A question for anyone who tows, or for the clever people amongst us!
A towbar sticks out the back of the car, and a towball is bolted on to it. On a Honda CRV the boot mounted spare wheel prevents the use of the towball mounted cycle carrier that I currently have.
I am thinking of the possibility of fitting a "spacer" between the towbar and towball so that the towball would be sticking further out and clear the spare wheel. I have seen spacers up to 1 inch on various websites.
However would it be possible to fit a longer one, not sure of exact length but maybe talking 6 inches or so? Would this cause problems on load weights, stress on bolts towball etc as it may in effect start acting as a "pivot" sticking so far out?
Just thinking out loud! Any thoughts?
|
|
You could buy bike rack that fits such as the ones on E bay for about 20ukp or as long as its only for your bike rack you can extend it as much as you like.
|
|
|
|
Witter make one that clears the spare wheel and there are others that fit on the wheel itself.Try "TOWSURE";you'll find them on the net.
|
|
|
How about taking the spare off, using the bike rack unmodified and carrying a can of sludge to squirt into the punctured tyre?
Hawkeye
-----------------------------
Stranger in a strange land
|
One way to do this, without any question of structural integrity, or of dynamic stability, is to mount another towball in a suitable location, purely for the cycle rack, while continuing to use the existing towball for attaching the trailer.
Number_Cruncher
|
|
Try the Pendle website. They do several offset types of cycle carrier. Then, when you know what you want, maybe take a look at ebay.
|
You need a different cycle carrier which is cranked to clear the spare wheel.
Extending the towball that much would be unsafe for towing because of the leverage forces.
|
Thanks for feedback guys. as I currently have a £300 Thule 4 bike carrier, I was wanting , if I buy this car, to avoid having to sell it and buy another carrier.
But I suspected that extending the towball may result in too much leverage which would be concerning, just like RT suggests although I am not sure if it would make a difference that I wasn't towing, just carrying? Does that mean different forces?
Had a look at the spare wheel on the car(CRV) but it seems to be mounted on to a bracket that sticks out proud from the door for the wheel to bolt into so not much space to be gained by removing the wheel.
Thanks again for input.
|
|
Once or twice, when walking between parked cars and looking carefully for oncoming traffic, I have barked my shin very painfully on towballs. I'm glad that Bobby G has decided not to extend the ball bracket.
|
|
Whilst being loaded onto a ferry,the towbar and ball protected the back of my car-can't say the same for the BMW that attacked it.
|
|
|
|
>>I wasn't towing, just carrying?
If you only use the extension for carrying bikes, and you will never connect a trailer, then you won't be in any danger of over-stressing the towbar. The danger is if someone else decides to couple a trailer up - do you have exclusive use of the vehicle?
Number_Cruncher
|
The danger is if someone else decides to couple a trailer up - do you have exclusive use of the vehicle?
And the danger, if it is not easily removed, judging by the scars on the roads and by speed humps is a possible risk of grounding it.
|
|
|
NC, I haven't yet purchased the vehicle but if and when I do, yes it would be the family car and I would have exclusive use of it. Would never use it for towing a caravan (or if I would I would take the extension off), but would maybe occasionally use it to pull a trailer 2 miles to the local dump with garden refuse etc.
Looking at various sites, the biggest "spacer" I can find is 50 mm which I don't think would be big enough to clear the spare wheel. Don't know if I could get one manufactured but will look into it in detail if and when I get a new car.
On a slightly separate note, the Thule carrier I have is great, it has separate channels for each bike, they are kept apart and don't rub together. Some of the other carriers look to be just two long prongs that you hang the bikes from and then pull them tight together which can't be very good for the bikes!
|
Looking at various sites the biggest "spacer" I can find is 50 mm which I don't think would be big enough to clear the spare wheel. Don't know if I could get one manufactured but will look into it in detail if and when I get a new car.
>>
>>
www.towsure.com/category/7193-Towball_Spacers
says
"Towball Spacers - Used for spacing the towball away from bumper, step or other obstruction. Longer bolts will be required.
Note that spacing of the towball may not be permissable on many EC approved towbars, and certainly no further than 25mm from the flanged mounting plate. For non-EC approved application, 2" is the maximum recommended spacing. Spacing should always be kept to a minimum and only applied where absolutely necessary to avoid placing extra leverage on the towbar's mountings."
This is probably why you can only find up to 50mm towball spacers off the shelf.
I suspect this advice refers to towing things rather than a bike rack.
www.pwsacc.co.uk/ may be able to help you or name a local company who can.
|
|
|
|
|
