Hondo Garage's New Thing

Here are some shots I already have from when it was on my old van.

If there's something else specific you'd like to see, let me know and I can go get some shots of it on the truck.

 

I have a swing out and was planning to do the same as you, with having the bike rack swing to the driver side. Everything fit together nicely until I tried to open the tire/jerry can swingout. The rakattach sat high enough to prevent the swingout from opening. I'm waiting for Amazon to deliver a hitch lower (4 inches) to allow the swingout to open.

 

You guys sure are making this complicated. I was just going to weld a bit of hitch receiver to the swing out so the bike will be attached to that and open with the tire.

 

I would have a fab shop relocate the swing out arm to the bottom side. No drop hitch needed.

 

Both valid points that I considered. I went with the drop hitch purely because I didn't want to have to find a shop to do it, wait for the shop, and then touch up the powder coat. My solution was as simple as 30 seconds on Amazon and a 2 day wait. I also didn't want to put another 125 lbs of weight on the tire swingout (2 bikes and rack).

 

I’ve thought about that but I don’t want to stress the swing out bushing any more than I have too. A 35” spare tire, 6 gallons of gas, a hi lift jack, and a spare tire trash bag is already a decent amount of weight for a single pivot to support. If my swing out had dual pivots like an A arm, then I’d feel better about adding an additional 100 lbs onto it.

 

Is yours the large? From looking at your pic vs mine in the slide out pic above, It doesn't look like it goes as wide as mine. Maybe second gen vs third gen difference...

@JLink you could maybe reach out to rakattach, they might make one for you that clears the end of your swing out bumper. They're a pretty small operation out of Utah and may be willing to accommodate you.

 

I ordered the medium. After searching online I found a few people using the medium so gave it a go. It clears the sides significantly and saved me a couple of pounds.

 

Perhaps the large would clear your swing out bumper...

 

Larger just means it is longer in the horizontal axis by 4 inches, the height doesn't change.

 

I get that, but I assumed it was just hitting at the upper portion of the Rakattach pivot. So if it moved out a bit then maybe your swing out would clear around the pivot and above the lower, stationary portion of the Rakattach. Does this picture explain what I'm thinking?


Obviously you have looked at/thought about your setup plenty, so I'll stop trying to fix things over the internet...

 

Gotcha, didn't understand your original thought until after I posted, but I looked into that solution before ordering the drop hitch. It's more than 4 inches, about 8 to 10 if I recall. No worries, always up for suggestions and improvements.

One reason I ordered the rackattach and 1up was because they have a 60 day return policy which means I have about 40 more days to solve my problem. Hopefully it will be solved tomorrow when my package arrives.

 

If anyone has been waiting for the standard size beef racks to come back in stock.....refreshing the page finally paid off.

 

has Anyone requested white glove delivery for the Denver area?

 

Whose GFC did I see coming through Weaverville, CA on the 299? You had a motorcycle on the back. Nice setup!

 

Well, I joined the broken hinge club today.

Don't know if anyone mentioned this, but it turns out when that thing fails it can come apart super quick.

Honestly lucky it just grazed my head and didn't actually hurt me.

Definitely not happy to have a gaping, open side that prevents me from having secure storage.

 

Bummer. What was your build number?

 

Pretty sure it was 41

 

Has the hinge material/design since been changed?

 

The material has not changed - GFC has said that their new method of sealing between the space frame and the tent extrusion should reduce failures - but could also be a matter of campers with the newer sealing method don't have enough cycles on their hinges yet.

Been keeping an eye on my rear panel hinge as one side looks like it's stretching out.