Custom bike carrier for camping...

[LiftedAWDAstro]

Since we have the cap on the truck and load it with firewood and Lynne and I are probably going to get bikes this winter, I needed a better way to carry bikes. As you know I mounted a Fisher MM2 plow on the truck and figured I could use those mounts. The plow weighs almost 900# so what the heck...

Made 2 - 2" x 1/4" angle brackets with some 1/2" thick plate welded to it to bolt to the plow mount pin holes.



Over a year ago I grabbed a carrier rack from the scrap pile at work...





Set the bikes on it and anchored them down with 4 ratchet straps...

[astrozam]

Cool thanks for the pics

[skippy]

should come in handy for more than bikes too ...

[Smiliesafari]

WARNING...WARNING!!!!!!! That rack is no where near strong enough for TWO bikes.

[GnarliSafari]

thats a mighty funny loking astro van!

[Rileysowner]

Now if I can just figure out how to do that on my Safari without having to buy a snowplow first.

[potskie]

I like how you used the plow mounts. Talk about over built tho lol. is that also an impromptu push bar?

Dude you should so make it able to put a bench seat ont hat sucker then drive people around on the front of it while off roading a bit. Just like the hill billy rollercoaster

Now if I can just figure out how to do that on my Safari without having to buy a snowplow first.

Weld part of a hitch or some appropriate sized box tubing to the sub frame behind the bumper valance or to the inner steel bumper it's self. Cut out the section of bumper infront of it save it to make a plug for the hole later if you feel like it. Then use a draw bar extension of sufficient length to allow a regular hitch bike rack to be mounted on the front. Or the same hitch carrier that dean used. IIRC you can get em dirt cheap at princess auto.

[Rileysowner]

Hummmmmm. That might just work. Now I wish I was not leaving for camping tomorrow, because I won't have time to fabricate something to do this. I'm not sure what we will do to transport the bikes. I usually take the rear seat and the one middle seat out, but my back is in pain and doing that is out. Oh well, I will have something put together by our next camping trip.

[ihatemybike]

I usually take the rear seat and the one middle seat out, but my back is in pain and doing that is out.

You sir need a hand truck. Since I inherited one with Grumpy, I've used it every time to load/unload the seats from the van. Makes it a lot easier. I also don't worry how far the van is from the garage because it's so easy to roll them around.

[SafariRob]

...Dude you should so make it able to put a bench seat on that sucker then drive people around on the front of it while off roading a bit. Just like the hill billy rollercoaster

Potskie, you got me laughing out loud with those two lines!

[crash]

thanks for the new sig potskie

great work dean.. not that it was work. looks pretty simple compared to some of your projects

[potskie]

Dude you should so make it able to put a bench seat ont hat sucker then drive people around on the front of it while off roading a bit. Just like the hill billy rollercoaster

Something like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRuskNIgBoA&NR=1

[LaGrasta]

I love projects like this! Thanks for sharing.

[LiftedAWDAstro]

This was posted in another thread...

Well after traveling around 320 miles this week, I have come to the conclusion that this mount will not work!

I am having a hard time getting over 8.2 mpg and the truck is running probably 20 degrees warmer. We filled up around 100 miles ago and moved the bikes to the bed of the truck hoping to get more mileage. It was slightly better but not much. I still ran most of the way with the OD's off. So much for an easy way to carry the bikes. I will test the mileage again the weekend of September 12th on our next camping trip.

Since that one didn't work, I made a receiver hitch for the back of the camper. And since Jayco doesn't recommend anything be done with the frame to modify it or it'll void the lifetime warranty, I figured the hitch would need to be bolted for easier removal in case of an issue.

Mounting holes...



Side plates bolted on...





Making the hitch..

[LiftedAWDAstro]

All painted up...



And mounted up...





Now to modify the rack we used for the front. Removed the bottom and welded on a piece of 2" tube with a hole for the receiver pin.