Mounting Bikes on Front Tool Box

[BurnsOil]

Hi jcat
I had thought of doing the same thing on our extenda and may still. I know this is probably too late but I considered mounting the mounts onto a forward tilting frame or plate so the bikes and mounts could tilt forward in order to open the toolbox without fouling on the tent or cover and without removing the bikes. I am early in the thought process on this one and possibly the gas rams wouldn't handle the weight Or any other number of things I havnt thought about but worth a thought.
Darren

Your not alone in contemplating using a tilting frame.  One day I will get around to drawing up an idea and having it fabricated.

[JCAT]

The tilting frame sounds like a great idea. Unfortunately that is a little too much for my skill level.

I am happy with the finished product but the proof will be in the pudding.

I ended up sticking the eye bolts right in the middle of the tool box. One at the rear of the bikes, one in between both and one in front of both.

When I stuck a bike up there and tried to hold it down by the handle bars it still had a bit of wobble about it. When I held the bikes in the middle it seemed to reduce the wobble. I intend on using a cam buckled strap to hold them down so as not to rip the eye bolts out of the toolbox with a ratchet strap. I did use a length of 3 mm gal on the underside of the toolbox to spread the load of all the eye bolts across the width of the toolbox.

[Paj880]

Hi jcat
The tilt idea is theory only, what you have done looks good. That's why I havnt done it yet. Our current set up involves a rack that hangs off the spare wheel on the trailer. Works well on the highway but suffered a bent tailgate on Fraser island. Now looking for a new solution. Love to see if yours works

Regards
Darren

[Bird]

I did the Mac Rack thing for the first time on th weekend, as I've been paranoid to do it after that other dudes broke off.

it worked well, not hard to remove to open tailgate if needed.

[chester ver2.0]

OK as a cyclist and doing a trip around OZ with 2 bikes i will throw my moneys worth in

The bike racks or mounting sytems where you remove the front wheel are really only designed for a front to rear or in the same direction of travel as the vehicle.
Even when mounted in same direction of travel we suffered damage to the head stems of both bikes as there is still side to side motion and this was greatly amplified with high speed dirt road travel

If i were mounting east west on a camper tool box i would do it as follows
1 weld bolt some channel on the toolbox lid for bike tyres to fit in
2 Mount bikes with front tyres still on
3 Ratchet strap down from handlebars as you would a dirt bike
4 If fitted with front and or rear suspension ratchet down hard enought to compress suspension

[KingBilly]

If i were mounting east west on a camper tool box i would do it as follows
1 weld bolt some channel on the toolbox lid for bike tyres to fit in
2 Mount bikes with front tyres still on
3 Ratchet strap down from handlebars as you would a dirt bike
4 If fitted with front and or rear suspension ratchet down hard enough to compress suspension

Don't agree with point 4.  Had a fair bit to do with transporting dirt bikes in trailers and ratcheting down to compress the suspension, just roots the suspension.  Best to put a brace between to top of the forks and the tyre, then ratchet down.  This way the suspension is not compressed but also it doesn't move.  No more popped fork seals.

Maybe different with push bikes.  If so, please disregard.

KB