Bicycle Rack for my Truck

The bike rack I had bought for moving to Florida was bought with the old Ford Escort in mind. It was one of those straps to the trunk type deals. It also said that it could strap to the back of a van or whatnot.

You know, they are right, it will strap to the back of my Ford Escape. The trouble lies in when you try to open the back door. The metal hooks needlessly dig into the paint and royal !@#$#$% up a brand new vehicle.

I have had to go in with a Dremel Moto tool and grind out the rust on the roof of a 6 month old vehicle. GRRR

Anyway. I had picked up one of those hitch-haul utility racks that goes into the receiver of your vehicle. I got it on sale, like half off the normal price. It is for a 2 inch receiver, and I have an 1 1/4 or whatever it is. Not a problem, they say on the box that they make adapters. Heh, little did I know, they DO make them. They are hard to find, and they end up costing more then I paid for the rack. Funny that, eh?

So, when I got this thing, I had always planned on making a bike hauler for it.

This last Saturday, on my way home from the Ren Faire, I stopped by Cabelas. We had just been talking about me making a bike rack for the truck at the faire. Guess what I found at Cabelas? That’s right, a bike rack designed to be attached to one of these racks.

SCORE

 
This is how it is supposed to work according to the directions. Uhm, yeah, it’s for a different brand of rack and won’t fit mine right. The holes don’t line up, and it’s to wide. No worries. Like everything else I own that isn’t right, I can make it work.

 
Here it is loosly bolted up. I had walked to the hardware store to get lockwashers and a nut for the hitch-haul (which has been slowly trying to fall apart), and also fender washers for the rack. Wouldn’t you know it, I had forgotten the fender washers. I didn’t like how it was sitting, so I decided to change things up a little bit. I rode my bike to the store this time, as I was tired of walking. I picked up 2 more bolts and the fender washers.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I need to clean out the back of my truck.

 
Here is the rack all bolted up with the bike on it. Yeah, it was that late by the time I got done.
 
Another picture with the flash.

 
Here is how I ended up bolting the thing down. Instead of in one long strip, I offset the 3 pieces. I figure this may work helping offset the bikes if I have 3 of them on the rack at the same time.

 
Here you can see the fender washers underneath. You can also see my 2 new, extra long bolts.

 
Ah, the finished product. Doesn’t look bad, eh?

Oh, I cleaned out the back of the truck. 2 small bags of trash. 2 loads of tools back to the apartment. The rear seats are now locked in the full upright position. I also found my missing digital camera.