LeadFoot
New Member
Hey all,
I didn't want to shell out a lot of $$ for a truck bike rack and I had a few custom requirements, so I designed and built my own. It is very simple. I used a pine 1x4 to span the rear tail gate and attached it to the truck with two replacement hex bolts that are slightly longer than the two in the two upper rear built-in tie downs. Then I took a piece of gray PVC pipe and sliced it up to make 4 3/4 round pieces that the handles fit into snuggly. I painted the board black to match the truck. Now I can install it in about 5 minutes and load the bikes and go. Best of all no removing the bed covers and I can still use the tail gate, bed and trailer hitch to pull my camper.
I replaced the seats with a simple block of wood and peg that fits the seat receptacles to keep the bikes much lower in the wind and it keeps the seats dry. I used some plastic strapping materials to tie down the bikes to the sail panels and to the rear external tie downs. I ran on strap thru a piece of PVC to keep the bikes apart from each other when I tighten the tie downs. All of this I made with scraps around my shop. If it makes you feel safer, you can tie down the hand grips to the rear mounting board.
Let me know if you have any questions.
I could not find a simple way to embed some pics. Strange that I can't upload from my PC or import or link from Google.
So here is a link to my google album:
I didn't want to shell out a lot of $$ for a truck bike rack and I had a few custom requirements, so I designed and built my own. It is very simple. I used a pine 1x4 to span the rear tail gate and attached it to the truck with two replacement hex bolts that are slightly longer than the two in the two upper rear built-in tie downs. Then I took a piece of gray PVC pipe and sliced it up to make 4 3/4 round pieces that the handles fit into snuggly. I painted the board black to match the truck. Now I can install it in about 5 minutes and load the bikes and go. Best of all no removing the bed covers and I can still use the tail gate, bed and trailer hitch to pull my camper.
I replaced the seats with a simple block of wood and peg that fits the seat receptacles to keep the bikes much lower in the wind and it keeps the seats dry. I used some plastic strapping materials to tie down the bikes to the sail panels and to the rear external tie downs. I ran on strap thru a piece of PVC to keep the bikes apart from each other when I tighten the tie downs. All of this I made with scraps around my shop. If it makes you feel safer, you can tie down the hand grips to the rear mounting board.
Let me know if you have any questions.
I could not find a simple way to embed some pics. Strange that I can't upload from my PC or import or link from Google.
So here is a link to my google album:
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