Recent content by wquiles

FYI, for anyone following my thread on this build - I sold the 4Runner and have this hitch-mount accessory now for sale. Please PM if interested. Link: FS: DIY swing out bike & tire carrier - Plano TX This has been sold!

Outside of the car being off, everything off in the interior, radio, a/c, etc., none, no preventative steps. I guess you could simple disconnect the negative terminal in the battery for added piece of mind, but I have had muffler work done before at a professional muffler shop (many years ago...

I know you are not asking me, but since I also welded mine ... Yes, you are 100% correct - the alignment has to be close to perfect. If you made the two mounting holes (for each corner) slightly larger you have some wiggle room, but I decided since I could, I tack welded "in place", in the...

Finished adding the SS wire to hold the safety pin:

Thank you for your kind words, and I hope my project can help with ideas for yours :)

Short videos: 1 - opening the swing out arm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPnc8wEe8QU 2 - good clearance with the gate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBkFZHpZW6A 3 - opening and closing (yes, the moving arm is tilted up, which was on purpose to counter the bikes' weight)...

Photos of closed position: photo in the open position:

Completed weight came to between 52 and 53 pounds: The accessory mount can hold these of course: and in the future I plan on completing the mount for the spare tire, along with a way to bolt it in place:

I been wanting to make something like this: or this one: But I also wanted to make something stronger enough that could be used to carry a heavy spare tire as well, like this one: So I spent months looking at videos, photos of about 10 different options, including some DIY designs...

Wow, that turned up really nice :biggrin1:

Very nice! We liked this particular design since the unistrut gives you so many points to mount/attack stuff to the rack :)

Yup - there is a lot of design/engineering/development/prototypes that is "hidden" but is what makes those racks "pricey". My next welding project is a DIY version of hitch-mounted side swing arm, like these two: UltraSwing Hitch Carrier for 4th and 5th Gen 4Runner - RIGd Supply TRAIL SWING –...

After 3x days of curing indoors, I then proceeded to use butyl tape to seal the roof openings (same OEM style material Toyota uses), layer the rubber spacers, the steel spacer, and then I was ready to bolt the roof rack for good: We used a "door rubber seal" at the edge of the Lexan to...

Several roof racks are installed with all of the load/weight placed on spacers, then bolted to the roof, which is not the way the factory roof rack (nor Gobi) does to spread the load to a larger bearing surface. Here is the wide area used by the factory Toyota mounts: So I designed a two-part...

My best friend and I both have a 5th gen 4Runner (mine the Limited has a sunroof, his SR5 does not) and we wanted a roof rack to aid carrying stuff while camping. We feel the Gobi is the best rack out there, but pricey, and since I can weld, I figured we could do/built our own. I found this DIY...