Rear tilting tow bar mounted storage box + tailgate access

[AlanC]

Ours was a godsend in the summer.

But was a pain until I got the hang of pulling it back up and then tightening the crank.
Initially I thought the crank would just be strong enough to wind up the loaded box once it was fully down.

Do be aware that the lighting cable can drop down and rub on the ground while driving. I cable tied mine up to the frame once I spotted it happening. Being clever and hooking it over the plug home thingy didn't work.

You will need to be aware of the extra width though. The extensions look a bit vulnerable.

Alan

 

[estresao]

Thanls for the advise, I'll tie it as well.

So far the width was not a problem because with the 1900mm extensions I can see a little of the extremes in the mirrors, so I can do estimations when parking.

 

[estresao]

After more than a year I've used.my MFT Box many times and I found it pretty handy for when traveling for long and need to carry mode stuff.

What I've found pretty annying is the fact you can no open the tail gate without take the box apart.

The Cali Beach multi"flex" is everything but flex, and you cannot access to the trunk from inside, so when mounted the box every single time you have to take apart the box.

The problem here is when the box got much weight, or when it's raining or dark and just need a bloody thing which always happend to be in the trunk. And yes, if you need two things you will forget one and you will need to take apart the freaking box twice (at least).

If I had to buy it now knowing that I wouldn't do for a Cali Beach. Aside of that it's great.

(I have to make my multi"flex" foldable or the box more easy to open the tail gate)

 

[AlanC]

I found that if you undo the wind-up clamp on the tow ball under the frame, the whole frame and box will tilt down and touch the ground. Then the tailgate will clear the box.

It takes a bit of a pull up to get the box back up level when full, so that the clamp can be tightened again from underneath the box.

The Thule Euro 6 bike rack doesn't clear the tailgate, even though they advertise that it does. The tilt retaining wires have to either be extended by a couple of cms, or re-positioned.

I suspect there is no perfect solution, as the T5/6 tailgate is so big and the market is not big enough. These products are made for the largest market which is cars and these don't need the clearance we van owners do.

Alan

 

[estresao]

You are righg, but is not easy to do when the box is heavy, od when dark or wet because the rain.

Release it it's easy as it fall down, but re-attach it, grabing the box with one hand to lift it and triying to clamp it again with the other is not as easy as you could imagine. Mainly if you want to attach it "reasonably" horizontal.

 

[cleve]

Selling our Beach so the MFT Box and base will be surplus to requirements if anyone is interested? Collect from Suffolk, make me an offer!

 

[AmyGo]

Selling our Beach so the MFT Box and base will be surplus to requirements if anyone is interested? Collect from Suffolk, make me an offer!

Hi cleve, Am very interested in the MFT box and base if you still have them available??

 

[soulstyledevon]

You are righg, but is not easy to do when the box is heavy, od when dark or wet because the rain.

Release it it's easy as it fall down, but re-attach it, grabing the box with one hand to lift it and triying to clamp it again with the other is not as easy as you could imagine. Mainly if you want to attach it "reasonably" horizontal.

This was one of reasons I got rid of the Volkswagen bike rack. It was to restrictive when needing to access the boot with the bikes attached.
Much better to have dedicated storage in the boot that's easily accessible. If your looking into adding one of these boxes, your taking to much equipment.

 

[Steven Dodds]

Re: Rear tilting tow bar mounted storage box + tailgate acce

The mft euro select box has been tried & tested this weekend & I love it so much I've already forgotten how much it cost!

It is still a bit stiff but we can lower it to the floor easily, just have to release the lever to get it back into position but hoping it will become less stiff over time.

Tailgate easily accessible. We lowered it to floor, opened Tailgate then tipped it back into the semi tilt position so we could access everything when on campsites. It can be locked into the ball hitch & integrated lights works well. It literally clicks into the base in seconds, so easy.

We had wellies, coats, shoes, games, halogen oven, pushchair & all sorts stored in there. It's a bit of an odd shape inside with a contoured floor so not great for storing boxes but worked well as storage for odds & ends to just throw everything in. It was great to let the kids rummage for bats & balls without them having to go in the Tailgate every time.

Here's a short video:

Re: Rear tilting tow bar mounted storage box + tailgate acce

The mft euro select box has been tried & tested this weekend & I love it so much I've already forgotten how much it cost!

It is still a bit stiff but we can lower it to the floor easily, just have to release the lever to get it back into position but hoping it will become less stiff over time.

Tailgate easily accessible. We lowered it to floor, opened Tailgate then tipped it back into the semi tilt position so we could access everything when on campsites. It can be locked into the ball hitch & integrated lights works well. It literally clicks into the base in seconds, so easy.

We had wellies, coats, shoes, games, halogen oven, pushchair & all sorts stored in there. It's a bit of an odd shape inside with a contoured floor so not great for storing boxes but worked well as storage for odds & ends to just throw everything in. It was great to let the kids rummage for bats & balls without them having to go in the Tailgate every time.

Here's a short video:

 

[Vwcaliforniajapan]

Would it be possible to mount the box on a altera strata dl3 ? And do you think that would give enough when slides out, to open the trunk ?
How about the reverse camera, can you stil use it with the box in place ?

