gary, that looks *great*...  the only thing i would consider doing
different is welding a piece of longer tube to the latch tube, and
match it with a piece of tube welded to the bumper bracket...and put a
neoprene pad between the back of the carrier and the hatch, just in
case of rear-ending damage.

great job.

bill

On Monday, August 19, 2002, at 11:41 AM, Gary Lee wrote:

> As some of you may know, I have been working on a swing away tire
> carrier
> for our vanagons.
> Take a look at some pictures at my web site
> http://www.telusplanet.net/public/gary2a/rack/swingtire/swingtire.htm
>
> It looks simple enough, but actually it's a difficult thing to make.
> For those of you into tools, I used just about every major piece in my
> shop:
> milling machine, lathe, tig welder, plasma cutter, oxy acetylene torch,
> carbide dry saw, tubing notcher, tubing bender etc.
>
> Comments and suggestions welcome.
>
> Thanks
> Gary Lee
> http://www.telusplanet.net/public/gary2a/rack/vanagonrack.htm
>