Fuso FM260 Rear Rack - tires and m-c

JRhetts

Adventurer
Several people have PM'd me asking for more detail on the rear rack we fab'd for our vehicle. Today I was inspecting the welds and running gear in anticipation of my departure in 2 weeks for a 3-month trip in the Yukon, and this gave me a chance to take some more detailed pics. I hope they provide the info that you have been asking for.


My goals for this rack were:
1. carry two mounted tires
2. raise and lower them safely and conveniently [they weigh almost 200# each, so manual power was not realistic]
3. carry my TW200 motorcycle safely
4. raise and lower the bike safely and conveniently
5. attach the bike securely but also have it quick and convenient to deploy and store it
6. 'overdesign' it so that there is minimal chance of failure or breakage

I began with a great v.1 tire carrier built by Darren Fink. But usage revealed some things I wanted to improve on:
1. add the motorcycle carrier
2. increase the length of the sliding arms so that on level ground there was a 12" overlap still inside the fixed arms [I had occasion to lower the tires on ground that sloped down away from the rear wheels — I discovered that I only had about 1/2"—1" of overlap and that the sliding arms could have disengaged from the fixed arms and caused serious damage to equipment and/or bystanders.]
3. strengthen the attachment of the fixed arms to the frame.

Rack.1.jpg

[ABOVE] is the overall unit. [see also http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/54223-fuso-4x4-rebuild?p=1054538#post1054538
post 135 and following for other pics and information].

It consists of two parallel uprights [1,2], fixed to the frame at the bottom [3,4] and tied together by a crossbar [5] at the top [i.e., where the winch is mounted - 6].

The winch is rated for 2000#. The total weight of the moving parts [rack+tires+m-c] is approx. 1000#, but with two pulleys the effective load on the cable is one third of that. So the winch and cable are not anywhere near maxed out. On the other hand, I'd certainly be screwed if the winch/cable/pulleys failed — in either the up or down position — so I carry a complete replacement winch/cable/pulleys which could be swapped in in a matter of minutes.

Rack.2.jpg

[ABOVE] The lower "L" of the fixed arms [red line] inserts and is bolted into a piece of square stock [color black - 7] which is welded to a piece of plate that is bolted to the frame. Two diagonal straps [8,9] also bolt to the frame to give 'anti-sway' support. [Thus removal of 8 bolts allows the whole rack to be removed from the vehicle, tho it is an awkward procedure that I would not relish doing in the field.]
When the rack is fully up, a pin [10] on each side takes the weight of the rack and the winch is slacked off so it is not stressed during travel. [The prospect of a winch cable failure or the like while underway or while my body was underneath the rear of the vehicle was not something I wanted to experience!!]


Rack.3.jpg

[ABOVE] is a view of the attachment point from the inside. Note that in this pic the rack is fully on the ground; the top of the sliding arm is positioned just below the pin hole [10]. This is the 'extra' travel I wanted to be safe on uneven terrain so the sliding arms could not come fully out at the bottom.

Rack.4.jpg

[ABOVE] A piece of sleeved stock [11] is inserted into each fixed upright from the bottom and a horizontal platform for the tires [12] is attached there to. To get the longer travel I wanted to accommodate uneven ground, we reattached the horizontal tire carrier with a vertical "C" bracket [13] that travels in the groove we cut in the face of the fixed tube.

Rack.5.jpg

[ABOVE] On the outside of the tire rack, we added vertical pieces [14] to keep the tires from 'just falling out when the rack is resting on the ground — this became important when we added the m-c carrier and did not want to have to wrestle the tires out of the way when driving the m-c onto the carrier.

Back in the first picture, you can see the thicker lower stock [15] we added to the original tire carrier to reinforce the attachment at the "C" bracket and to support the cantilevered m-c weight on its carrier.

Rack.6.jpg

[ABOVE] The m-c carrier inserts into the heavy stock arms and is pinned on both sides. The outside rectangles are sized for the TW200's tires, [16] front and [17] rear. The vertical bars [18 and 19] have nuts welded in the tops, so that a bolt can be inserted thru each footpeg and quickly tightened. These are unnecessary since the tires sit so deep in their respective rectangles, but the bolts make it rock-solid(!) and give me peace of mind when we are rocking' and rollin' up a dry streamed or down a powerline with no road.

Rack.7.jpg

[ABOVE] A more detailed look at the footpeg attachment points.

Rack.8.jpg

[ABOVE] This pic is from the side — shows where two 5-gal jerry cans [20] (one on each side) ride.



The final 'feature' of the rack is that it is the attachment point for the BBQ - a very important piece of the overall puzzle!

Rack.9.jpg

[ABOVE] First step is to:
put up the shield for the gas can [21]
plug in the gas line to the quickcoupler [22]
insert the BBQ support arm into the rack [23]

Rack.10.jpg

[ABOVE] Second step is to:
attach the BBQ [24]
open the upper locker door to reveal an overhead light [25]
open down the lower box door to establish the table [26]

Third step is to cook and enjoy an adult beverage.

While I am doing that, I hope you are getting ideas about solutions for yourself.

Happy Trails.
 
