Making a swing out tyre carrier/bike rack for the rear of the trailer

[djaraceandrally]

Hello,

I am looking into fabricating a swing away rear frame to carry the mountain bikes, but still allow access to a door on the rear of the box.

My question is what are you using for the load bearing pivot point? Ive seen what i think is a small trailer wheel hub complete with 4 wheel lugs, turned upright. I was thinking along the lines of a bush type fitting rather than a bearing??

Any ideas?

 

[DanCooper]

This hinge kit is what I used for a rear tire carrier on my Subaru.

 

[Mark Harley]

Box rocket had a very simple designed swing out with hinges.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/23624-Box-Rocket-Homemade-trailer-build

 

[Rutdigger]

This hinge kit is what I used for a rear tire carrier on my Subaru.

Yup, I have used that same kit to make many swing out tire carriers before. Good kit.

 

[PCO6]

I took a different approach that may work for you. The tailgate on my trailer is hinged on the right the same as my Jeep. I have a 2" receiver on both the Jeep and the trailer (Class III frame on the Jeep / tube welded to the bumper on the trailer). I bought 2 roof top bike racks and attached them to separate hitch inserts. The first rack goes into either the Jeep when I'm not trailering or into the trailer bumper when I am. If I'm taking 2 bikes the second rack inserts into the first one. I can take both bikes off the racks in about 10 seconds. The tailgate(s) then swing open over the rack(s).

In my case I didn't want to swing the bikes but I can see where others might want to.

Here's mine ...

No bikes ...

One bike ...

Two bikes ...

 

[K2ZJ]

Double heim joints or johhny joints like this:

Or the spindle idea you mentioned minus the studs (click): EDIT: This was posted above but I was typing a distracted so late post.



Or pin and sleeve like this?

 

[djaraceandrally]

Thanks all, need it to swing away and still be attached, so using a 2 inch reciever hitch idea will not work for me but the actual type of bike racks you showed looked to be a good idea ( i was looking at the ones that you hang the frame on). So will look into making a swing away using those heim/rose joints and fitting my lights, reg plate and rack to it.

 

[97kurt]

For swing outs, I have always used flanged bronze bushings in a DOM sleeve with a grade 8 bolt going through them. Mounted in double sheer. You can get the bushings from Mcmaster super cheap ($3 each).

The first bumper I made I used a 1" grade 8 bolt which was super over kill. My current bumper with a dual swing out uses 3/4" bolts. The trick to making it last is that its properly supported when its latched so that there is no movement.

 

[mackyfranklin]

I realize this thread is old, but I ended up here while searching for info about making a swinging bike rack and it helped me with my final design. I ended up using the heavy duty spindle kit from Comp 4x4 and built a custom bumper that holds a 6-bike Recon Rack. Used a pop-pin to keep it in place when it's open. Swings super smooth, even with 6 bikes on it, and doesn't sway while driving. Super pleased!

Anyway, I figured I should pay it forward and include links to a couple videos I did about my rack in case it helps someone else. Disclaimer: these videos are NOT how-tos, but more about issues I ran into and how I fixed them.

Update: Turns out I can't post links (maybe too new of a user). If anyone is interested, the videos are under the 'van build' playlist on my YouTube channel (the base URL then "/sydandmacky").