I am building a bike rack for my RR and need some steel as follows:

1 piece box section 50mmx50mmx5mm wall over 1.3 meters in length
2 pieces angle 50mmx50mmx5mm wall each piece at least 600mm long
6 pieces angle smaller than 50mmx50mm each piece at least 1000mm long

Design can be altered to a degree to suit what is available so if you've got something similar you want to get rid of give me a shout and obviously I can collect.

Im also after the contact details for a decent (cheap) steel stockholder up here in the NW to use if/when the above fails in whole or in part.  Geoff

I've got some 80 x 40 x 4mm box, plenty strong enough for a bike rack....

PM me if you want it... Pete
__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Are you copying an existing design ?

50x50x5 What are you trying to hang on the back???????????????? A Harley? That is some heavy duty steel, Geoff, A Land Rover Chassis isn't even that thick, from memory they are 1/8" or 3.2mm. Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!

I think the later Defenders might be even thinner I think...  Ed

That steel FYI is 7 KG per meter, by my reckoning your going to be as near as dam it on 50 KG by the time you've finished. Now bearing in mind that a ffrr has a trailer nose weight of 150 KG max, that will leave you a payload of 100 KG or 220 lbs. How heavy is the bike? Or are we talking push bikes, in which case just how many are you mounting on the back? Cos from where I'm looking you've either got a very light motorbike, or you've over engineered the push bike rack, unless your going for 10 of the blighters, which will make turning interesting due to the overhang  Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!

The 50mmx50mm is just so it slides into the armature on the Westfalia, it was another engineer who suggested 5mm wall - you engineers need to sing from the same sheet so we none engineers have a chance. The Farmers drop hitch is SOLID 50mmx50mm. I won't be able to lift 50kg so I might need to rethink, it'll be 4 bikes by the way one of which is electric, Geoff

As for the design question, its not copying anything just a main spar of the 50x50 plugged straight into the armature then some angle at each end to form effectively a double T with a piece of angle down each side for the tyres to sit on and then some uprights welded to the main central spar to tie the bikes to.

Does that make sense? Geoff

I bought 50 x 50 x 5 box Steel on eBay -just search and have it cut to your requirements, and they deliver. Ask them for the other pieces you require to be included. I made one myself. For four bikes, but I actually adapted at Yakima 4 bike rack to fit the Range. These are normally USA sold. I have two four bike racks and should really sell one -that's four bikes with flat crossbar hanged, not wheel strap mounted. Very strong! Westfalia pin type

Geoff, you can half that thickness and still have something that will hold an elephant, and still be easy to weld. If you are an experienced welder then you can go thinner, but I wouldn't recommend thinner than 1.5 mm and you would have to insert a tube for the locking pin to go through, otherwise you run the risk of elongating the hole.
Another idea would be to use the 50x50x5 (a foot long) just to go in to the receiver and put some 40x40x1.5 inside that to make your rack. 2 advantages to this are 40x40x1.5 is a lot lighter, and as such is a lot cheaper BUT check before you buy as there is a cut off point between thickness and cost, and the thinner walled tube starts to climb in price  Yesterday I couldn't spell Engineer... Today I are one!
Inventor of the 'Guide-o-Matic automatic wheel alignment tool'
Former long term L322 owner, Up/Down graded to a Classic Tractor!

I sat down and designed a 'plug and play tray' a few years ago but never got around to fabrication. I was only using 3.2mm wall thickness though.....

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Geoff, 5mm wall is strong enough to use as a lintel for holding up walls bud. Seriously, 3mm is plenty, or 1/8th in old money.

The MaxxRaxx I have is 1/8th and the main upright is very heavy indeed. That will take 4 bikes no problem and we're talking oldish (heavy) mountain bikes.

If you can find any old MaxxRaxx bits on the bay they come ready fabricated, or it you're set on doing it yourself I'd go with 2x2x1/8th to come out of the armature, then inch and a half x 1/8th to make a set of tracks for the bikes to stand their wheels in. Some kind of upright to strap the crossbars to and job done.

If you over engineer it then it will just be way too heavy to use. Bear in mind a lot of those platform style things are made of alli. I can stand the whole of my lardy 14 stone on one of those without issues.

Dom

I have a 4 bike MaxxRaxx that is surplus to requirements - it fits the farmers hitch not the swan neck

Let me know if you're interested


If you want to make one that fits the armature, be careful as I don't think it's quite square inside - both the farmers hitch & the LR bike rack have beveled off corners - so would need to be made of hefty material.


The trays are popular in the US - their system is very similar to that on the FFRR - except they use a 2" receiver - which is 52mm and so doesn't quite fit (don't ask how I know that )

I hear what all of you are saying regarding the tube wall, I'll use thinner

My idea in lots of ways is similar to Mark's design, just lose the railings (and the corner posts) lose the base and add a couple of uprights in the centre to tie the bikes to.

Bikes would be secured by tying at three points, the wheels where they touch the side rails (base rails on the design) and then they would also be tied to the uprights.

The BIG question is wether 50mm box will fit in the armature, certainly 50mm angle does I just checked  Geoff

Does it need to fit the armature ?

If you have a farmers hitch, can you not just bolt it to that instead of the tow ball ? Or is that not strong enough ?