Loading a Motorcycle into the rear

[Neil]

Hi

I am in the planning stages of an expedition camper.

I originally planned to have a platform on the rear of the vehicle ( MB 1017 ) that would hold the spare tyres and a motorcycle ( Transalp style )

I am now thinking that it would be alot more secure if these were actually housed within the rear of the box cabin and were loaded either via a large rear locker opening or via a side locker opening.

My problem is working out how to get a 160 KG motorcycle into the rear of the cabin which will be 1.5 meters off the ground.

I am thinking of at crane sytems or long ramps.

I am sure that this is a problem that has been discussed before .

If anyone has any solutions, especially with diagrams or pictures i would be very grateful and it might point me in the right direction

Many thanks

Neil UK

 

[Victorian]

I have done this with a Yamaha Super Tenere and a Magirus 170D. We used planks. What a pain that was! You need at least 4 people to do this safely...

If possible, I would try and rig up a crane and sliding mechanism. Something like this:
Lift it up with the winch to cabin height
Still on the hook sliding it inside on a roller track
Inside the cab. lower it and strap it in place.

In theory, this should be fairly simple

All you would need it a ceiling mounted track that extends 2 meters outside and a winch. Done

 

[NeverEnough]

Anything less than a 1.5m wide ramp is scary with that kind of bike, and it would have to be very long to get that high. My previous rig used a commercial liftgate. They're heavy, but easy to use, very safe, and make a nice patio. "Rail" styles work best. And you can find used ones.

 

[Ozarker]

Wish I could draw pics and attach them in forums....heck, I wish I could copy pictures and attach those!

I had a problem of loading a Transalp on a boat. The best solution I came up with was a rocking or rotating "A" frame that swings down, hooks the bike on and "pole vault" the bike up and over. If you have a winch on the front, use the cable over the top with pulley blocks off the roof, that will pull the bike up. Swing it in place. The bike is on its own pulley and lower it down from the "A" frame.

Since you have a roof, an overhead trolley I would thing would be best.

I simply ride my Alp up a short ramp into the back of the truck. :bike_rider:

 

[Terrainist]

Consider a dedicated winch inside the cabin, or a place where you quickly install the winch. We are talking a small winch, maybe 2,000 lb.

Three aluminum folding ramps. One for the bike, the other two on either side to put your feet on to guide the bike into the cabin upright. Sit on the bike as it is being rolled up the ramp by the winch into the cabin. Have the controls for the winch on a remote so you an run it as you sit on the bike.

Hypothetically, let the winch do all the work. Let it pull the bike up the ramp while the person sitting on it keeps it upright by putting their feet down on the ramps to either side, riding it into the cabin.

This is assuming that putting the bike into the cabin is a straight shot. And that unloading it is the reverse, straight out the door or doors rolling down the ramp backwards.

 

[hdemetrious]

http://www.dieweltbereisen.com/sternchen_wie_alles_begann.htm

 

[hdemetrious]

http://www.russianmilitarytrucks.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=1252&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=60

 

[dzzz]

A ramp really is a problem with a high platform height. There's a couple of threads on this if you search.

http://www.russianmilitarytrucks.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=1252&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=60

slick design, except for covering the door.

 

[Code Monkey]

I am thinking about this problem too. I bought a 'farm' truck to haul my dirt bike on. Problem is it is a flat bed with the height of the bed being almost 4 feet high. It is 12 feet long by 8 feet wide. The bed is raised about a foot up off the frame.

With a ramp and non-skid coating on the ramp, I can ride the bike on/off the bed - probably. A 4 foot rise over 12 feet is 1 foot up every 3 feet. Not too bad.

After all, I ride up and down steeper trails all the time and over 2 foot trees across the trail. Most pickup beds are about 2 to 3 feet high and an 8 foot ramp is used to put the bikes into the bed, so a 12 foot ramp (which I can store on the bed or under it between the rails) should work fine.

That said, there should be an easier way - and more importantly, I want to build a camper onto the truck and naturally I want to take my dirt bike with me. First, the camper base will probably be more like 3 feet high as I am probably going to get rid of the current steel flat bed.

I don't want to store the bike outside the camper for a number of reasons:

1) Its a $10K bike with about $3K of add-ons. So I don't want to tempt anybody with stealing or messing with it. Especially when I stop somewhere to eat, camp, visit.

2) I prefer it be inside out of the weather and such when I am going down the road.

3) I don't want it hanging off in space off the back or the front of the truck.

So, what I am thinking so far, is I will put it on some kind of platform using these mounts:

Which seem to hold bikes at almost any angle.

