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Rear Door Mounting - Channels


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I’ve been toying with this idea since I bought my TC. Has anyone looked into mounting channels onto the rear doors? (I have the 50/50 doors) My thought is you could hard mount channels similar to roof racks and be able to put accessories on the rear doors (such as a bike rack vertical) and still have everything swing out of the way when you open the door...

 

This would necessitate some hole-drilling, and some thought on mounting to the curved surface, especially for doors with windows. I wish I had a practice door to mock it up on!

 

i think the door hinges could support some extra weight, they look pretty beefy.

 

if you have any ideas or suggestions I’m all ears! (Eyes in this case I guess).

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45 minutes ago, tp_connectic said:

I’ve been toying with this idea since I bought my TC. Has anyone looked into mounting channels onto the rear doors? (I have the 50/50 doors) My thought is you could hard mount channels similar to roof racks and be able to put accessories on the rear doors (such as a bike rack vertical) and still have everything swing out of the way when you open the door...

 

This would necessitate some hole-drilling, and some thought on mounting to the curved surface, especially for doors with windows. I wish I had a practice door to mock it up on!

 

i think the door hinges could support some extra weight, they look pretty beefy.

 

if you have any ideas or suggestions I’m all ears! (Eyes in this case I guess).

I researched this idea to install a bike rack on a friends NV200. There are a few good examples out there mainly on larger full size vans. The best I have seen so far use 80/20 aluminum track then it is easy to slide in nut or bolt plates for adjustable mounting. The track is mounted to the doors using several rivet nuts to spread out the load. The door hinges are heavy duty enough but you'd still be mounting to sheet metal therefore the more attachment points the better. Here are a couple google pics of a homemade bike rack on a ProMaster.

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1 hour ago, desert_connect said:

I researched this idea to install a bike rack on a friends NV200. There are a few good examples out there mainly on larger full size vans. The best I have seen so far use 80/20 aluminum track then it is easy to slide in nut or bolt plates for adjustable mounting. The track is mounted to the doors using several rivet nuts to spread out the load. The door hinges are heavy duty enough but you'd still be mounting to sheet metal therefore the more attachment points the better. Here are a couple google pics of a homemade bike rack on a ProMaster.

 

100% concur on all points desert_connect. My concern is the sheet metal, I have not got a desire to use rivets or riv nuts because I assume with road and wind vibs the metal will fatigue and loosen or crack.

 

My thought would be to drill a few back-side access holes in the areas where the aluminum "bubbles" to access the skin panels, then fabricate an interior doubler to help with load management... and yes, as many fasteners as you can get in, which would not be many.

 

I studied the bike mounts on vans I found in europe when were were there a few months back, seems easy but it was all on larger vans with (1) flat doors, no curvature in mount area and (2) usually no windows, or at least much more non-window real-estate.

 

Any ideas on exterior fixturing, especially toward the top of the door that would allow for an even "flat mount" interface to the curved surface? Probably the best bet would be a shape-cut heavy duty rubber bumper you could put in compression, but I have never attempted something like that. I think post-mounts will be too much for the alum skin and a full blown mating metal interface will cost way too much $$$ and be too much mass.

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Think about closet systems engineered to mount to hollow walls.  There are vertical pieces which attach to the wall with many fasteners.  This distributes the total weight of the shelving system and whatever goes on the shelf.  Hundreds of pounds could be placed on a shelving system fastened to hollow walls.  

 

I'm thinking that on any van door, you could install 3 pieces of unistrut vertically, with perhaps 3 attachments to the door.  Rivet nuts seem like a good idea.  Except that it puts all the weight against the outer door skin.  Or you could drill 3/8" holes all the way through the door, and anchor with a combination of bolt, washer,, lock washer, nut.  Then you could mount your accessory rails horizontally on the 3 vertical pieces of unistrut. 

 

Somebody with a welder might have other ideas.  

 

My concern would be the weight, road vibrations, and what that would do to the way the door hangs on the hinges.  With enough use, and enough weight, you could end up with crooked doors that won't close.  

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