And so it begins...

[Code Monkey]

Oh! Now I understand! That's a great idea. Hopefully yours isn't as complicated as that Rampage.

YEah, remove pin from slot a insert in slot 3, rinse and repeat a few times.

I am sure they were being anal about safety because they were selling the thing and don't want to get sued, but I am just going to use the brute force of a winch (with rope, not cable) to pull the platform up into the garage. It should work fine. A dirt bike weighs half what a Harley weighs - or less. When I had a flat on my Ducati the tow truck driver used something very similar to that in the video.

Except he had no guiding ramp. It was just a wheeled carriage you cinch the front tire into and pull it up onto the sloped bed with the winch. Then once it was up onto the bed you just lower the bed back down flat. Then when we unloaded he just let out the winch cable. I am just going to let gravity work for me instead of a hydraulic ram.

I may tweak the idea a bit to make sure the bike can't tip over, but I don't think I need to get too fancy. I just need to get it secured to a simple platform then get that platform up into the 'garage'. I probably could roll the bike in but I have come off the trail barely able to stand much less push a bike up a ramp by myself. Riding off-road is hard work, especially for a 55+ year old code monkey who doesn't get enough exercise.

 

[That One Guy]

"It really is just that easy" Best sentence from the whole video. Yeah, I know what you mean. This 17 year old is beat after a day of death gripping his two stroke all through Juniper.

 

[Code Monkey]

Here is another way to imagine what I imagine doing: below is a pic of the camper I am thinking of using - the Alaskan 10' popup camper.

Now, imagine instead of the rear seat/doors of that crew cab, there is a box with a door on the side of it large enough for a motorcycle to be rolled in.

 

[Code Monkey]

This is very close to what I want to do:

http://www.hackneys.com/mitsu/

I don't see how they put the bikes in the box, but they go in the box.

 

[chasespeed]

I dont think you have a starvation problem.... sounds like your governor(sorry if I missed that, if it was mentioned)....

Stock governor wont allow you to fuel much about 22-2400 under load....

If you want more than that... you need a different set of governor springs...

Chase

 

[beags86]

This is very close to what I want to do:

http://www.hackneys.com/mitsu/

I don't see how they put the bikes in the box, but they go in the box.

there is a ramp laying to the left of the bike in the first pic. i would guess the guy just pushs it up and into the box.

got a pic of the whole rig?

 

[bftank]

beags are you in parachute colorado?

code monkey, i like the idea! you might check fuel psi as a good starting point, these dodges seem to like better lift pumps. if it does need a lift pump. check out glacier diesels mechanical pump. most likely it is a governor problem though. fortunately the governor springs are cheap. since it was a commercial truck it is probably governed to 2400 rpm. you can get a 3200 or 4000 rpm spring as i recollect.

why are you using the alaskan instead of a lighter pop top? you might consider getting the poptop first to see where it needs to sit for your bike garage. and keep the garage and camper as low as possible for center of gravity purposes. for getting the bike up i would do an atv winch mounted in the garage with a remote control so you can steady the bike as it is winched up the ramp. simple and light weight.

 

[Code Monkey]

I dont think you have a starvation problem.... sounds like your governor(sorry if I missed that, if it was mentioned)....

Stock governor wont allow you to fuel much about 22-2400 under load....

If you want more than that... you need a different set of governor springs...

Chase

I've driven a stock '94 Cummins and it didn't act like mine does.

 

[Code Monkey]

code monkey, i like the idea! you might check fuel psi as a good starting point, these dodges seem to like better lift pumps. if it does need a lift pump. check out glacier diesels mechanical pump. most likely it is a governor problem though. fortunately the governor springs are cheap. since it was a commercial truck it is probably governed to 2400 rpm. you can get a 3200 or 4000 rpm spring as i recollect.

IIRC, the gov. works on RPM. If that is true and I had a problem with it, then I would not be able to reach 3K at all and I can in 2nd gear. I can in third gear if I am on a flat and slowly accelerate, but if I stomp on it I can.

why are you using the alaskan instead of a lighter pop top? you might consider getting the poptop first to see where it needs to sit for your bike garage. and keep the garage and camper as low as possible for center of gravity purposes. for getting the bike up i would do an atv winch mounted in the garage with a remote control so you can steady the bike as it is winched up the ramp. simple and light weight.

For security and warmth I want a hard sided popup. Much of the time I will be away from base camp out riding my bike. Also, I will be taking the rig up in the mountains to snow parks and such to ride snow bikes. I plan on getting a snowbike conversion next year (I would have this year but I could not find a truck I liked until the season was half over).

As for the winch, that is pretty much what I am going to do, but there have been times when I have just been so beat I have been plain unable to steady the bike up a ramp without help after riding. Since I will be loading the bike by myself much of the time I think using a platform to steady the bike would be better.

 

[Code Monkey]

there is a ramp laying to the left of the bike in the first pic. i would guess the guy just pushs it up and into the box.

got a pic of the whole rig?

Yeah, I saw the ramp, but there is also a significant lip there and not much room to maneuver the bikes. I suppose that is how they do it, but I bet it isn't much fun to load them.

More pics at their website http://www.hackneys.com/mitsu/

 

[Code Monkey]

This looks ideal, except for the price ($7K):

http://www.roboticloader.com/Motorcycle_Loader.php

 

[Scott39]

Here is the same idea you have for carrying your motorcycle behind the cab. This is in a Semi.

 

[Code Monkey]

Here is the same idea you have for carrying your motorcycle behind the cab. This is in a Semi.

Yup - more or less.

Without the bike the 'garage' could be used as a 'sleeper' if properly designed.

I was looking at the Hackneys setup and noticed they had access to various systems inside their 'garage'; wiring systems and it looked like batteries, possibly aux. batteries, under the floor. That is something to consider in the design; put some of the 'mechanical' and electrical system stuff off of the 'garage'. Things you wouldn't necessarily need to access all the time, but maybe would like to access in out of the weather.

With the 'robotic' tray loader I linked to above, since the size is 4'x8', you could maybe fit up to three dirt bikes in it, certainly two. That loader only unloads one way and it weighs almost 1K pounds, so that is a major weight addition.

 

[Code Monkey]

Maybe the 'garage' would not weigh as much as I thought it would (by itself anyway). These:

http://www.truckcraft.com/productDetail.asp?id=10&cID=

weigh about 250 pounds from what I can decipher. Something about twice that big would maybe weight twice as much?

If I can get the weight of the loader down then maybe I can keep the weight of a configured 'garage' under 1K#

 

[That One Guy]

Under a thousand sounds doable.