Today has been a nice day bolting parts on to the van I can now get a real sense of how it’s going to look when finished.
Fitted 10.9 tensile bolts to the tow bar and bumper mounts and stainless bolts and nylocks fastening the bumper to the mounts. Mounted the spare wheel then spent far too much time lifting and lowering it whilst measuring. I’m trying to work out how I’m going to fit a tow ball and pin along with my bike rack mount without any of it fouling. I need the carrier to drop and make no contact unless it’s the tyre on the ball and at the same time I need to be able to get the trailer hitch on the tow ball when the tyre is vertical. If the tyre hits the ball I can open the engine hatch and still have reasonable access for basic checks and maintenance. Im aware tow bar extensions are available but I don’t want to come too far out the back because it’s just going to act as a plough if I’m climbing an incline. The bike rack bracket is going to need reshaping a bit to allow it to even fit but I need to check the arms for it I have before doing any surgery.
It will either be mounted on a plate on the spare wheel,mounted on the pop top or on the tailgate like the Devon moonraker I’ve not fully decided yet but the pop top is most likely.
It looks good, the overall idea makes a lot of sense. Do it right and you have a somewhat lumpy seat for poking round the engine without kneeling in the mud or on a wet road. (I still dont know how my timing wheel chose its time to fall off between torrential downpours at Keiths field, and on a suprisingly dry bit of road. So I did not get wet while I swapped back in a coil and distributor at the roadside) Does the spare wheel carrier have any preload springs on it, or rubber stops? As otherwise I can imagine you getting a solid set of thumping noises from the back going over bumps as the locking pins move in their holes. If you want to clear the towball, maybe make the cross member with a jig up for clearance in line with the towball .. or curved so the whole thing intentionally rests solidly on the towball .. and although you have gussets on one of your bends each side, the 90 degree welded corner above the bumper doesnt have any stiffening, with your locking pins acting as the fulcrum for levering on that corner. I can imagine that needing something, even if its only a small gusset following the curve of the top of the bumper.
The carrier has been modified Mike so it’s stronger and less movement in it than when bluebird customs sold them. They only put one plate on each side for the pivot bolt and it was only welded along one edge It’s had a few subtle mods over the original It did have rubber stops on the back but they were too small and useless I will be replacing them with top hat rubber stops that are used on hgvs and horse boxes etc The only movement in all of it is the bumper flexing (repro bumper) The top hat rubbers will put a stop to that and I’ll keep my eyes peeled for an original German bumper.
Stock bluebird customs Modified Even the spring pin holes have been reinforced and drilled to a tighter tolerance Where the tubing bends over the rear bumper has been reinforced with a brace to take and flex out of that area. Honestly the whole things far better now than when it left the shop. I’ve even removed the bolts and replaced them with the correct thread and pitch to take bay wheel nuts So the wheel sits properly and then there’s always a spare wheel nut available should I loose one. I’ve use stainless washers and nylon spacers on the pivot as before there was nothing. I’ve even changed the latches for stainless steel
A little support bar hinged fixed under the wheel nuts could give you a stable surface when wheel out as a seat or camping table or little work space when fiddling in the engine. Could also hold the number plate which would then sit neatly inside the wheel Regardless of how you decide to utilize / design I am loving the way this van is coming out - you could also put your bike on the front end and attached to your bull bars with the pedal sitting between the two lights so bike not obstructing windscreen - bar already there so easy enough to clamp a bike to it
