Could have been someone posting here, but more likely someone on the Yahoo Scampers group -- I have been reading it for years, so can't pin it down --
I've posted some quotes here because Y S can't be viewed unless member:
[2006]
> The receiver hitch was fabricated right after we purchased the
> trailer last
> year. It's worked well with two trips from NC to the Fl Keys and
> several
> in-state runs from the mountains to the coast. Before mounting the
>
generator on
> the tongue, I did have to move around 100 lbs of gear to the front
> gaucho to
> get the trailer balanced. You will need additional bracing from the
> receiver to the frame as the bumper is just not strong enough on its own.
[2007]
> When I first added the 2" receiver to the rear
> bumper, I notched out the bumper with my torch and
> welded in the new receiver. Admittedly, I'm not the
> best welder around but I do have a number of years
> of experience in patching up farm equipement so I'm
> confident in saying the rear bumper itself wasn't
> weakened any by this addition. When I added the
> bike rack and bikes, the bumper flexed enough in my
> shop to convince me that some sort of additional
> support would be required. I then welded a piece of
> square tubing across the frame about eighteen inches
> forward of the bumper and used a piece of 1/4 " X 2"
> flat iron to tie the receiver to this new cross
> member.
>
> Everything seemed stable enough so we headed from NC
> down to the Fl Keys for our vacation. After a
> particularly rough stretch of I-95 in GA, I found
> the 1/4 strapping had broken in the middle
> apparently from the upward/downward flexing. The
> welds on receiver and the cross member were still
> good. We moved the bikes and rack into the trailer
> and continued our trip
Same poster, I believe.
Here's an instructive thread on the subject from the
Casita Forum, plus a quote:
http://www.casitaforum.com/invboard/index....ike+rack+bumper
"In the 70s we had a bad experience with a 22' Airstream single
axle. We had pulled the Airstream with a large trail bike on the back for many miles on different trips. Then the right combination of things happened all at once. One, I did not fill the water tank in the fornt of the trailer, we were going down a long hill, windy conditions , a large truck passed..... to make a long story short. we lost it... On the replacement trailer we added about 2 feet to the front and there after carried the trailbike on the front. I think that the trailer pulled better and sure did back better."
These are all after-market mods, however, I specifically recall someone posting about a chat with Kent Eveland about not putting on factory receiver for bike rack any more -- Perhaps they are reinforcing better now... I just can't find it.
Be aware that many of the Scamp bike rack success stories involve the 5W, which is a horse of a different color regarding sway and stability compared to a conventional ball hitch in terms of weight in the back, however, Joy has had good luck with her rack on an S13, which I would expect to be about the worst case (She did mention that she moved some stuf to balance the load and does notice more sway effect).
If Scamp is putting them on at the factory, then they must not be having problems now with mechanical stuf, but one would still have to deal with the loading/sway problem because it can be relatively hidden (as you can see from the Airstream quote above -- Bigger bike, but bigger trailer, still in ditch).