Date:         Wed, 19 Feb 97 16:34:06 -0500
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Martin Jagersand <jag@cs.rochester.edu>
Subject:      Re: Front trailer hitch (for bike rack)

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I have Dennis 2" receiver hitch in the rear. I thought about
installing a second receiver in front. The style made for mounting
under a truck bumper seems suitable. They have a metal plate with 
four bolt holes on top of the receiver tube. 

However to install it one would have to either bridge or cut
away the lip just below the bumper (on my '82, don't know
how newer vans look). A bit too much work for me.

For a front bike rack I have bought a bumper mount style, made
to be installed on 4" square bumpers (like on RV's). I have
yet to adapt it to slip over the bus bumper (just a teensy bit
wider than 4"). The way the mount on a 4" square bumper is with
a square "exhaust clamp thingie". I will make some kind of
bracket and reverse the "clamp" so I dont need to drill big
holes top-bottom in the bumper.

A friend installed the same type of rack a bit more "brutally" on
his '73. He skipped the clamps, and welded the two vertical
tubes to the front of the bumper.

/Martin (and 82 Westy)
 
-- 
Martin Jagersand                 email: jag@cs.rochester.edu
Computer Science Department             jag@cs.chalmers.se
University of Rochester          Fax:   (716) 461-2018
Rochester, NY 14627-0226         WWW: http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/jag/