ANy good metal workers/welders fancy an interesting challenge S/East England???

[Fanum]

Any good metal workers/welders fancy an interesting challenge S/East England???

I'm designing and want to have built a de-mountable platform to go on the back of a Land Rover 130.

I don't want to use just the tow hitch like some systems do, 'cos this baby's got to be able to take a GS or two dirtbikes and potentially that'll be on rough ground.

What I'm thinking is a pair of brackets welded or bolted onto the chassis of the landy (pic below, the end with the big box section plate is the rear (area 1))

These brackets will be welded to two box section tubes with holes drilled already for retaining bolts...into these two tubes I'll slide the rack, which will be swan necked up slightly to clear the tow hitch so I can use my foldaway bike trailer as well as the rack platform.

The top level of the rack must be just below the rear opening two doors so the interior can be accessed without taking the rack off, and the runners on the platform must be move able so I can have them set for two pogos or one GS.

I'm thinking the tow hitch mount could be used to have a smaller bit of box section, blanked at the bottom and about a foot deep (with a hole through the socket for an 'R' pin...this pole would stick up in between the landy and the bike so the bike/s can be lashed securely to it.

There's nothing on the market for this....there are racks that just go on the tow hitch or ones that mount to large flat plates or fifth wheel hitches, but they're not suitable.

Anyone know of a company or someone who might be up to this???

 

[Fanum]

This is the sort of thing I'm thinking of.....excuse the quick'n dirty drawing but I hope it makes sense

LR=Original land rover parts
F =My framework
P =Tyre channel positions

LR1= Landrover chassis rails
LR2=Land Rover tow hitch plate and ball (apart from I cocked up the numbering on pic 2 )
LR5=Land Rover rear chassis cross piece
LR3 - Rear door
LR6 (top pic) Door, opened
LR6 (Bottom pic) tow ball

F1= Removable Bike support pole, welded to plate that is sandwiched behind land rover tow hitch
F2= Bike frame itself
F3 Channel for bike tyres, mounted in middle position (P1) to take GS in pic 2.(NB in top pic I've drawn two rails, in the P1 and P3 positions)
F4 My box section, welded or bolted under Land Rover chassis rails

Any thoughts??

(apart from I should learn to draw properly )

 

[welder8uk]

Good idea that. I was looking a couple of years ago for a bike rack that would take 4 bikes. i ended up with one that I used to use on my Disco SI, they are the same fit. Cant remeber who mad eit now, think I got it from Craddocks, it was about £80 and fits to plate fitted ion the spare wheel carrie on the bag. Takes about 30 secs to fit and remove.

Due to the weight on the back door I use two webbings straps that go up to the roof rack to take the weight. It works really exceptionally well.

Its a pity you live so far away. Two change sI would (but it may be how I read the post). F1 wants to removebalt from the back plate that is sandwiched on the tow hitch. And I would bolt the F4 pieces to the chasis, similar to how you mount roll frames to the chassis on competition land rovers.

steve

 

[steveuk]

i looked at having some kind of platform mounted on the back of my jeep cherokee a couple of years ago for same reason -i contacted a few specialist manufacturers and all said you could do it but-it would not be legal - something about there being a maximum weight (150kg or there abouts) loading allowed in the uk (apparently it is different to towing a trailer) - you can only apply "x" amount direct to the tow hitch.....

 

[Fanum]

Good idea that. I was looking a couple of years ago for a bike rack that would take 4 bikes. i ended up with one that I used to use on my Disco SI, they are the same fit. Cant remeber who mad eit now, think I got it from Craddocks, it was about £80 and fits to plate fitted ion the spare wheel carrie on the bag. Takes about 30 secs to fit and remove.

Due to the weight on the back door I use two webbings straps that go up to the roof rack to take the weight. It works really exceptionally well.

Its a pity you live so far away. Two change sI would (but it may be how I read the post). F1 wants to removebalt from the back plate that is sandwiched on the tow hitch. And I would bolt the F4 pieces to the chasis, similar to how you mount roll frames to the chassis on competition land rovers.

steve

Cheers for that Steve....I've read very bad things about having the spare wheel mounted on the back door though...offroad, apparently it'll all shake the hinges apart as they're the weakest point.....putting a bike on there as well sounds very dodgy!!

(Pus I've got a pod with two doors on the back so I couldn't use that anyway.)

I'll see if I can dig up any more info on the supplier though...they may be able to help



SteveUK...ta for that as well,......TBH I'm not bothered about the UK legality as it'll never be used here.....it's purely for off-road recovery of a dead bike up a mountain or in the desert.....
As long as it works and is secure enough for me to trust it with a GS, I'm happy

 

[the civil one]

Bus World

Fanum ,
Nowt wrong with your Drawings , if you were to add a few measurements
you could have it fabricated anywhere.
It would surprise you what something simple like that could carry,
it never ceases to amaze me ,what holds a LWB Bus together .

 

[the civil one]

measurements

i assume you want your frame to slip inside the landies Chassie
and then bolt it thru both .

 

[Fanum]

i assume you want your frame to slip inside the landies Chassie
and then bolt it thru both .

Yep, exxakkerly.....well almost..the chassis has closed box members and I don't think I'd want to go opening those up.......I'd rather weld on a seperate bit of galv box under it to slide the frame arms into....then waxoyl the outsides and the welds to keep it all protected.

For quick installation/dismantling, I think I'd look at four pins, two on each chassis member, with R clips in the end of the pins....with a fairly good interference fit (aided by a bit of LM grease), that should be fine but make things a lot quicker to get on and off.

I'm also wondering if 6-8mm ally box would be strong enough to take a GS on bumpy stuff, rather than having the weight of a ferrous metal

 

[Fanum]

There's this sort of thing but it's ridiculously over-engineered, totally not easily demountable and hideously expensive......

I do quite like the access to the back doors (in my case anyway) with the hinge system, but I Want something really simple and a hell of a lot cheaper than the $3000 that this thing costs

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

Bill - don't bother with aluminium - i doubt you'd get enough strength into it to last 10 years or so without constant crack checking.

Use something like 150 x 75 x 4 RHS box to weld to the chassis rails
then step down for the bits that slide in.
You'll only need a 1" pin to hold them each side provided its a good fit.

Keep it well greased

its basically a simple cantilever - but the dynamic forces are quite big - ie the bouncing up and down with bikes on increases loading hugely.

3 bikes over a large bump = 9 bikes weight plus fatigue

I'd actually be worried the chassis wouldn't be up to it without strengthening
If it cracks the chassis - it'll go at the frontmost part of your new box section.

if you send me dims i could 3D model it for you

PS sounds like vern could sort this out easily.

 

[the civil one]

Naw !

I'm also wondering if 6-8mm ally box would be strong enough to take a GS on bumpy stuff, rather than having the weight of a ferrous metal

Heavy Galvanised
box /ribbed, section steel , and again from experiance from L.W.B. Transit
wheelchair accesible buses as much bracing as you think is overkill ,
You are operating on the Overhang , and the forces will be extreme
I cant understand why not cut the Landies Box section and slip
the ends of your frame inside,using close tolerances , i think this would
add to strength.
Our company bolted a lot less of a subframe to the Chassis of a relatively
new ford transit , and the chassis cracked within a year of mild
operation , so for you purposes , Box is beautiful , not sure about
welding it or bolting it to the Chassis , but inside !

Go on then Mr Moto Oz show us your 3D skills
Ohh and whats your thoughts on the inside the Chassis leg ?
What way would you go ,,, and Why .