Ideas Please: Lifting a bike rack

[Ranga]

I'm looking at building a bike rack to go on the back of the Trayon camper. Without going in to too much detail, I'm looking at options to lower the rack to ground level, and lift it back into place.

Probably will have an vertical length of box slide inside a slightly larger piece of box, so looking at ways to lift and lower it, and then using pins to keep it in place. Was thinking maybe a hand winch or something. Another thought was a similar mechanism to a high-lift jack.

Any other ideas?

Hopefully you can visualise what I'm trying to do!

[bblaze]

May sound silly but I build some very simple air rams out of alloy tubing that I used for different things, they were only low pressure but worked well.
cheers
blaze

[bikeman]

Hi Ranga, I have a Yakima rack which I am altering to fit my ARB rear bar on my 95 RRC. It uses a pivot and pin to allow it to be lowered away from the rear of the car, for access to the cargo area, also to be stored in a vertical position when not in use. I will post some pics when I have finished this project. Cheers, Phil

[Blknight.aus]

Use some small sections of pipe and rig it up as a block and tackle type setup.

put a. small eye splice in the length of rope and if you do it just right the rope will sit in the pipe and can be used to tie down as well if needed.

[Ranga]

Hi Ranga, I have a Yakima rack which I am altering to fit my ARB rear bar on my 95 RRC. It uses a pivot and pin to allow it to be lowered away from the rear of the car, for access to the cargo area, also to be stored in a vertical position when not in use. I will post some pics when I have finished this project. Cheers, Phil

I've currently got the ISI carrier. Great design, but I'm looking to attach the rack to my Trayon camper, and the ISI is overkill for that. Also, I'll need to lower the bikes, rather than tilt them. The Yakima also looks good, and a possible solution after some modification (once I work out how to easily lower it to the ground with 1 person).

[Ranga]

Use some small sections of pipe and rig it up as a block and tackle type setup.

put a. small eye splice in the length of rope and if you do it just right the rope will sit in the pipe and can be used to tie down as well if needed.

Yeh, I'm thinking a block and tackle or hand winch might work. Maybe even a tiny electric winch! :o

Just gotta get the design right.

[BigJon]

Probably will have an vertical length of box slide inside a slightly larger piece of box,


Box in box will tend to jam. Try round in box.

[Vern]

Ranga, which isi rack have you got? Thats what I'm after for my camper, but isi don't recommend 4 bikes on the back of it

[Ranga]

Ranga, which isi rack have you got? Thats what I'm after for my camper, but isi don't recommend 4 bikes on the back of it

I've got the 4x4x4 Bicycle Carrier (which I've already sold to a mate). ISI assured me this would be fine for all but extreme off-road conditions with 4 bikes.

[Ranga]

Here's a basic design of the carrier that I'm considering. Obviously the rack slides up and down vertically inside the fixed receiver, and will be held in various positions using a tow hitch pin.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/08/501.jpg

Two things I'm thinking about is will this pin flog out the holes in either the rack and/or reciever (if so, will a grub screw into the corner tightened help), and how to raise/lower the rack which will weigh between 50kg and 100kg.

Any ideas?

[weeds]

Here's a basic design of the carrier that I'm considering. Obviously the rack slides up and down vertically inside the fixed receiver, and will be held in various positions using a tow hitch pin.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/08/501.jpg

Two things I'm thinking about is will this pin flog out the holes in either the rack and/or reciever (if so, will a grub screw into the corner tightened help), and how to raise/lower the rack which will weigh between 50kg and 100kg.

Any ideas?

What the ISIS only lasted one trip.....

Re: receiver, you can weld day 5mm flat bar either side of the receivers

Re: rack, weld some crush tube in with the ID the same size as the pin

This will beef it up while keeping the weight down.....

Where bouts are you mounting to the trayon??

[Ranga]

The rack is great, but in reality only needed when we're using the Trayon, hence my thought of attaching a custom rack to the 'sleds' of the Trayon. When the Trayon is off, we can carry the bikes in the tray of the Defender.

I thought about crush tubes in the inside of the vertical sections of the rack, but your good idea about the plate on the outside of the receiver will help. Now you just need to think of a way to lift it :cool:

[trog]

would it be possibe to put in a couple gas struts to take the majority of the weight ?

[Dorian]

Ranga
Have you had a look at this type of unit, thousands to choose from on flea bay.
1500N equals 150Kg

Stroke Length 6'' 12'' 14'' 18'' DC 12 24V Linear Actuator 1500N Electric Motors | eBay (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Stroke-length-6-12-14-18-DC-12-24V-Linear-actuator-1500N-Electric-Motors-/261355552308?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&var&hash=item3cda013e34&_uhb=1)

Check the speed on the various units as some can be quite slow.

Cheers Glen

[Blknight.aus]

Use two bits of round bar at the top and bottom which will help keep it spaced, paint them with a Teflon. Based paint then run a nylon rope like a primitive block and tackle.

Simple and easily field repairable and adjustable.due to load or the person making the effort.

[weeds]

two or four bikes?

[Leyland1980]

Perhaps you could use a mechanism inspired by something like this

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/08/393.jpg

[Ranga]

Perhaps you could use a mechanism inspired by something like this

That's what I originally imagined, but I think Blknight is on to something with his simple pulley/rope suggestion.