My all-in-one rack idea

[EnviroImports.com]

Well I think the snowboards are sitting too low. I'm not sure about the true length of a snowboard but from being a skier I sure wouldn't want my ski's to be in the path of anything that can be thrown from the rear tires. Think of snow packed roads with gravel and sand dumped on them and well you can imagine the rest :)

Yes I have to agree about the snowboards taking carnage from the roads, But its also the law that you have Mudflaps that arent in your drawing,also put the boards in the center of the rack, not the edges...the snow boards can also be tilted on a (/) angle like in my high tech drawing ... I wil post a couple picts of the main body bumper, It allready has the reciever hitch built in, and 6 tail lights to make sure your legal incase the main lights get obscured from other add on's, Dont worry, your under no obligation to buy this if you dont like it, as You dident actually request I build it, Im more building this for fun and to see how it goes. and several people have expressed intrest in the bumper its self... The main bumber is built from a single piece of Plate steel bent in a 100Ton hydro press, not some POS bottle jack idea, over the last couple days we were questioning how strong it would be so i Parked my 5000LB landcrusher on the lip of the bumper , Front end with the 6cyl diesel engines weight, left it for a while. When we took it out the only evidence it had even been touched was a tire imprint. So now im confident it will take a spare tire bouncing around with some fuel cans and other bits,
I can get the Metal fuel cans as they are in a new line that a supplier has offered me.
I like the idea of a small rack above the jerry cans, for a cooler or something like that in the other seasons...
For bike racks, if you want to go Front mount, I build a dozen or so Delica specific mounts that lock into the frame of the front bull bars they work with the bull bars, but mostly people dont even know they are there once installed, then the bike rack goes onto that , you have to use the Swagman DH bike adapter, about $25, its a bit of a Pita, but easier than having to try and acomadate all frame sizes and styles for any bike out there if you dont want to tire mount them.

Oh and for color matching to your vans pait, you can get any color you want, just so long as its Black....

[fexlboi]

I like your wheel-table idea docsavage and also the bend bumper. Have you finished the project yet? How did you solve locks to keep both arms on the bumper? Do you have more photos with details. How do you want to fill the holes around the bumper?

dfnder you are right, the snowboards are a little bit too low. In my new drawing I moved it a little bit up. The van has a height of almost 2m, our snowboards are around 1,60m. So you see there is not much space left. Otherwise they would stick out on the roof too much. The other problem is if you move it up to much, they start swinging, 'cause your mounts are just on the last third of the board.

Noel. So far it is not possible to move the boards in the middle, because there is the cage above the cans. Also the hole setup is now with two arms and not just with one as in my very first photo-mock-ups.
Can you really get new Wedco metal fuel cans incl. a pouring spout? That would be really awesome!!
In terms of bike rack. Do you have photos of your front mounted rack?

Colour wise black is good, but white would be better :)

Because I'll use the fuel cans just for our trips to Alaska and Yukon I thought to find/get made a watertight aluminium box in the same size as the cage for the cans. So I don't have to carry the stinking bike body armors inside the van :)

For the second spare tire would it be better (in terms of weight) to get a steel or alloy wheel?

[fexlboi]

Noel, you are probably busy, but any idea when you could upload photos of your bumper?
How about the metal fuel cans? Do I need to look for other sources or has your dealer the metal cans?
If you want to do the rack how long will probably take to finish it?

[docsavage]

Fleboi,

Thanks for the comments, I missed your question on this post somehow. Anyways, I have the bumper off in the shop right now as I am awaiting a new van to put it on. I am going to close off the ends flush with the sides of the van. I'll probably run a pipe forward to the back of the wheel well and then across to the frame mount to have the corner protected. The current set up has pins to keep the arms closed, but I am thinking of changing them for something easier on the knees. I'll post some more pictures in a few weeks when I clear the wreck out of the garage to make room for working on the new van.

James

[EnviroImports.com]

Sorry to leave you hanging, I blew out a disk in my back last week AGAIN... it calmed down, got back moving around and WAM, bulged it out again yesterday morning... I have a couple picts of what ive made so far, but right now its just the base frame of a bumper with light holes and a built in hitch, I definatly have the steel fuel cans, but not the ones you posted about , they are more basic, same style but with out the fancy lid, they just unscrew and have a funnel built in.

