Christarp
Member
Well I was trying to think of a nice and easy way to mount some rotopax to my evo carrier, and while I love the method Eddie chose I have a third brake light, reverse lights, license plate lights, and a license plate holder there and taking it all off just to mount some rotopax is simply out of the question and it wouldn't be an easy method.
So I was thinking about possible solutions and I wanted something that fit this criteria:
1. Cannot interfere with license plate area
2. Cannot block tail lights
3. Easy to take off and store when not using
4. Relatively easy to put on as well.
5. I also didn't want it to stick out too far back either
So here's what I came up with using some scrap steel I had.
Here's the initial plate I used, the dimples on the sides I was going to open up enough to get a socket in but then I realized that they would have to be huge to use like that, and you don't need them.
So then there's a few pieces of simple steel tube that I cut into 3/4" pieces and put on there. Originally I was going to weld these on but I'm not nearly good enough to do that yet and kept burning through the tubes because it's only 1/16" wall and the plate is 3/16" thick. I decided against it eventually because of three reasons: 1. I suck at welding, 2. a hook on the end of a strap is usually wider than the standoffs, but not the strap and 3. You can take it apart and easily get to the bolts without cutting up the sides like I mentioned earlier
So here's the whole thing put together, I was grinding down the bolt heads but then I realized I didn't need to because they fit perfectly between the lugs in my tire anyway :thumb:
Now you just feed a strap through and wrap it around the spare tire
Then you end up with this:
Now, I just want to note that this was just used with scrap and there are various ways to improve this. For one, it's a little wobbly, part of that is because I didn't use a ratchet strap (because I didn't have one readily accessible), and also because the plate is so small.
If I were to do this again (and I most likely will) I'd get a plate that is about 10-11" wide and slightly longer, maybe 16" long, and then I would sort of form it to the tire in an arc. This gives you a much bigger surface area for the strap to hold on to and will not let it wiggle around as much. Another improvement I'll be making is using 2 straps and not going in between the standoffs, in fact you shouldn't even really need them with a bigger plate as I'll be putting the straps on either side of the tire nearer to the sidewall. This should also help reduce motion.
The main purpose of this was to see how it would all look with a strap setup, and with the above changes it should be a lot more stable. I'll probably get around to working on that tomorrow or this weekend and report back again. I personally wouldn't recommend the setup I used in the pictures as it's simply not stable enough, I just wanted to share and maybe get the creative juices flowing here for some even better solutions :clap2:
So I was thinking about possible solutions and I wanted something that fit this criteria:
1. Cannot interfere with license plate area
2. Cannot block tail lights
3. Easy to take off and store when not using
4. Relatively easy to put on as well.
5. I also didn't want it to stick out too far back either
So here's what I came up with using some scrap steel I had.
Here's the initial plate I used, the dimples on the sides I was going to open up enough to get a socket in but then I realized that they would have to be huge to use like that, and you don't need them.
So then there's a few pieces of simple steel tube that I cut into 3/4" pieces and put on there. Originally I was going to weld these on but I'm not nearly good enough to do that yet and kept burning through the tubes because it's only 1/16" wall and the plate is 3/16" thick. I decided against it eventually because of three reasons: 1. I suck at welding, 2. a hook on the end of a strap is usually wider than the standoffs, but not the strap and 3. You can take it apart and easily get to the bolts without cutting up the sides like I mentioned earlier
So here's the whole thing put together, I was grinding down the bolt heads but then I realized I didn't need to because they fit perfectly between the lugs in my tire anyway :thumb:
Now you just feed a strap through and wrap it around the spare tire
Then you end up with this:
Now, I just want to note that this was just used with scrap and there are various ways to improve this. For one, it's a little wobbly, part of that is because I didn't use a ratchet strap (because I didn't have one readily accessible), and also because the plate is so small.
If I were to do this again (and I most likely will) I'd get a plate that is about 10-11" wide and slightly longer, maybe 16" long, and then I would sort of form it to the tire in an arc. This gives you a much bigger surface area for the strap to hold on to and will not let it wiggle around as much. Another improvement I'll be making is using 2 straps and not going in between the standoffs, in fact you shouldn't even really need them with a bigger plate as I'll be putting the straps on either side of the tire nearer to the sidewall. This should also help reduce motion.
The main purpose of this was to see how it would all look with a strap setup, and with the above changes it should be a lot more stable. I'll probably get around to working on that tomorrow or this weekend and report back again. I personally wouldn't recommend the setup I used in the pictures as it's simply not stable enough, I just wanted to share and maybe get the creative juices flowing here for some even better solutions :clap2:
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