1918 Ranger's Bike Carrier

[1918 Ranger]

Gentlemen. I've had numerous requests for pics and specs on this rack we built on my truck. I own a heavy equipment repair business so that helps in having materials laying around and man power to do it.

I've looked to buy one that was heavy duty but they aren't out there. Heavy duty in my mind is HEAVY DUTY!

I want to be able to carry a lot of bikes and these old ones as you know are heavy. With my resources I decided lets build a BEAST!

7 bike carrier

All the metal is 1/4" steel or thicker. The top bars are 1-1/2" 1/4 wall tubing. They are 52" long
I centered the bike spots at 7" centers. 6 spots behind post and one between tailgate and post. I use sweet gum rubber 1/4" thick to pad the bikes. It's a soft rubber that doesn't damage paint. Zip ties work great. I used chain links for the dividers and gives me plenty of places to hook bungy chords to tie down bikes and much more.

The 1/4" plate holds the top bars and hinge plates in place. The bars hinge down as seen in the pics. I used a 7/8 bolt and a 7/8 tractor hitch pin for the pins. The post is a 4 x 4" 1/4" square tube. Plenty strong, plenty heavy.



1918 Ranger

 

[user 135]

Very cool and simple. Does the bottom hinge to enable the tailgate/liftgate to open?

 

[1918 Ranger]

The D Rings are great for lock cables and lifting it.

The bottom hinge areas I used a 7/8 bolt and a 5/8" locking hitch pin for the back pin. I went with a locking pin here because my fear was that a prank or vandal might pull the hair pin and pull out the main pin there and drop the whole post and too bars on a car parked behind me. To prevent that possibility I used a lock style.

The 4x4 post is @ 41" long.

The 2" tubing from the hitch is 1/4" wall and @ 16" long from the outside of the receiver to its end so overall @ 22-24" long.

1918 Ranger

 

[1918 Ranger]

I did wire in a tail light since its so long


I have a patent on it so please send all royalties to my Paypal.

My patent # is 0U812

800 - 900 bucks later and a 100 pounds there she is. But boy I can hang the bikes.

Happy building


1918 Ranger

 

[1918 Ranger]

Very cool and simple. Does the bottom hinge to enable the tailgate/liftgate to open?

Yes hinges top and bottom.


1918 Ranger

 

[user 135]

Thanks for detailed information.

 

[petesponies]

Looks good and will certainly carry a lot of bikes. But as for over building it . . its only as strong as the 2" square receive tube is . . . .

 

[1918 Ranger]

Looks good and will certainly carry a lot of bikes. But as for over building it . . its only as strong as the 2" square receive tube is . . . .

True that. I do trust the carrier and hopefully the receiver will hold 500 lbs of bikes and carrier weight.

I'm still in the engineering and testing phases before we mass produce them. Another 1000 mile trip or 2 with 10 bikes hanging on it will prove its reliability.


1918 Ranger

 

[1918 Ranger]

Looks good and will certainly carry a lot of bikes. But as for over building it . . its only as strong as the 2" square receive tube is . . . .

Hah! I was gonna say his biggest problem was written in the middle of his tailgate! (I drive an Excursion, its said in fun :wink: )

Now you are going to start a FORD vs CHEVY fight.


1918 Ranger

 

[Gdcast]

Very nice! Thank you so much for the detailed pics Ranger, they will help lots. :wink:

 

[Gdcast]

Well, based on yours and with some "minor" :lol: :lol: changes here is my version of your carrier:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=79311

Thank you so much for the inspiration and the great disposition for sharing your work! :wink:

 

[Gdcast]

Looks good and will certainly carry a lot of bikes. But as for over building it . . its only as strong as the 2" square receive tube is . . . .

Hah! I was gonna say his biggest problem was written in the middle of his tailgate! (I drive an Excursion, its said in fun :wink: )

Now you are going to start a FORD vs CHEVY fight.


1918 Ranger

Oh, and I solved that problem :wink: :lol: :lol:

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Very cool and very heavy duty!

Luke.

 

[TuckTuck]

"Heavy Duty"

 

[1918 Ranger]

Well, based on yours and with some "minor" :lol: :lol: changes here is my version of your carrier:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=79311

Thank you so much for the inspiration and the great disposition for sharing your work! :wink:

Great job. Looks very nice!!

 

[Gdcast]

Thanks!