Bike rack

[Vinofly]

I just tried to buy the Aluminess bike rack swing are for my 2013 E350 and they discontinued the product. Anyone have the swing arm they want to sell or trade for my swing arm without the upper square tubes?

[rltilley]

Originally Posted by Vinofly

I just tried to buy the Aluminess bike rack swing are for my 2013 E350 and they discontinued the product. Anyone have the swing arm they want to sell or trade for my swing arm without the upper square tubes?

Really? That’s surprising since they custom make them when you order. Wonder if that means they won’t be making bumpers for the E series anymore?

I got a bike rack swingarm for my 2013 E350 from Aluminess in Jan 2021.

[Steve Hunt]

Originally Posted by Vinofly

I just tried to buy the Aluminess bike rack swing are for my 2013 E350 and they discontinued the product. Anyone have the swing arm they want to sell or trade for my swing arm without the upper square tubes?

Originally Posted by rltilley

Really? That’s surprising since they custom make them when you order. Wonder if that means they won’t be making bumpers for the E series anymore?

I got a bike rack swingarm for my 2013 E350 from Aluminess in Jan 2021.

I meet the owner of Aluminess at Overland Expo East and they had a customers Red Econoline with fully kitted front and rear bumpers on display. We discussed locking the two rear swing arms. Can’t remember his exact words but something to the effect that he personally wasn’t involved in design anymore and had plenty of engineer types on the payroll. All our conversation was on the Econoline and he seemed fully committed to it to me. I suppose the decision could be elsewhere if it’s true. Seems hard to believe based solely on my conversation with him that day. Everything changes eventually though.

[Vinofly]

Yeah, everything changes and they may be moving on to sprinter vans, newer models. I had an email chain going with Aluminess and they continued to say that they aren’t doing custom work and building the swing arms for the E350s. After a few more emails the guy said he would sell me a whole new bumper with tire swing arm and box/bike rack swing arm…but they had to make it and it would be a few months. So in the end they won’t make just a swing arm but they will take around $4K for the whole combo. Frustrating. I will be designing and building my own to bolt on.

[Steve Hunt]

Originally Posted by Vinofly

Yeah, everything changes and they may be moving on to sprinter vans, newer models. I had an email chain going with Aluminess and they continued to say that they aren’t doing custom work and building the swing arms for the E350s. After a few more emails the guy said he would sell me a whole new bumper with tire swing arm and box/bike rack swing arm…but they had to make it and it would be a few months. So in the end they won’t make just a swing arm but they will take around $4K for the whole combo. Frustrating. I will be designing and building my own to bolt on.

I hear you, I’m that frustrated trying to get people to do the interior for me. They all say they build “custom” interiors…oh but not for Econolines.

Indigo Montoya….”you keep using that word, I don’t think it means what you think it means”

[Charliesmom]

I’ve continued to look for a solution for adding a bike rack to our Transit with a rear Aluminess bumper and swing arms for the spare tire and deluxe box. Aluminess doesn’t plan to make a 1UP box swing arm brace for the Transit and only offers a hinge mounted option that would necessitate losing my swing arm and deluxe box. With exception of a custom welder that would place brace bars over the top of the box to support a 1UP rack or a hitch-braced rack on top of the box, I tried swing-away hitches that would swing my bike rack (Thule T2) out of the way of the box on the passenger side (or the spare on the driver’s side), but the box attachment to the rear bumper was too low to allow to allow the box to pass over the swing away. Some of the vertically attached hitch mounts seemed like potential solutions to my issue. In April, I sent photos with measurements to North Shore Racks in Vancouver, BC. They responded that their racks could work but their NSR-2 racks were back ordered and in production. They became available this week. I installed the rack today using an 8” hitch extension. It fit great and allows our two mountain bikes to fit nicely between the spare and the box. Now I can open the rear doors without having to take off the bikes and rack. I’ll report back after our trip to Wyoming and Montana next week.

[marret]

Originally Posted by Charliesmom

I’ve continued to look for a solution for adding a bike rack to our Transit with a rear Aluminess bumper and swing arms for the spare tire and deluxe box. Aluminess doesn’t plan to make a 1UP box swing arm brace for the Transit and only offers a hinge mounted option that would necessitate losing my swing arm and deluxe box. With exception of a custom welder that would place brace bars over the top of the box to support a 1UP rack or a hitch-braced rack on top of the box, I tried swing-away hitches that would swing my bike rack (Thule T2) out of the way of the box on the passenger side (or the spare on the driver’s side), but the box attachment to the rear bumper was too low to allow to allow the box to pass over the swing away. Some of the vertically attached hitch mounts seemed like potential solutions to my issue. In April, I sent photos with measurements to North Shore Racks in Vancouver, BC. They responded that their racks could work but their NSR-2 racks were back ordered and in production. They became available this week. I installed the rack today using an 8” hitch extension. It fit great and allows our two mountain bikes to fit nicely between the spare and the box. Now I can open the rear doors without having to take off the bikes and rack. I’ll report back after our trip to Wyoming and Montana next week.

Nice, thanks for posting.

[jrobe]

Looks good. The only downsides to that are the added length to the van for parking spots and the increase exposure to dirt and water from rear spray of the van. It is probably the best solution though.

Here is one tip on your Aluminess bumper and swing arms. After 3-4 years our swing arms became harder and harder to swing. There are 2 standard wheel bearing cartridges inside those black round hinge cylinders on the swing arms that rotate around a steel post on the bumper. I finally popped off the black caps and could see that those bearings had rusted out from water exposure. With much difficulty I lifted off our boxes and replaced those bearings. I could see that the bearings weren't even greased well. I then sealed the top edge of the caps so no water could get in from the tops anymore. This should help some but water can still spray up from the bottom. Unfortunately, the hinges are not a sealed design so I suspect this will happen again eventually. I would buy them again though as our rear storage boxes are one of the best features of our van.

[BUFFALO]

Is raising and lowering the bikes a 1 person job?

[Charliesmom]

Yes, it’s a one person job. You lift the bike using the seat post with your left hand and place your right hand low down on the fork of the front wheel. The top of the fork fits nicely in the yoke on the top of the rack. The bikes are loaded from left to right and removed opposite to the way they are loaded. It’s not as easy as loading our Thule rack, but much more convenient than putting the bikes on top of the box, which would be a two person job. The bikes do stick out in back, but like everything in these rigs, there are trade offs. (

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOFeJBphPpA

).

@jrobe, Thanks for your comments. As you know, all bikes transported on the rear of a van do accumulate dirt and spray depending on road conditions and destination. We purchased a cover for the bikes when we are going to be traveling long distances (Team Obsidian: Bike Covers from Amazon). I’ll post a picture when it is on. We’ll see how well it keeps the “schmutz” off the bikes, since the cover was designed to be used with the bikes standing upright, not vertical.