Bongo Fury

David Edwards wrote:Good stuff on the air bag jack Ron, shame they are so rare I would not be without mine and have helped so many people with it all have asked where I got it from lol, just wondering if you any sort of engineering firm near you, be an easy task for them to knock up a couple of brackets for the ladder with padlock rings on, be easy to remove too I should think, you never know you might even start a trend and make a few quid flogging em, lol. Remember tho always use the plastic mats with the air bag.

Hi David. Yes, will go the local engineering firm route if nobody's got a prior ready made solution. There are several good ones locally, and if I go that way, I'll take soundings here to see if I can sell a few more for them in the process - probably wouldn't want to handle direct sales if they would supply direct but could do if needed.

Assume your bag jack is a Draper? Seemed to be the only one marketed here. There are others available from the States but I just grabbed the Draper I found, and didn't look into the American ones in any depth.

Mike - sorry I pinched that last one, earlier yesterday. Let me know if you need to borrow it any time. I would guess that product liability/health and safety issues, with carbon monoxide storage/discharge among other things, have forced Draper to drop them. Probably some bright spark has seen a way to try to get some compensation cash - "deflating your air bag jack killed my very valuable pooch/knocked off my prize parrot", or whatever.

Yea mine is draper, used it on my previouis motors, spacecruisers and espace too.

Mike - sorry I pinched that last one, earlier yesterday. Let me know if you need to borrow it any time. I would guess that product liability/health and safety issues, with carbon monoxide storage/discharge among other things, have forced Draper to drop them. Probably some bright spark has seen a way to try to get some compensation cash - "deflating your air bag jack killed my very valuable pooch/knocked off my prize parrot", or whatever.

Thats exactly what I was thinking! Overall, I'm fine without one as I get by OK with the vehicle jack and axle stands (which I'd want in place before I got underneath a Bongo in any case). But it would be nice to know I could buy one if I wanted to. If necessity is the mother of invention, legislation is the executioner of it

David Edwards wrote:.............just wondering if you any sort of engineering firm near you, be an easy task for them to knock up a couple of brackets for the ladder with padlock rings on, be easy to remove too I should think..........

This works well David.

One of these: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... IBSA:UK:11

Two of these: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... IBSA:UK:11

Upper u-bolt threads cut back for clearance, and lower lock nuts added at the thread ends to aid in spare wheel location when mounted:





Plus one of these: http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165637

Wing nuts substituted for nyloc nuts on the mounting bolts, spring washers added, and lock cable run though two wheel stud location holes, to pass around a ladder upright and the uppermost step. Wheel and securing plates had been smartened up with a little black Hammerite:





Two small sections of pipe insulation foam tubing, and some insulation tape, pushed on over reversed wing nuts, give on-site protection when the spare wheel has been removed:



All works a treat. Spare is tightly braced against the forward sloped ladder, and is completely rigidly secured, with additional bracing and suspension back up from a tightly wound lock cable. Rides extremely well, and I'll just need to be careful not to transversely over-stress the ladder - i.e., no Formula One cornering May also decide to reinforce/replace the ladder's upper hinge pins.

The spring washers keep the wing nuts tight and securely in place, yet the whole operation of mounting/securing or unlocking/removing the spare wheel takes less than two minutes in either case. Tailgate security is improved in our rear conversion as, unless the wheel is removed, one person can't now simultaneously lift the tailgate and access the interior. Cost peanuts. Altogether, very pleased with it

Very neat indeed Ron

You're a bit of a blinger on the quiet I can tell

mikeonb4c wrote:You're a bit of a blinger on the quiet I can tell

Is that good or bad Mike?

Ron Miel wrote:

mikeonb4c wrote:You're a bit of a blinger on the quiet I can tell

Is that good or bad Mike?

I think it is simply 'whatever'

Fair play looks really good.

Mike, at 71 I think I had better get a 21C argot primer. Bling I recognise but wasn't sure how being a blinger stacked up. As for whatever, it seems to rank nearly as high as cool in the lexicon of our sons. Perhaps this autumn I'll sign up for rapping for wrinklies, and get them really confused - well, more confused than I am anyway

David - I promise to own up if it falls off