Hondo Garage's New Thing

This is a big reason I got rid of my north shore rack. I almost had a bike ejected going through a dip (nothing crazy), and me and some friends recovered a brand new Pivot laying in the middle of the road that was ejected from another friend's north shore rack without them even realizing it.

 

Well, I stand corrected. Although I swear I put a road bike on their NS rack once. They had it on a Quigley Sportsmobile for a while, and now on a 4x4 Sprinter. I know they've taken it off road a bunch, and don't think they've ever had a problem ejecting a bike. That does not sound like a good time.

Of course, they are driving out from Idaho now so I asked what they have and she says they have a 1up now, as well

 

I don't have my GFC, but I have that same Yakima rack - it cleared with my Leer Canopy, and I have 800mm bars. There was enough play/flex that it would occasionally flex and make contact in the bumps but when stationary there was an inch or so gap. So you may not want metal bar ends, but otherwise you should be fine.

Edit just noticed you said you had a topper too, so maybe this isn't helpful. I'll be in the same predicament if so. I'm not super worried about it though, the GFC should sit in a similar place to the topper.

 

mine was fine with old topper too, the gfc has a more square/vertical rear door that was way too close for my comfort. any rough roads and im pretty sure it would have broken the window. with the hitch extender though it works perfect though!

 

What generation Taco are we talking about here, and is this on the stock hitch?

I am surprised your bars are anywhere near the window, especially on a bike that long and w/ 29" wheels.

I run a rockymounts backstage swing away rack, and with 780mm handle bars I have a few inches between the end of the bar and the face of the rear panel hinge material. The 2nd tray obviously is not an issue.



I actually wanted to sell this and get a 1-up rack, but this has me re-thinking that if I am going to have to run a hitch extender.

 

It's pretty easy to take a tape measure and figure out if you'll have issues with the 1up. Unlike any other manufacturer I have seen, they post up a schematic.

https://www.1up-usa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/100027_FITMENT.pdf

 

I have a second gen. I am away at work for the next week otherwise i'd go take some pics. from the looks of it, your rack trays must sit higher than the 1up rack. it's probably bc the 1up has the upward angling arrangement of trays and the one closest to the truck is pretty low. My bars hit about 4" shy of the top of the window. I think it works perfectly fine with the hitch extender or the rakattach swing-away. not sure if that all makes sense. i can take pics when i get home this weekend.

 

Yep, looking at the link @JasonLee posted I can see how much lower the inner tray is.

Looks like another reason to get an aftermarket bumper with a tire carrier swing-out and a hitch welded to it.

 

While not a GFC, the 1up rack in combination with my 780mm bars ended up hitting the glass on my Drifter. It would need an extension of at least 3”.

Figuring out a solution to go into the bed (6’) since I don’t want to hang a bunch of weight off the back and a swingout is a bit too burly for my needs. That being said, got a barely used 1Up rack for sale in Northern California.

Additionally, I wanted to use the 1Up because with the bike removed, it clears the tailgate. A great alternative for those with wedge campers and not a swingout. Obviously need to take the bike off.



If you don’t mind rotating your bars a bit, you can easily do so, but that just means you need to eye out straightening your handlebars and properly tightening your headset each time you go mountain biking, which I’m not a fan of.

 

@bgraboyes You might be talking about my exact idea today, but I want to make sure someone else is running a similar setup before dropping the cash. Basically my thought is to run in this order
c4 fabrication overland bumper to RakAttach swing away to extender to 1up Super Duty Double. Besides the bumper is that what you are running? I need a little extra room to prevent the bikes from hitting my spare tire/gas can holder on my swing out bumper and adding an extender between the RakAttach and the 1up is the best solution I can come up with since I don't have the ability to weld a hitch onto my swingout bumper.

 

1Up rack on my 2nd Gen with a GFC.

I can carry two bikes with 800mm bars and no window contact.

I just didn’t push the 1Up all the way into the receiver hitch. I have a few inches sticking out. Hasn’t moved once since I installed it, despite heavy off road use.

 

That’s pretty rad that it clears the GFC! Do you have the 2” hitch with the slot or the 1.25” to 2” quick? If you have the 2”, do you have your hitch lock in it?

 

2” with the slot. But the Tacoma receiver is too wide for the hitch lock to work, I just run it without.

 

Knowing this, it will be a tough call between a swing out system a 1up if my Yakima rack doesn’t play well with the GFC.

I appreciate all the info everyone is offering up on bike rack compatibility!

 

Is it pulled beyond the lock being able to get in the slot? Wondering if that was my issue as I was nervous to run it without a hitch lock of some sort. (Borrowed mine from the Kuat because I had the same issue with the width).

 

I also use a 1Up Rack with my GFC and the ability to move the rack fore and aft in the receiver while still having a significant amount of material in the hitch is why it’s the best solution for me. With 800mm bars I have about 2.5 inches between the end of bar and the GFC window and on rough roads never had it contact. Super happy I upgraded the rack from a Thule.

Still room to lock the rack to the hitch and less of a profile and increase in length that a swing out requires. Swing out is handy for sure but I’d rather not have the extra length and possible play.

 

I’ve thought about doing that but I don’t want to stress the spindle any more than I have too. Already have a 35” tire, hi lift jack, and 2 3 gallon rotopax cans of gas.

What kind of spindle does yours use? Maybe I’ll just have to do something to beef it up..

 

Double shear is your friend. Something like the Aluminess bumper design.

 

You win today.

 

Anyone carrying a canoe on the top of the GFC? Can you open the tent with the canoe still on top?