My all-in-one rack idea

[fexlboi]

Hi all,

I couldn't find a rack which fits my needs yet, so I started drafting my idea of a perfect hitch rack.

First of all I made the decision against something on the roof because of underground parking, low branches when offroading, fuel economy and inconvenient for carrying heavy bikes. Second I want something all in one which works for most of our outdoor activities.

The inspiration came from this guys. The basic idea is to have two wings on the back door, which are mounted on a hitch (probably the version from maximum overdrive). It should be possible to open the trunk door easily and also strong enough for offroading. There are three "settings". One for our trips to remote places where we need to carry a second spare tire and fuel. If we don't need the jerry cans (or just one), we use the cages for aluminium expedition cases.
The second setting is for heavy mountainbikes (two, better three) and the third setting is for skies and a snowboard.

So what do you think? Would it be possible or just not doable?
Do you know a good shop which could to that?

Cheers

[EnviroImports.com]

Well I have to say im impressed with your photo touching abilities, anything is possible, but i wouldent recomend doing it from a standard hitch, a Class 3 hitch would be the minimum, but even then I would make it a dual hitch mount or the wobble will be a fair amount, but why not do instead of a trailer hitch mounting & set of attachments, What about doing a completly NEW rear bumper with swing outs on each side on a greesable mount on each side, so that you can have a few different mountings, like Jerry cans, spare tire, bikes, I have a Norco A-line and our "team/group" has all 40+ lb downhill bikes, we all raced at crankworks this year. GREAT TIME.
we made similar racks/carriers in the past for 38" spare tires, those have ALOT of momentum when the vehicle starts to bounce over obsticals,
but you could also incorperate a class 3 hitch into the center of it so you don't have a lower departure angle for 4x4ing, shackle mounts for pulling out others or getting your self pulled out of a sticky spot.
If you go with something like that, you would not need arms that come up so high that they might block the tail lights and you can also have a wider mount,
I could see one mount on each side that would hold all three things, but would be tough to make one mount to do all three things and do them well, but if you had a couple different mounts that would slide down over the main mount with a cotter pin, diaper pin, something like that would work really well,
Well its thanksgiving and dinner is calling, so im off for dinner. I got your pm, give me a call during the week or email me some other ideas, the main parts would need to be steel for this type of streangth, but the add ons could easliy be aluminium for fuel cans or snowboards,
OH one more thing, If you are going to carry your bikes back there, and go on a over an hour drive, I sugest you put a garbage bag over the wheel that is by the exhaust as the soot coming out will leave a layer of pure nasty on your disks, and pads. I ended up buying one new disk and a set of pads for my Code's on a previous trip.
well thats all for me,
Noel

[after oil]

you mean something like this?


its a custom jobby with a custom hinge and a tire carrier from a pathfinder. the hinge uses trailer wheel bearings and swings super smooth

[BCDelica]

Fab idea, but using the Max overdrive hitch which appears too protrud fairly far out behind the bumper would have to great of lever arm. Like the other gents said, build a stronger unit replacing the rear bumper, like afteroil's sweet set up.

Cheers

[fexlboi]

Thanks a lot guys for your first input. You are right a hitch as a base is probably not the best solution. I quite like your idea "after oil" as well.

Noel - well it just took me a few minutes. It's nothing fancy, but good enough to explain my idea. Usually I get money for the fancy photo touching during work hours :)
I see you full of ideas for this kind of project. The only complain I have - and that's one of the reasons why I want a all-in-one solution - is that I don't have a place where I can store 3 different mounts.

Attached the updated draft.

What else could be a helpful add on beside a shackle mount and a hitch in the centre?

Cheers

[EnviroImports.com]

Hello, Ok, so one rack, I would put four outward facing rods?(not the greatest at describing) two on each of the Jerry cans OR a slide on set of arms that would just remove from the jerry cans that would stick out the back and brace them selves downwards for leverage, this is why a BIG pivit point is required on the corners, So the add on mounts that would stick out would be made to be BETWEEN the spokes on the bikes, the first bike would fit tight against the spare tire with the weight being suported by the add on holders from the jerry can mounts. Follow?
so this way you could put those in a simple closet for storage and when your not driving around normally , you would not have a set or arms sticking out the back of your van for people to get caught on,
I was thinking that they could just be hinged off the top so they wouldent be in the way and just fold downwards, But with the weight of real downhillbikes there is no way that would be stron enough , and it would rattle. I hate rattles. I think the only way to show that would be a side picture or drawing. I can draw it on paper, but I make stick men look bad. lol

Im still thinking of how I can incorperated a quality snowboard mount into the works, I like simple, so what about the same thing for the bikes as the snowboards, but just pointing up, like a set of forks sticking up, coated so they wont scratch up the boards, so your boards would be Horizontal this would only work well if the snow boards are not longer than the van is wide. I guess to visualise what i mean for the snow boards is to think of one of those trucks that deliver windshields, just simple rods pointing up with garden hose of the rods to protect the glass, its simple, strong and functional ,this could be made permanent or again, small enough to remove and put into a closet, about the same amount of space as a laptop computer, but permanently mounting the snow board rack would be easy and keep it out of the way also. See what you think with your computer skills , try some different mock ups, Its much easier to mock it up on computer than to waste steel and the other supplies.
Noel

[Golf Cart]

Why not utilize the spare tire bolt pattern to bolt on "board forks" . the base could be circular , or semi -circular depending how many lugs are used to hold the spare on. You could use a base that took up 2 bolt holes, have the bolts going inwards with wingnuts to secure to the spare tire. Swing the spare out , un-wing it, toss it in the closet. You could do the same arrangement for the bike forks. But given the weight of the bikes you may need to use at least 4 lugs on the base.

