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Front bumper hitch receiver?


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Has anyone installed this on their vehicle?  I used the subframe at the bottom (below the radiator) and it was flimsy (I could see the top part buckle as I tightened the bolts).  I ended up distributing the load with a strut (the bolts go through the struts) but it still feels flimsy.  It's only meant to hold a bike when I'm shuttling.  Do you guys have better recommendations?  Thanks!

front bumper.jpg

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the way i mounted my bush bumper was a piece of square tubing going under the support from the tie down brackets. that way its a full unbolt if i need it gone. each piece is about 4 inches long on each tie down, but those are also tapped with 2 bolt holes each with 5/8th grade 8 bolts and then that has another piece of square tubing going across. reason for this is to not block the radiator drain plug. then in the center i did a simple 2 inch or what ever the standard size is of square tubing for a hitch is, drilled a hitch pin hole and then thats my front mount. with having that full length of square tubing it misses the radiator and makes it easily removable from the front end if you ever wanted it fully off. i welded these together so if you dont have a welder then i would skip half of what i said and just tap holes for a long piece of square tubing going from tie down to tie down. it will just be a bit harder to unbolt. 

 

EDIT: never installed one of these on a car before i prefer the roof mount or rear mount but i use mine for a future winch basket that ill probably fab up at some point. or also good for recovery point. these are on the sub frame rails so not sure about bending them or not but other wise so far so good for me.

Edited by Strato_54
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....the subframe at the bottom (below the radiator) and it was flimsy (I could see the top part buckle as I tightened the bolts)....

That area is likely meant to collapse in an accident - it is not a crossframe member like it would be in a body on frame truck. The best indicator of this I can recall is when [mention=40912]KiwiTerrano[/mention] (I think) crushed his just by trying to bridle using his two front recovery points. A real front receiver will require some kind of bumper bracket - I was trying to get@hawairish to incorporate one into his - though I think that project has been set aside.

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Thanks for the response guys.  I wasn't planning on putting a lot of load, less than 100 lbs of vertical load most likely (although if you look at it from a leverage standpoint, it is a bit more and requires a sturdier mount point).  

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20 hours ago, Strato_54 said:

the way i mounted my bush bumper was a piece of square tubing going under the support from the tie down brackets. that way its a full unbolt if i need it gone. each piece is about 4 inches long on each tie down, but those are also tapped with 2 bolt holes each with 5/8th grade 8 bolts and then that has another piece of square tubing going across. reason for this is to not block the radiator drain plug. then in the center i did a simple 2 inch or what ever the standard size is of square tubing for a hitch is, drilled a hitch pin hole and then thats my front mount. with having that full length of square tubing it misses the radiator and makes it easily removable from the front end if you ever wanted it fully off. i welded these together so if you dont have a welder then i would skip half of what i said and just tap holes for a long piece of square tubing going from tie down to tie down. it will just be a bit harder to unbolt. 

 

EDIT: never installed one of these on a car before i prefer the roof mount or rear mount but i use mine for a future winch basket that ill probably fab up at some point. or also good for recovery point. these are on the sub frame rails so not sure about bending them or not but other wise so far so good for me.

You know, I just looked at this again and I'm very likely to follow your advice.  I may even end up welding (I don't have one but I may have access to it).  I also have the raw materials to make this work, although doing this drops the receiver height by two inches.  I'll post up when this is done. 

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32 minutes ago, R50JR said:

 


Why mount the rack on the front?

Just several reasons on my end.  One, I have a spare bike hitch.  Extending the current 2-bike hitch I have (to a 4-bike carrier) would cost a lot more than buying the receiver ($20 at HB).  I have roof-mounted bike racks too but I'm vertically challenged and hate having to use those for shuttle days.  
 

 

 

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I see. What rack are you using out back? I am running a kuat nv 2 and the add on option has tempted me but like you mentioned, the price tag is high.

3b21ad7d95490d07828a5ce74cd7c625.jpg


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Yo @microfiz!  Hope you've been well!

 

Strato_54's advice is the approach I'd take, too.  Basically make a receiver span directly underneath the radiator support and attach to the existing tie-down points.  Take a look at "wrangler front mount hitch receivers" and you see how most of them have tall ears for mounting and a cross-tube at the bottom (something like this).  Some of them also have support brackets that would allow for mounting to the radiator support.  On our trucks, there are a few unused OE provisions for M10 hardware so a design like that would do well.  A design like that also wouldn't be too difficult to remove when not needed.

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7 minutes ago, R50JR said:


I see. What rack are you using out back? I am running a kuat nv 2 and the add on option has tempted me but like you mentioned, the price tag is high.

3b21ad7d95490d07828a5ce74cd7c625.jpg


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Fancy!  Mine's a lowly Hold-up... a $75 deal.  Still kicking myself for not picking up a nice 4-up from Thule at an REI garage sale.  $75 too.  Ugh.  

raise 3 (2).jpg

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15 minutes ago, hawairish said:

Yo @microfiz!  Hope you've been well!

