single bike rack for the front of a van

[wagoneer]

Saw a guy on Mission st. with a homegrown live in van and he screwed rusty ladder hooks on his hood to hold a bike, yes it works. but. Not a lot of commercial options as I use the back door quite often the front is a prime candidate roof is too high. Using an old school mnt. bike. not too heavy.

 

[Van-Tramp]

I picked up a roof-top rack off Craig's List for cheap and a couple peices of angle-iron bolted to the frame below the front bumper (used existing bolts that hold bumper in place) and came up with this (below). Another option is to pickup a trunk-rack and simply install it on your hood (most will work). Then it is easily removable and has the appearance that it belongs.

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The "ideal way" to do this is to go spend the extra cash and get a trailer hitch installed under your front end, facing forward. Then you can use regular hitch-mounted bike racks there. I have seen people hauling small motorcycles up front using this method.

 

[wagoneer]

I like YOUR idea best. In the stepvan I had a Barton bumper front and back the front was a major welding project not to be repeated in my current state of strength. Thanks for the pic and posting.

 

[caseyc]

I agree with adding a front tow hitch to the van. That way you have a "real" option for doing things. I went to a conversion van shop to install a front tow hitch to my van, and it's been working out great. I don't recommend you do it yourself unless you reaaaaaally know what you're doing.

 

[Gaunt Dusk]

I'd never thought of putting the trunk rack on the hood, that's pretty clever, I'm gonna have to try to find a way to do that. Thanks. Although I wonder how sturdy the ladder hooks are for the van. I wonder if you can arrange a setup to be able to put a tarp over the bike and tie it securely on the rack. I suppose it depends how the ladder hooks are put on there.
However, that's really clever and I'm glad you guys showed that, I have been looking for options of holding my bike onto a conversion van.
I just can't believe the standard rack will fit on the front, that's so ludicrously simple I'd have never thought of it.

 

[Pikachu711]

When I was growing up we had a neighbor who installed two hitches on the front & back of his pickup. After he returned from camping in the summer months he would unhitch the travel trailer from the read hitch and they hitch up the trailer to the one on the front of his pickup truck. He'd then drive his travel trailer to it's storage space in the yard with ease. I thought that was quite ingenius!

 

[Kevin H]

I like the front trailer hitch receiver idea too. One thought on carrying a bike on the front. It will get really dirty. If you move around in the warmer months it will get covered with bugs.

Is there some way you could put it on the back of your van? If there is a spare tire back there, perhaps you could put it on the front. Hopefully, you will access the bike a lot more than the tire so it being buggy won't be an issue.

We carry our bikes on the back and use a motorcycle cover to cover them. They stay nice and clean.

 

[Gaunt Dusk]

If there is a spare tire back there, perhaps you could put it on the front.

Actually, they make bike racks that fit over spare tires.
http://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Rac...=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1385922742&sr=1-2 Here's one example of many. They're called Spare Tire Mount Bike racks.

 

[frankieC55]

I installed a front receiver on my 85 Ram Van. Mine is a little ghetto and required a little "refinement", but it works good now. I picked up a $20 Harbor Freight Step bumper receiver hitch that you bolt to the bumper hitch of a pickup truck with no receiver. I initially drilled holes in the bottom of my front bumper and bolted it to the lower flange of the bumper with 4 random bolts that I had laying around. I tried it out with a pretty heavy 2" hitch mounted bike rack, and the big rack had way too much leverage on the receiver and bumper flange. It flexed too much and I just left it in place, out of use. Later I used it to push a fairly nose heavy pop up camper into place at a campground. The heavy tongue(probably close to 300 pounds) bent the lower bumper flange (via the receiver and drawbar) significantly.

So I ran a trailer safety chain through the license plate hole around the top of the front bumper(between the grille and the top of the bumper) and secured it with a heavy a removable link. Then I wrapped the other end of the chain as tightly as I could around the drawbar. I then ran a somewhat long and heavy bolt through 2 links that were wrapped around the drawbar. As I tightened the bolt down, it pulled the chain taught around the drawbar, greatly improving its lateral strength. When I pull the drawbar and ball out of the receiver, the chain forms a perfect 2" loop that supports whatever hitch accessory I may mount on the front hitch. I don't know if I would trust it on the highway with a rack without some ratchet straps to help support the rack and some fresh heavy bolts to hold the receiver up.

I have used it numerous times to move boats around a crowded yard and my narrow, curved, and slightly inclined driveway. It held up to hitting a hard frozen and muddy snow bank too. I don't think I would move a heavier trailer with it, or use it to launch a boat. I do usually hook a safety chain to the frame in case something gives way, but for my use, I doubt that will happen.