I asked a question on here a couple of weeks ago about fitting a bike rack to the back of my T5 – it already has a towbar fitted

I ended up buying a Halfords Advance 2 rack, which folds down out of the way of the tailgate – except it doesn’t and needed a spacer – I found this thing on ebay – a large welded steel spacer sold as for Motocross racks so pretty sturdy – and with this fitted, the tailgate just clears the rack – so it works – but is it legal?

It sticks out a long way – ok with the rack on but without it theres a big steel girder with a towball on the end jutting out from behind the van!

Legal is a grey area the only thing that really matters is does your insurance accept it. If it’s not approved/tested it’s unlikely to be accepted.

No mention of testing /approval on either eBay or Amazon. Just bold *do not tow*

What @trail_rat said. Even if it’s legal if your insurance Co can find a reason not to pay they will.

My friend was once run into. He had a tow bar on his mondeo estate and you couldn’t tell it was involved in an accident but the car that hit him was almost destroyed. Imagine what it would have done if it had been an extra 10 inches proud?

I’d say if you need that then you’ve bought the wrong rack.

Make sure towball has a brightly coloured cover on it so it makes it easier to see – bit like the ladder racks with a high-viz vest tied to end to draw attention so you don’t drive in to them.

No idea if that is legal or not, but I’d think it was ok but probably needs something to make it very visible.

Would a drop-plate make things work better? Drops the height by 10-20mm (I think)…

Make sure towball has a brightly coloured cover on it so it makes it easier to see – bit like the ladder racks with a high-viz vest tied to end to draw attention so you don’t drive in to them.

Screw other drivers…. Just think how many times you’ll rattle your shins off that when loading.

As Damascus says this could be dodgy if someone hits you. I had a low slung sporty Merc hit my tow bar last year, he hadn’t noticed that I had stopped at a pedestrian crossing to let some folk cross! Never actually touched my car’s body work, but the damage to his from hitting the tow bar and then reversing off of it was massive, you would have thought that he had seriously rear ended somebody. Add an extra 6 inches to my tow bar and it would have gone thru his radiator and anything else in the way.

Can you not just take it off when you take the rack off?

Edit

Sorry phone was being slow and the picture didn’t appear until after I’d replied. I can see it’s a bolt on now.

Have you looked to see if any official companies make one (Thule, etc) and find out what they say about them.

I remember at uni (so probably drunk) running between two parked cars late one night to catch up with a mate.
One of the cars had something like this.
My shin still has the dent in it…!

DrP

Jumping from another thread – Its got a union flag on it so it must be ok

More realistically unless it has some form of documentation or labelling to say how much you have to drop the permitted nose weight you can put on the ball joint by, I wouldn’t go near it. It might work for a 2 bike rack but it would be pushing it for a 3 or 4 bike rack as by pushing the rack out you are multiplying the effective load.

Whether it is legal full stop is debatable. Talk to your insurer.

It will be fine for a bike rack, however it will increase the leverage on the tow bar mounts so reduce the number of bikes to suit noseweight. Theres no type approval required for bike racks.

Don’t tow a trailer with it. The tow bar will have been tested and type approved without that extra leverage. Will probably be fine….. but what if?

If your van has rear parking sensors I think you will be forever smacking that solid bit of metal into other things as the sensors will not be calibrated for it. Without sensors, I think you will also be hitting things occasionally. Are you going to be honest when you do this and leave your details as it could cause expensive damage?

It feels like you are trying to fix an issue that you have created albeit unintentionally and need to think how to solve your initial issue, i.e. change the rack or where you put the bikes.

It doesn’t stick out further than some on the ones I’ve seen on the back of pickup trucks. Just make sure it has a bright cover on it as people are stupid and won’t see it. If you’ve got lots of bikes on the back and lots of stuff in the back of the van just tilt your headlights downwards just to be on the safe side and not dazzle oncoming traffic.

And obviously don’t forget it’s there when you’re reversing or you’ll look very silly. Lol

Take your bikes off the rack to open the tailgate. Or use the side door when you have bikes on.

That thing will be a bloody nuisance for the other 99% of the time.

or where you put the bikes

inside then van ?

😉

Problem I’ve got is the kitchen in the T5 is a pull out job so I wanted an arrangement where I could tilt the bikes out the way but still make a brew 😁

I suppose if needs be I’d be better just lifting the bikes off in that circumstance! I might remove it and go back to how it was!

I was rear-ended by a van while stopped at a set of lights. I had a rack with bikes on fitted to my towball at the time. Folk that don’t look can’t see.

FWIW I didn’t know such a thing existed and it has piqued my interest, so thanks to the OP

Edit: comes in both 120mm and 170mm lengths. I think the shorter one would do me.

Take it off when not in use, but leave the spacer and the towball attached to the rack. So to refit, you just need to fit two bolts, probably no more work then clamping the rack onto the ball.

Oh, spacer blocks available too.

Up to 50mm, like this

I have a similar but subtly different problem in that I have barn doors so the tilt is not far enough. I found that it was easier to just loosen the attachment to the ball to give a bit more wiggle room, and that gave me the leeway I needed. I’d be tempted to try that first rather than having a permanent extension.

Jumping from another thread – Its got a union flag on it so it must be ok

It’ll probably the “new” imperial standard too.

You’re going to smash your shins off that many many times…