My FZJ80 Overland Build

NM-Frontier

Explorer
Rear ended!

So back in November I was at a light after dropping my dad off from a day out in the desert hunting and photographing some remote rock art, and wham! A lady in a mini van full of screaming kids hits me after we had been stopped for quite a bit. Bummer! Not a lot of damage and no one was hurt since we we'r already stopped! But she did bend the rear bumper/cross member on my cruiser and got a nice square hole in hers from my receiver.

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After the insurance was sorted out I used the money for a down payment on a new duel swing out bumper from Bump It Off Road. One swing out will hold the spare tire and the second will be for a bike rack. Mike was fun to work with on the custom swing out for the bikes. I think we came up with a killer way to haul two mountain bikes on the back of the cruiser with out giving up any ground clearance and just a bit of departure.

We should have it mounted up by the end of the week, stay tuned!:sombrero:
 
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armmim

New member
After the insurance was sorted out I used the money for a down payment on a new duel swing out bumper from Bumpit Off Road. One swing out will hold the spare tire and the second will be for a bike rack. Mike was fun to work with on the custom swing out for the bikes. I think we came up with a killer way to haul two mountain bikes on the back of the cruiser with out giving up any ground clearance and just a bit of departure.

We should have it mounted up by the end of the week, stay tuned!:sombrero:

That's a way to make lemonade out of lemons. Awesome!
 

Mauka2Makai

Explorer
Ouch... Glad no one was hurt. Looking forward to seeing the new rear bumper. I had a lady almost rear end me... I was stopped at a light and she was clearly holding her phone and texting. I noticed that she wasn't slowing down so I laid on the horn... she looked up and swerved towards the curb and rested up on it. She started yelling at me saying my break lights were out and I was telling her to lay off the texting while driving. Anyhow... Checked my lights and they worked. Kids and phones are no joke. HeHe.
 

NM-Frontier

Explorer
I'm sure that was going on with the lady that hit me, but I did't look back in time to see the phone out. On a good note though the bumper is on and the fit and quality are top notch. The new bumper slid over the bent cross member with out a hitch, I was worried that it would effect the fit of the Bump It Offroad bumper but all is well. Pics and details on the bumper coming soon!:sombrero:
 

Danimal

Adventurer
That's what I'm talking about! As an avid cyclist, I'm intrigued by the bike rack... I'd have never guessed that you'd orient them that way, but I dig.
 

NM-Frontier

Explorer
Bump It Offroad Dual swing out with custom bike rack.

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After getting rear ended I started looking at rear bumpers. I had planed to do this latter down the road but the situation pushed my hand a bit and I went for it. After some shopping around I settled on Bump It Offroad due to the fact Mike Smith, the owner and builder was open to the idea of building me a custom swing out to go along with the standard spare tire.http://www.bumpitoffroad.com/ Check out his other work.
Any one who has traveled with bikes knows that they are bulky and take up a lot of space on the back of the truck. I have always thought all the racks on the market were sub par for off road travel, not to mention they restrict access to the rear of the Cruiser. My idea to solve this would be to mount the bikes verticaly using Yakima roof rack trays to a sort of mast on the second swing out. This would keep the bikes clear of most trail damage you would encounter on a trail you would take bikes with you on, and get then clear out of the way at camp. Emails were exchanged and ideas passed back and forth, I drew up the design after mocking it up with the Yakima trays and a tire laying in the driveway. Once we settled on the final design it was time to sit back and wait for my turn in the build line.
When my turn came up in January we chatted some more and the steel was cut and formed in to what we see today on the back of the Cruiser. The best part to all of this is that Mike mentioned that he was coming down to Las Cruces in February for the annual Chile Challenge 4WD and rock crawling event and that if I could wait a few extra weeks he'd bring the bumper down and help put it on. So last week he made it down and we got the bumper bolted up in just a few minutes, it helps a lot when you have the man who built and designed it install it also! I must say that it turned out great! The Yakima trays fit as I hoped they would and it makes carring two bikes a breeze compared to other racks and set ups I'v tried. A big thank you to Mike for working with me on this, and for saving me the shipping and hand delivering the bumper, that's above and beyond in my book!:sombrero:

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Lots of mounting point to the frame.

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HD spindles were used on both swing outs. Struts keep the swing outs open even on a slope, nice option to have if you need to get in to the drawers on the trail.

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HiLift mount and CB antenna mount on the tire swing out.

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Mud flaps trimmed and fitted for an almost factory look.

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Plenty of room between the cranks and tire. A 315/75/16 could also fit with out hitting the bikes.

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MUCH more ground clearance then any hitch mounted rack. The second bike sits six inches higher.

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Side view with out the bikes, looks like a ladder but would stick up past the roof with out the tent on top.

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NM-Frontier

Explorer
That's another part I like, the wings fallow the stock shape but are whole lot stronger. His slider steps do the same thing, from a distance they look like the running boards. I don't see a need for all the extra tubes that some of the other builders have on theirs for my truck and the type of travel and wheeling I do.
 

dcoy

Adventurer
Oooh! Very nice. Makes me want to put the left sided swing arm on my Kaymar rear bumper, to mount something, not sure what though. Our MTB Tandem pretty much has to live on the roof rack. Putting it on the back would be a little challenging.
 

NM-Frontier

Explorer
Thanks! Regular bikes are challenging enough I couldn't imagine a tandem! That mountain tandem sounds like fun!:sombrero:
 

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