lbs = 760 lbs.

I have a Honda Rubicon. It weighs 600 pounds + Fluids + winch + rear pack with quad accesories + me 240 so I'd guess it weighs about 1000.

If I remember correctly quads are weighed without fluids like oil and gas which weighs a few then add a winch and such it adds up quick. :D

fearnot,
I think your local dealership would be crazy not to replace both the cables if one is longer than the other! Unequal length's can only mean that one was not swagged correctly or some of the threads are broken and the rest are stretching.
frysl

Does VictoryRed still make/have the VR straps?

I dont think so but I would give him a PM to find out for sure

I was worried about the tailgate also. I have a Polaris Sportsman 700 that weights 750+ and I'm 300+, so I made a structure out of square tubing and angle iron that slide into the receiver and comes out behind the tailgate when it's down, this is where my ramps are sitting on. This way only half of the weight is on the tailgate at any given time.

sorry guys I stopped offering these a little over a year ago. I just ran out of the time to do the work myself and was never able to find a machine shop willing to do the pin cutting for me.

I would trust the stock straps. I just unloaded 3600 lbs of bags of stucco out of my truck and I had to stack them on my tail gate before I could unload them . I stacked 9 bags at a time. thats 810 Llbs! No problem. thats just my .02