 

[AlanC]

The Back Carrier for my MFT BackBox broke while we were away in Scandinavia this year so I mounted the BackBox on the VW bike rack. This got us out of a problem and allowed us to continue our trip.

So, yes it should be possible to mount it on a tow bar rack. I used webbing straps to secure it, but if time, you may well be able to fabricate a decent clamp of some sort. Theft needs to be considered too.

Alan

 

[Vwcaliforniajapan]

Sounds good, would it be possible for you to post photos from under the box, to get an idea how it looks ?
It would be interesting to hear why/how it broke ?

I also contacted Thule about their cargo box and got this answer :

What we offer on the European market is the Thule Velospace XT bike carrier which you can also add the Thule Backspace XT cargo carrier on. That one is tiltable and the 3 bike version can tilt both 50 and 70 degrees. From what I have heard from my German colleagues the 70 degree tilt should be sufficient for a T5.
There is also the Option of Thule EasyBase and its cargo carriers. That one is however not tiltable but you can fold the arm a little for shallow hatches.

 

[AlanC]

I used two straps to go through the locking bracket on the underside of the BackBox and round the one of the bike wheel runners and added another strap round the whole BackBox and the bike rack. Later I added two more straps round the whole box as a 'belt and braces'.

As the van's number plate and lights were no longer obscured, I didn't need to connect up the lighting on the BackBox. The cable did not reach the vehicle socket from this height so I couldn't use these them anyway.

The only down side was that I couldn't lift the tailgate wirh this rig mounted, so had to remove it completely for access to the boot.

Far from elegant but enabled us to complete our trip to Rømø and return to home safely.

The part that broke was one of the sprung locking pins which lock the box onto the carrier. This is connected to a release handle and the threaded part of the pin sheared. The pin could no longer be pulled back to release the BackBox.

Alan

 

[Vwcaliforniajapan]

There it go!!! Already at home and just mounted and ready to travel to Spain.

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So to open the tailgate, it’s not enough to tilt it ?
On the last photo the box are touching the ground ?

 

[Mike Currie]

This is my solution to fixing a cargo box to a tilting tow-bar mounted cycle rack. I had to fabricate some new fixing brackets but it was relatively straight forward.

 

[Vwcaliforniajapan]

Great, what’s the name of the rack ?

 

[Mike Currie]

The rack is a Eufab Premium 2 plus. It is supplied under various names but they are all the same. I bought the cheapest. If you search for in the forum for Tilt or Swing Bikeracks you'll find all the information. Think my post was near the end of the thread.

 

[Vwcaliforniajapan]

Also if you have any photos of the brackets you used please.

 

[Mike Currie]

I don't have any pics but the Thule 900 is supplied with 4 X threaded U bolts. I used these to fix the box to the rack. The Thule fixing holes are too high so you will need to drill 4 holes in the back of the box for 2 of the U bolts and make a metal plate to connect these holes to the original fixing holes. The metal plate is bolted to to the original fixing holes. The other 2 X U bolts are used to fix the bottom to the rack using the original fixing holes. I used 2mm thick galvanised sheet metal. I also added a support in the middle of the rack to support the box and also as a fixing point for a reversing camera.
It's all fairly straightforward if you have some basic metalworking skills and tools and it's pretty obvious where everything should go when you place the box onto the rack.

 

[Vwcaliforniajapan]

I don't have any pics but the Thule 900 is supplied with 4 X threaded U bolts. I used these to fix the box to the rack. The Thule fixing holes are too high so you will need to drill 4 holes in the back of the box for 2 of the U bolts and make a metal plate to connect these holes to the original fixing holes. The metal plate is bolted to to the original fixing holes. The other 2 X U bolts are used to fix the bottom to the rack using the original fixing holes. I used 2mm thick galvanised sheet metal. I also added a support in the middle of the rack to support the box and also as a fixing point for a reversing camera.
It's all fairly straightforward if you have some basic metalworking skills and tools and it's pretty obvious where everything should go when you place the box onto the rack.

Mike I’m still trying to find the best solution because I also need the rack on the car for two bikes.......do you think your box is too tall to have a rack on the car ?

 

[Mike Currie]

Mike I’m still trying to find the best solution because I also need the rack on the car for two bikes.......do you think your box is too tall to have a rack on the car ?

I'm just traveling back from Monza and have parked up for the night. I'll be back home Thursday 12th and will get measure the height before I remove the box.

 

[Mike Currie]

The heighest part of the box is 80.7cm above the centre of the top of the bumper and the clearance between the box and the tailgate is 31.5cm.
Also, I had the box loaded to its weight capacity so the van was quite tail happy, but I'm pleased with the results having covered over 3000 miles in the last fortnight.

 

[Vwcaliforniajapan]

Thank you very much . What kind of reversing camera do you have ?

 

[Mike Currie]

Thank you very much . What kind of reversing camera do you have ?

It's a wireless camera mounted on the cycle carrier and triggered by the feed to the reversing lights. It's made by AutoVox and works well.

 

[Vwcaliforniajapan]

It's a wireless camera mounted on the cycle carrier and triggered by the feed to the reversing lights. It's made by AutoVox and works well.

Nice, and connect to your phone as the monitor ?