 

Strato_54's advice is the approach I'd take, too.  Basically make a receiver span directly underneath the radiator support and attach to the existing tie-down points.  Take a look at "wrangler front mount hitch receivers" and you see how most of them have tall ears for mounting and a cross-tube at the bottom (something like this).  Some of them also have support brackets that would allow for mounting to the radiator support.  On our trucks, there are a few unused OE provisions for M10 hardware so a design like that would do well.  A design like that also wouldn't be too difficult to remove when not needed.

Hi Patrick!  All is good (aside from this COVID crap).  Your springs have been perfect on the truck... she's running really smooth.  My 14-yr old daughter says it'll be her first vehicle.  I think that's a wise choice.  ?

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1 hour ago, microfiz said:

You know, I just looked at this again and I'm very likely to follow your advice.  I may even end up welding (I don't have one but I may have access to it).  I also have the raw materials to make this work, although doing this drops the receiver height by two inches.  I'll post up when this is done. 

for a bike rack like this that 2 inches shouldn't matter unless youre going off road with it. if youre using it to go from home to trail head then it shouldn't be an issue what so ever. i probably wrote half of a little backwards but ig you get the point then thats good. tomorrow i can take some pictures and post them of what my mounts look like for reference. so far have not had any clearance issues but if you did then the unbolting of the brackets would definitely be helpful even if it takes a little bit of effort.

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3 hours ago, microfiz said:

Hi Patrick!  All is good (aside from this COVID crap).  Your springs have been perfect on the truck... she's running really smooth.  My 14-yr old daughter says it'll be her first vehicle.  I think that's a wise choice.  ?

 

Awesome, glad things are good up there and to hear the springs worked out!

 

So, after a little chatting with @R50JR, I think we may build a front mount hitch.  It just seems so simple, and I already have all the dimensions for those tie down and radiator support threaded holes from my bumper and skid plate projects.  Would just need to CAD the pieces, burn them on the plasma table, get some tube to go in between, and weld'r up.

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Well, I did your collective advice and used the tie-down hooks as my base.  Really surprised how beefy those things were considering.  Anyway, I did not weld (because I don't have one but was this close to going to HB to buy a flux welder).  I bought four 1/2 inch fine thread bolts (3.5 inches long).  I just used a stack of washers along with the bolt through the tie down base to secure the bar, and used the same bolts to secure the hitch (I could have used 1/2 inch shorter bolts but eh).  I installed my makeshift Yakima bike holder (probably weighs 40-50 lbs total),stood up on the end (I weigh 150 lbs) and tried to impart some downward motion and it did not flex.  I then test drove around with my 30 lb bike and the bike looked solidly held.  It's 11 inches to the lowest point (for reference, the diff pumpkin was 8.5 inches).  I say it's good.  

 

Thanks for all the help!

 

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18743859/

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18743858/

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18743857/

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18743856/

 

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Well, I did your collective advice and used the tie-down hooks as my base.  Really surprised how beefy those things were considering.  Anyway, I did not weld (because I don't have one but was this close to going to HB to buy a flux welder).  I bought four 1/2 inch fine thread bolts (3.5 inches long).  I just used a stack of washers along with the bolt through the tie down base to secure the bar, and used the same bolts to secure the hitch (I could have used 1/2 inch shorter bolts but eh).  I installed my makeshift Yakima bike holder (probably weighs 40-50 lbs total),stood up on the end (I weigh 150 lbs) and tried to impart some downward motion and it did not flex.  I then test drove around with my 30 lb bike and the bike looked solidly held.  It's 11 inches to the lowest point (for reference, the diff pumpkin was 8.5 inches).  I say it's good.  
 
Thanks for all the help!
 
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18743859/
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18743858/
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18743857/
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18743856/
 

That turned out great! I never thought I’d see a link to pinkbike on this forum. Had a peek at your pics on there. Are you still riding the dhr?


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2 hours ago, R50JR said:


That turned out great! I never thought I’d see a link to pinkbike on this forum. Had a peek at your pics on there. Are you still riding the dhr?


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I LOVE that bike... I will own it until I can't ride anymore.  So yes, it's still my park bike and occasional freeride bike, although I've scaled back on the aggression at my advanced age (52).  What do you ride?

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I LOVE that bike... I will own it until I can't ride anymore.  So yes, it's still my park bike and occasional freeride bike, although I've scaled back on the aggression at my advanced age (52).  What do you ride?

My big bikes are a specialized demo and a santa cruz v10. For trail riding I have a specialized enduro. I’m hoping they reopen mammoth this summer. Snow summit is cool but nothing like true alpine descents.


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2 hours ago, R50JR said:


My big bikes are a specialized demo and a santa cruz v10. For trail riding I have a specialized enduro. I’m hoping they reopen mammoth this summer. Snow summit is cool but nothing like true alpine descents.


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You, sir... have a bike problem (two DH bikes???).  LOL!