So far I'm likin your idea of the "All in One"

PS, forgot to ask if you measured the diameter of the spare tire along with the width of 2 cans plus wiggle room and still not obscure the rear lights ?

kthksbye

[EnviroImports.com]

Well i guess the idea has worked its way into me a bit to far and ive started cutting some steel, I will post a pic of the bumper, I put a class 2 hitch into it, Its enough to Dead lift a delica , pull anything a delica can pull with out blowing up its engine., Ive cut holes for back up lights,stoplights and signals so there should be no issues with ANYone saying the regular lights are obscured and warrent an inspection, Nothing gets me worked up more than inspection notices over stupid things that arent even issues, so I thought i would just put in lights to take any doubt away from any situation.. I will post a pic of the basic bumper in the next day or so, i have alot of other projects that need attention and im only talking on here while i stop for food.
Oh did i mention i have Block heaters for the delica now, (Ya Ya, Shameless plug) hahaha,
Noel

[fexlboi]

Thanks for all your ideas. Noel you are right into it ey :)

Well, another day, a slightly new idea. I did some proper measurements today and Golf Cart was right. The second full spare tire is much bigger than I thought. So there is no way to mount the stuff on the rack as I had it in my first drafts.
I did a little bit more research and found quite a lot of inspiration. The most interesting is the FJ Cruiser in the upper right corner though. I think that is a fabulous idea. You just can access the spare tire if you open the rack. Also we would have enough rods to mount a Yakima Snowboard Rack vertically and something for bikes. If I carry heavy bikes I don't need 40l fuel for sure which reduces the weight. I also thought about this little cage above the spare tire which you can see in some of the photos.

Cheers

[dfnder]

I'm curious as I have never had a Van before, do owners tend to use the side door or rear hatch more when storing items for transport. About 1/2 the time I drive I am alone, another 25% of the time I'm with 1 passenger and 25% of the time with 2 or more passengers. I'm wondering if it will be an inconvenience to have to swing that tail rack open to get at the back? I will probably mainly be transporting 1 or 2 sets of hockey equipement and occasionally other 'not too large' gear.

Shoot maybe I'll just have to stop all these hypothetical questions til I actually get my darn vehicle lol. I think I'm a little pre-occupied with this Van :)

[after oil]

I'm curious as I have never had a Van before, do owners tend to use the side door or rear hatch more when storing items for transport. About 1/2 the time I drive I am alone, another 25% of the time I'm with 1 passenger and 25% of the time with 2 or more passengers. I'm wondering if it will be an inconvenience to have to swing that tail rack open to get at the back? I will probably mainly be transporting 1 or 2 sets of hockey equipement and occasionally other 'not too large' gear.

Shoot maybe I'll just have to stop all these hypothetical questions til I actually get my darn vehicle lol. I think I'm a little pre-occupied with this Van :)

its only an inconvenience if you are inconvenienced by it. sure it takes an extra 3 seconds to open the carrier, but its more inconvenient to have to carry bikes, snowboards, a tire, and jerry can inside the van!

[Green1]

my concern would centre more around the newfound inability to open the hatch from the inside... however having said that, I've never actually used the hatch in that manner...

[fexlboi]

This time it took a little bit longer to mock it up, 'cause I try to think more about little details and how it really could work. Still have a bit trouble with the heavy bikes, but maybe instead of using this rack for all three things I also could get the bike rack for the front from mitch. He hasn't replayed on my PM yet, so I don't if he still fabricate it. This would be also solve the problem with diesel smoke on the bike disc brake.

At the moment I try to find metal jerry cans and also start thinking about the spare tire. Would it be better to get a steel or alloy rim?

As you see the space above the jerry can could be used for a small rack. I'm still not sure if its not better to have the snowboards horizontally on top of the spare tire, but as Noel already wrote I would be limited to the car width of 1,90 m. I think some skis are longer?

Anyway, this is how the rack look like at the moment. Any comments or more ideas?

Noel do you have already photos of your bumper? Are you interested to do this project on my van in the next couple month?

Cheers

[dfnder]

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 :)

[docsavage]

Your planned bumper is starting to look like mine I built here:

http://www.delica.ca/forum/rear-bumper- ... y-995.html

I was planning a modular systme on the empty arm, and will probably do that this winter when I put it on my new van.

James