Then somehow (a bunch of hand waving here) get that platform up into a box from an external access door in the camper I build. This 'box' will be within the camper, but will be separate from the internal part of the camper. The idea is that you don't want a bike inside a camper with you - the outgassing of the gasoline will not make you want to stay inside it for long - believe me; I have my bike in my living room right now to work on it (no garage or shop) and I had to take the tanks off it.

That is all the further I am right now. I was thinking that I could have a ramp into the box and a winch in the box to pull the platform up the ramp. The platform would maybe have really small wheels on it. To get the bike out I would pull it out (against the winch letting out the rope) until it tilted down onto the ramp and then let the winch slowly lower the bike down.

The bike is 7 feet long and 4 feet high (top of the handlebars), and that is before I do this to it:

Which will probably add a few feet to it.

So I am thinking that my bed inside, and maybe a table or shelf will be on top of that box. I would make the box wide and long enough to store two bikes side by side, one in front end in first, one in back end in first first so they can be close together.

Not as easy as just rolling the bike up onto something, but it would be secure and I would not be breathing the gasoline fumes inside the camper.

 

[Ozarker]

I am thinking about this problem too. I bought a 'farm' truck to haul my dirt bike on. Problem is it is a flat bed with the height of the bed being almost 4 feet high. It is 12 feet long by 8 feet wide. The bed is raised about a foot up off the frame.

With a ramp and non-skid coating on the ramp, I can ride the bike on/off the bed - probably. A 4 foot rise over 12 feet is 1 foot up every 3 feet. Not too bad.

After all, I ride up and down steeper trails all the time and over 2 foot trees across the trail. Most pickup beds are about 2 to 3 feet high and an 8 foot ramp is used to put the bikes into the bed, so a 12 foot ramp (which I can store on the bed or under it between the rails) should work fine.

That said, there should be an easier way - and more importantly, I want to build a camper onto the truck and naturally I want to take my dirt bike with me. First, the camper base will probably be more like 3 feet high as I am probably going to get rid of the current steel flat bed.

I don't want to store the bike outside the camper for a number of reasons:

1) Its a $10K bike with about $3K of add-ons. So I don't want to tempt anybody with stealing or messing with it. Especially when I stop somewhere to eat, camp, visit.

2) I prefer it be inside out of the weather and such when I am going down the road.

3) I don't want it hanging off in space off the back or the front of the truck.

So, what I am thinking so far, is I will put it on some kind of platform using these mounts:

Which seem to hold bikes at almost any angle.

Then somehow (a bunch of hand waving here) get that platform up into a box from an external access door in the camper I build. This 'box' will be within the camper, but will be separate from the internal part of the camper. The idea is that you don't want a bike inside a camper with you - the outgassing of the gasoline will not make you want to stay inside it for long - believe me; I have my bike in my living room right now to work on it (no garage or shop) and I had to take the tanks off it.

That is all the further I am right now. I was thinking that I could have a ramp into the box and a winch in the box to pull the platform up the ramp. The platform would maybe have really small wheels on it. To get the bike out I would pull it out (against the winch letting out the rope) until it tilted down onto the ramp and then let the winch slowly lower the bike down.

The bike is 7 feet long and 4 feet high (top of the handlebars), and that is before I do this to it:

Which will probably add a few feet to it.

So I am thinking that my bed inside, and maybe a table or shelf will be on top of that box. I would make the box wide and long enough to store two bikes side by side, one in front end in first, one in back end in first first so they can be close together.

Not as easy as just rolling the bike up onto something, but it would be secure and I would not be breathing the gasoline fumes inside the camper.

As to those clamps, don't your foot pegs fold up incase you drop the bike or a turn is too tight?

 

[Ozarker]

You do a hydraulic lever, like a hay bailer, instead of the spear, have a ramp, lower it ride the bike on tie it down then raise it up and lock into position.

 

[Code Monkey]

As to those clamps, don't your foot pegs fold up incase you drop the bike or a turn is too tight?

They go up, but not down past horizontal. The clamps hold the bike to the bed by downward force, and they hold it pretty well. The suspension upward force on the bike itself holds the pegs against the clamps.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM75hTKXF24[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHy0GnkA-pY[/ame]

 

[evans.family]

Bike storage solution

Hi,
Just picked up this thread.

This is my solution. Have you worked out what to do?

Tony

 

[4x4 explorer]

Although not enclosed, this is how I carry my KTM 640.

 

[Czechsix]

I'd get a liftgate, modify it so that it's a storage box too. Lower it to the ground, roll bike in/out, then raise to travel height and lock it in.