[Erebus]

A little late seeing this post. Couple of comments:

Steel rims bend, alloy rims crack. So for serious off-roading I would recommend steel.

I notice you haven't included a hi-lift jack in your plans. Didn't think of it, or decided against?

Other than that, I really like it. Have you seen the old post by niekt about a similar arrangement?

[fexlboi]

A little late seeing this post. Couple of comments:

Steel rims bend, alloy rims crack. So for serious off-roading I would recommend steel.

I notice you haven't included a hi-lift jack in your plans. Didn't think of it, or decided against?

Other than that, I really like it. Have you seen the old post by niekt about a similar arrangement?

Thanks for that. I really like how niekt fellow solved the problem, but I doubt it would be strong enough for serious off-roading and heavy mountain bikes. The rack looks pretty solid, but the mounts not really.

I was thinking about a hi-lift jack, shovel and a axe for sure, but I have a better spot on the push bars in the front now I have the strong bike rack mounts from mitch there.

By the way I got my first quotes for this idea and it probably cost me around $2000 which is way beyond what I would spend. Because of that my plans slightly changed. Mitch did a great job for a solid bike rack on the front, I'll rip out my carpet and will have plywood as flooring, so I don't have to worry about wet snowboards inside and we bought two 10 litre diesel army cans, which we can easily store inside as well. Now I need to find a place for a second spare tire for our trip to Alaska.

[JapanDelica]

Old post and not sure if anyone is still watching it or not. Your sketches for the rear rack are sweet! Did you end up making it?
I use my 1995 Space Gear to pick up ski/snow board guest from the train station and run them up to our accommodation. I always have the same space issue. With 6 or 7 people plus their gear bags I end up doing two or three trips per group.
I have been toying with the idea to make a rear swing out carrier to stow most of the big bags as the roof is always covered with 30-50 cm's snow so roof racks are no good. The trip from the station to the hotel is only about 5 km's.
If you did complete your project I'd love to see some more pics. We are heading into the summer here and this is a high priority project for me.

[jessef]

search for tire carrier. there's a few different designs around on L300's

[mararmeisto]

Old post and not sure if anyone is still watching it or not. Your sketches for the rear rack are sweet! Did you end up making it?
I use my 1995 Space Gear to pick up ski/snow board guest from the train station and run them up to our accommodation. I always have the same space issue. With 6 or 7 people plus their gear bags I end up doing two or three trips per group.
I have been toying with the idea to make a rear swing out carrier to stow most of the big bags as the roof is always covered with 30-50 cm's snow so roof racks are no good. The trip from the station to the hotel is only about 5 km's.
If you did complete your project I'd love to see some more pics. We are heading into the summer here and this is a high priority project for me.

The swing-out tire carrier idea is more for off-roading than for creating more stowage space (unless you're going to put another fuel tank under the vehicle). It looks cool, but unlike a lot of NAMPOS mini-vans, the tire is already outside the vehicle, so you're not freeing up any space inside behind/under the back seat.

Your second issue with that kind of rack/carrier is finding somebody to actually make one for you. A fortunate few have had one made, but that's another story in a different thread.

What may work quite well is a hitch carrier - a platform that mounts into a trailer hitch and can carry up to 500lbs. There are a number of grease-runners who use these to haul cubes of WVO back to their lairs for preparation.

For myself: a trailer. Tried and true, but it is a bit more of an arrangement than most are willing. An open trailer by Snowbear (Canadian company) would be quick and handy for those load-'em-up-quick trips, while an enclosed trailer can generally carry more (and it keeps your cargo out of the elements). I've tried both and I'm now settled on a 6'x10' enclosed which works well for camping, but it can also carry sheets of drywall or lumber back from the reno store (I've also loaded it with bricks, gravel, and firewood).

[fexlboi]

JapanDelica, I haven't proceeded this idea, but there are a few people with similar bumpers on this forum by now. We use the rear door a lot which makes a this type of bumper not very practical anymore. In the end we use a roof rack and a additional fuel tank to do the same.