Hanging a 1up bike tray off the spare tire... any ideas? (Edit: SOLVED!!)

[bb163]

I am in the process of getting my 1up rack attached to my spare tire. I currently have a Kuat pivot, but am getting tired of having to open it before opening the tailgate. I contacted Rucrak to see if I can buy the mounting lugs, mounting plate, and the vertical bars that go in front of the spare. From there I would fabricate a bracket to attach my 1up rack to. Or even better, attach L-Track to the face of the bars which would make the system modular for attaching the tray rack, ski rack, etc.

I will follow this thread and post as I come up with the final design.

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[bb163]

Another option I considered was buying the DV8 Spare Tire Guard and making a bracket off the front panel. This would allow the rack to open independently from the tailgate if you needed to access your spare tire. This would likely be the ultimate solution if you can afford the $850 for the Spare Tire Guard.

Also, whatever you decide to do. make sure you add a tailgate support to keep the added weight from damaging the tailgate.

 

[JohnnyBronco]

I did consider that option. Unfortunately, it also uses the hitch for a stability bar at the bottom, which defeats the purpose of moving away from the 1up hitch rack I'm currently using.

Still a pretty damn cool rack, though!


My bikes are all priceless to me.

Why?

Because the tailgate may fall off with the added weght?

How about a hitch extender that accommodates trailer hitch and additional attachments? $35 @ Harbor Freight. 5 ti.es that on Amazon

 

[JohnnyBronco]

The idea would be to make the tray extremely stable when hung from the tire. I have no idea if that's possible, but feel that I have to try.

With the roof rack and tent on top, I don't know if putting a bike at the very top will make me too tall for many locations - especially on trails with tree cover. It just seems awfully high? I really don't know, as I've never run a rack that high before. Maybe.

True story we watched in horror as a suv entered a parking garage in Asheville, NC with two bikes on the roof. Needless to say there was no salvage of the remains

 

[paleh0rse]

I am in the process of getting my 1up rack attached to my spare tire. I currently have a Kuat pivot, but am getting tired of having to open it before opening the tailgate. I contacted Rucrak to see if I can buy the mounting lugs, mounting plate, and the vertical bars that go in front of the spare. From there I would fabricate a bracket to attach my 1up rack to. Or even better, attach L-Track to the face of the bars which would make the system modular for attaching the tray rack, ski rack, etc.

I will follow this thread and post as I come up with the final design.

That's awesome! That's exactly the type of solution I was hoping to throw together myself, so I'm definitely interested in the work you're doing. Please share updates and photos as it comes together!

Another option I considered was buying the DV8 Spare Tire Guard and making a bracket off the front panel. This would allow the rack to open independently from the tailgate if you needed to access your spare tire. This would likely be the ultimate solution if you can afford the $850 for the Spare Tire Guard.

Also, whatever you decide to do. make sure you add a tailgate support to keep the added weight from damaging the tailgate.

I did consider that option, but the total price was a bit insane for all of the parts required to make it happen. Had to ask myself if moving the rack was worth all that, and so far, that answer has been "try your best to find a different way to accomplish this!" lol

Definitely an option, though. Hanging some t-slotted mounting rails off that DV8 rack might be fairly straight forward for a decent fabricator.

 

[paleh0rse]

Because the tailgate may fall off with the added weght?

How about a hitch extender that accommodates trailer hitch and additional attachments? $35 @ Harbor Freight. 5 ti.es that on Amazon

I'm reinforcing the tailgate, so the weight shouldn't be a problem. Haven't decided on which reinforcement kit I'm using yet, but leaning toward the one from Turn Offroad.

I already use an extender to hold my current 1up hitch rack. it works well enough, but completely kills my departure angles and gets in the way when I'm trying to cook on my tailgate table or retrieve anything from the cargo area while camping. It also blocks my license plate when it's folded up and not in use, but that's not really my biggest concern.

 

[paleh0rse]

True story we watched in horror as a suv entered a parking garage in Asheville, NC with two bikes on the roof. Needless to say there was no salvage of the remains

My old setup used to look like this, and I almost lost the bike to more than one tree branch when off-roading. There was at least one incident where I actually bent the rack itself and somehow managed not to destroy the bike in the process (didn't realize a branch was crushing against them). Scary stuff. Not sure I ever want to take risks like that again with a bike on top of the Bronco.

 

[bb163]

That's awesome! That's exactly the type of solution I was hoping to throw together myself, so I'm definitely interested in the work you're doing. Please share updates and photos as it comes together!


I did consider that option, but the total price was a bit insane for all of the parts required to make it happen. Had to ask myself if moving the rack was worth all that, and so far, that answer has been "try your best to find a different way to accomplish this!" lol

Definitely an option, though. Hanging some t-slotted mounting rails off that DV8 rack might be fairly straight forward for a decent fabricator.

I’m shocked that DV8 doesn’t make attachment accessories for the spare tire guard. Total missed opportunity. At least mounting options for rotopax and traction boards. I reached out to DV8 to try to buy one without powder coating so I could more easily modify it. But since it is made out of country they couldn’t accommodate.

 

[paleh0rse]

I’m shocked that DV8 doesn’t make attachment accessories for the spare tire guard. Total missed opportunity. At least mounting options for rotopax and traction boards. I reached out to DV8 to try to buy one without powder coating so I could more easily modify it. But since it is made out of country they couldn’t accommodate.

I was also surprised by their lack of compatible mounts. I think it's definitely one of the stronger base platforms if find someone to fab a tray holder of some kind, though.

 

[bb163]

I was also surprised by their lack of compatible mounts. I think it's definitely one of the stronger base platforms if find someone to fab a tray holder of some kind, though.

Also, I heard back from RucRak and they aren’t able to sell parts individually. So I may try a RucRak out and modify it to fit the 1up rack if their bike setup ends up being too bulky.

 

[bb163]

Here is the latest update on getting my 1up rack attached to my spare tire. The bracket I made would be a good starting point for attaching numerous things to the spare tire. The bikes sit a bit higher than I’d hoped, but in order to maintain the rear view camera it is about as low as it can go. The bracket is attached using DuraBlue lug extenders.

 

[paleh0rse]

Here is the latest update on getting my 1up rack attached to my spare tire. The bracket I made would be a good starting point for attaching numerous things to the spare tire. The bikes sit a bit higher than I’d hoped, but in order to maintain the rear view camera it is about as low as it can go. The bracket is attached using DuraBlue lug extenders.

Holy shit... that's perfection. Nicely done!

 

[bb163]

Holy shit... that's perfection. Nicely done!

Thank you! It was a lot of tinkering to get it to where it is now. Still have some ideas to continue fine tuning it. Hoping to make this bracket available to purchase soon.

 

[paleh0rse]

Thank you! It was a lot of tinkering to get it to where it is now. Still have some ideas to continue fine tuning it. Hoping to make this bracket available to purchase soon.

Hell yeah! Needless to say, I'm in for one. Every single mountain biker with a bronco should buy this thing.

Only concern is weight, but I was planning on installing a tailgate reinforcement system anyways. Too easy.

Very stoked. Thank you!

 

[bb163]

Circling back to post the final product. Here is the final version of the adapter plate as well as a tailgate limiter to keep the rack from hitting the body of the bronco. If anyone is interested in these send me a message.

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