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Ford Prefect

Expedition Leader
WOW,

That was really excellent! Thank you very much for sharing in such great detail. I think I could just point someone to this thread now and tell them "I want that!:)" and I think I could get a very nice rear end for myself some day.

Thanks again, brilliant.

Regards,
Brian
 

mhiscox

Expedition Leader
I saw John's setup in person yesterday and it's hard to imagine how trick this setup is. Marvelous design and fabrication; it'd be hard to have created a slicker, easier to use setup.

In fact, everything about John's Fuso and his preparation for his Yukon trip was first rate. Looks like he's ready for a very successful expedition.
 

Ford Prefect

Expedition Leader
I'm unclear how it locks in the up position.


He has the tube that holds the weight of the rack running up the inside of the permanent stable tubes. Then he just puts a standard Hitch Pin through both tubes when in the up position, and that is how he hold the rack up without using the winch. See #10 in the second and third Photos.
 

JRhetts

Adventurer
He has the tube that holds the weight of the rack running up the inside of the permanent stable tubes. Then he just puts a standard Hitch Pin through both tubes when in the up position, and that is how he hold the rack up without using the winch. See #10 in the second and third Photos.

Yep!! You got it right. A pair of ordinary hitch pins [one thru each sliding arm] gives a secure hold and allows the winch & cable to be slacked off.
 

Ford Prefect

Expedition Leader
How do you feel the MC Cover does at protecting the bike, or is that just for keeping prying eyes off?

Thanks again for the great photos, really giving me some nice ideas.

Cheers,
 

JRhetts

Adventurer
How do you feel the MC Cover does at protecting the bike, or is that just for keeping prying eyes off?

Thanks again for the great photos, really giving me some nice ideas.

Cheers,

The sole reason for the cover is to protect from the roiling turbulence of mud that swarms up from the rear wheels. Not so worried about prying eyes; they cant do much to the bike, as it is securely locked in up there. Rather, I want the bike generally ready to ride when I decide to deploy it, rather than being covered with mud/dust and having to be cleaned off before doing some sort of recon when it's close to dark and I need to know if I really want to go down the next several km of road.

So far, I have driven for several hundred miles in rain [tho not mud yet] and the protection is great and the cover flaps almost not at all. Will know more by Fall.
 

toymaster

Explorer
I have a question if you don't mind. I notice that a lot of rigs like yours and unimogs carry two spares. Is there a reason other than it just being kosher?
 

JRhetts

Adventurer
I have a question if you don't mind. I notice that a lot of rigs like yours and unimogs carry two spares. Is there a reason other than it just being kosher?

I have no idea [in this context] what "just being kosher" means.

The general reason I carry two spares is because spare tires are just one of a number of 'extra/replacement' parts I have chosen to carry with me to cope with possible/expectable problems without which I estimate that I could be really inconvenienced or rendered immobile. I am personally comforted by the notion that I can maintain some moderate degree of self-sufficiency even when things break/fail. [Other spares are engine belts, replacement winch for rear rack, internal pumps, specific relays and fuses for the engine electronics, etc. I have a carefully-determined and moderately-extensive list of these type of spares onboard.] To some degree this may represent the difference in 'mentality' between a weekend "adventurer" and a protracted "overlander". I am NOT implying any difference in merit, just trying to note a difference in purpose, time frame, and risk exposure.

In my estimation, the longer one is 'out', the higher the probability that a whole bunch of failures becomes 'when', not 'if'. So I am trying to estimate the 'whens' and their consequences, I estimate that tire failures are an easy probability compared to many other eventualities, and I have decided to carry two.

Specifically, with two spares if I loose one tire and am not anywhere near a tire shop — which is a major goal of owning and driving this vehicle — I do not have to interrupt the whole flow of my journey to repair/replace the one spare I would otherwise be carrying. This in fact happened to us when driving to Panama in our Jeep, and it allowed us to stay rural/remote for almost 10 days rather than having to pop out into the more populous environment to get a repair. In another scenario, if we unknowingly got a rock stuck between rear tires we could damage two tires simultaneously, making things quite problematic if we only had one spare.
 
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toymaster

Explorer
Sorry, region use of kosher...means it is just the thing to do. The rock stuck in between the rear duels is valid. It happened to me this past summer. One reason why I have rickson super singles setup on the way. I agree with going prepared I just have a hard time drawing the line. I understand any one of a thousand things can stop forward progess and you can't carry a spare everything. I think perhaps your best asset is the bike on back.
 

JRhetts

Adventurer
I realized somewhat belatedly that I never got back to this thread with results on the bike cover. In the Yukon, for 3 months, I had occasion to drive for days at a time with mud roiling up and coating the bike cover. If I do say so myself, it worked brilliantly. Repeatedly, the bike when uncovered was almost spotless — making immediate seating and driving off ready at hand. The wind turbulence of even freeway speeds never made the material of the cover flap very much, and absolutely no damage was incurred by roughly 10,000 mi of driving.

The material was about the thickness of what an old [1970s] rain parka was made out of, and I see absolutely NO need to use something stiffer like 'ballistic' nylon cloth. I'll bet my cover will last 50,000 miles minimum — and likely be eaten by UV attack more than wind damage.
 

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