 

I have a buddy who has the same stable of DH bikes (actually an old V10 and the last V10 before the 29er era, and two Demos).  I dig both bikes for sure.  I hope Northstar opens over here... I do plan to do a couple of Snow Summit trips but I'll be on the enduro bike this time.  I'll hit you up if I do.  ?

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On 5/22/2020 at 5:11 AM, RainGoat said:

That area is likely meant to collapse in an accident - it is not a crossframe member like it would be in a body on frame truck. The best indicator of this I can recall is when [mention=40912]KiwiTerrano[/mention] (I think) crushed his just by trying to bridle using his two front recovery points. A real front receiver will require some kind of bumper bracket - I was trying to get@hawairish to incorporate one into his - though I think that project has been set aside.

It was me. However it was a big hard snatch, from halfway around a corner in deep ruts uphill with the car sitting on the diffs...

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On 5/23/2020 at 6:40 PM, microfiz said:

Well, I did your collective advice and used the tie-down hooks as my base.  Really surprised how beefy those things were considering.  Anyway, I did not weld (because I don't have one but was this close to going to HB to buy a flux welder).  I bought four 1/2 inch fine thread bolts (3.5 inches long).  I just used a stack of washers along with the bolt through the tie down base to secure the bar, and used the same bolts to secure the hitch (I could have used 1/2 inch shorter bolts but eh).  I installed my makeshift Yakima bike holder (probably weighs 40-50 lbs total),stood up on the end (I weigh 150 lbs) and tried to impart some downward motion and it did not flex.  I then test drove around with my 30 lb bike and the bike looked solidly held.  It's 11 inches to the lowest point (for reference, the diff pumpkin was 8.5 inches).  I say it's good.  

 

Thanks for all the help!

 

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18743859/

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18743858/

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18743857/

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18743856/

 

Looks really good and really clean glad you were able to make it work. the matte black makes anything look cool. not to make this a bike thread but what are you running?

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On 6/1/2020 at 4:39 PM, Strato_54 said:

Looks really good and really clean glad you were able to make it work. the matte black makes anything look cool. not to make this a bike thread but what are you running?

Bike wise?  Like R50Jr I have a bit of a bike problem, but on the cheap end:

 

DH Bike:  2011 Turner DHR (really my fave bike but I admittedly have not touched it in a while because of the carbon mistress, went overboard with the polishing on this one)

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/16787245/

Trail/Enduro:  2018 Cannondale Jekyll (bought new for $2.7K out the door, in a box, carbon everything.  First modern bike, does everything but not anything well)

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18190890/

DJ:  Sinister Angus (hand made by FTW, I don't use this bike a lot because I'm old)

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/16919543/

2007 Transition Bottlerocket (my old trail bike, handed down to my 13 yr old who doesn't ride it anyway)

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18100019/

2015 GT Zaskar (built new from frame up, for 13 yr old too since she was "supposed to race XC... that didn't happen)

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/17256523/

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Bike wise?  Like R50Jr I have a bit of a bike problem, but on the cheap end:
 
DH Bike:  2011 Turner DHR (really my fave bike but I admittedly have not touched it in a while because of the carbon mistress, went overboard with the polishing on this one)
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/16787245/
Trail/Enduro:  2018 Cannondale Jekyll (bought new for $2.7K out the door, in a box, carbon everything.  First modern bike, does everything but not anything well)
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18190890/
DJ:  Sinister Angus (hand made by FTW, I don't use this bike a lot because I'm old)
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/16919543/
2007 Transition Bottlerocket (my old trail bike, handed down to my 13 yr old who doesn't ride it anyway)
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18100019/
2015 GT Zaskar (built new from frame up, for 13 yr old too since she was "supposed to race XC... that didn't happen)
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/17256523/

I was just thinking how badly I want to run some laps at the bike park. Hoping the resorts open back up soon.


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4 hours ago, microfiz said:

Bike wise?  Like R50Jr I have a bit of a bike problem, but on the cheap end:

 

DH Bike:  2011 Turner DHR (really my fave bike but I admittedly have not touched it in a while because of the carbon mistress, went overboard with the polishing on this one)

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/16787245/

Trail/Enduro:  2018 Cannondale Jekyll (bought new for $2.7K out the door, in a box, carbon everything.  First modern bike, does everything but not anything well)

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18190890/

DJ:  Sinister Angus (hand made by FTW, I don't use this bike a lot because I'm old)

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/16919543/

2007 Transition Bottlerocket (my old trail bike, handed down to my 13 yr old who doesn't ride it anyway)

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18100019/

2015 GT Zaskar (built new from frame up, for 13 yr old too since she was "supposed to race XC... that didn't happen)

https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/17256523/

i want to get a Norco range A2 or just some sort of enduro bike. right now im a little short on my bike line up as all i have is a Norco Storm 9.2 2017 just for basic trail riding or going to the store. ive gotta save my pennies though and look through pinkbike or kijiji for something cheap but not built cheap.

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