attachment point on rear of car

[Bhavesh]

any suggestions on a secure attachment point, for the rear left corner of the outside of the car?

it'll be an extra support point for something that's ~200lbs

[fishexpo101]

That will be tough - I know that the trailer hitches are limited to 100lbs-150lbs tongue weight on the 8th gen Corolla. That is weight that is distributed to both sides of the rear subframe.

To hang that much weight off the corner of the car - you would have to build a bracket/basket either tied to the trunk or bolted to the rear subframe. Assuming that this will not be a temporary thing. Might be able to use hold down suction cups to distribute the load over a wider portion of the car's body. Depending on where the center of mass is located (i.e., if you are dealing with a significant lever arm) - might have to counter- balance the weight.

We've done similar stuff in the shop - one was to attach a chair off to the left rear corner of the car. Given the weight of the equipment, operator and the lever arm of extra weight (~ 600lbs) - we had to beef up the rear suspension (replaced with an air bag), ended up punching a hole through the rear fenders for the lower bracing to exit through (one piece - extended past the width of the car - one to support the chair framing and one for a counterweight on the other side) and welded a tabs underneath the car to support arms that extended infront of the rear wheel to attach to the chair framing.

[Bhavesh]

Thanks for the response.

I was hesitant to post the details, but the load would be along the back...

I've tried the trunk latch, and it works, but it means I have to leave the trunk open when I drive...

[fishexpo101]

That is actually not too bad - you've distributed the weight across the width of the rear subframe. The failure point there would be the welds of the 2" receiver tubes to the Class-I hitch. Plus the weight (CG) is fairly low - as long as you keep the speeds low, should see too much of an issue.

Plus the bike shouldn't pose too much of a sail area to be an issue with long distance transport. Not a whole lot you can do with the twisting of the platform. A good weight distribution system would likely run as much weight as the bike itself. Multiple tie downs point might help out here. They make little suction cup mounts called "TiePods" - http://tiepods.com/

I was thinking of picking up a few of these myself to augment the capabilities of my Yakima roof-rack. Those might be able to help stabilze your load on the ramp / platform.