Do you think a front cargo rack is too dangerous?

[Naio]

I've had a basket type one on my van for a while, but it has seen very, very little freeway speed driving. Mostly slow roads.

An engineer friend saw it yesterday and said he thought it was extremely dangerous, because at freeway speed it could potentially set up a wobble, twist itself off, and end up underneath the front of the van. And, as he pointed out, that would be much worse than a rear rack coming off and dragging.

Well, I found this image terrifying. But then I thought I should consult you all :-).

(My rack plus contents ways maybe a hundred pounds, but one of the problems he pointed out is that the weight is necessarily evenly distributed. It's not possible to consolidate it in the center. This was why he was concerned about wobble at speed.)

[NRALIFR]

I’d bet my load of **** weighs less than your load of **** though. 🙂

All of my **** has a place to be carried, and all of my **** carrying places are filled to 75-80%. I could actually squeeze in (out?) a little more **** if I wanted, but after years of carrying **** around the country, I’ve got my **** pared down to just the **** I need to not have a *****y time camping.

I see the load of **** other RV’ers carry in their **** carrying places, and I can guarantee that if you put all of my **** in a pile next to a pile of all of their ****, my pile would be the smaller, lighter (in weight, not color) pile of ****.

We also travel with three mini **** production units who’s job is to slowly turn about 5 lbs of perfectly good cat food a week into **** that we then disperse around wherever we are, like a trail of bread crumbs. So we’re constantly shedding **** everywhere we go, making my total load of **** progressively lighter. Theoretically, if this went on long enough we’d eventually just disappear.

So who’s carrying too much ****, BUDDY?

:):)

[JTLance]

People carry too much ****. 🙂

[BFL13]

I wouldn't worry about un-even weight on the front. Does that mean you can't drive without someone in the passenger seat?

You can secure the load somewhat, keeping it from rolling back and forth I assume.

You could put your spare tire up there instead, like lots of trucks do, which would be in the middle and not move, but not sure how that works with the radiator. Must work with all those trucks that do that.

With the spare up front, you have more weight allowance on the back for a cargo carrier if that is the plan.

We carried a heavy box on the back of the truck with the receiver, but added two more receivers on the back belly bar each side so the box used three receivers to keep it steady. (Box held a Honda 3000--you knew it was there!)

You can do the math for weight on the front using the guide for snow plows on a truck. Leverage makes it more than actual weight. Same on the back, do the math. Trucks (don't know about vans) have less margin to carry the extra weight up front than out the back (engine is already there), so you have to have a sharp pencil doing the math.

[Blackdiamond]

Naio wrote:
I've had a basket type one on my van for a while, but it has seen very, very little freeway speed driving. Mostly slow roads.

An engineer friend saw it yesterday and said he thought it was extremely dangerous, because at freeway speed it could potentially set up a wobble, twist itself off, and end up underneath the front of the van. And, as he pointed out, that would be much worse than a rear rack coming off and dragging.

Well, I found this image terrifying. But then I thought I should consult you all :-).

(My rack plus contents ways maybe a hundred pounds, but one of the problems he pointed out is that the weight is necessarily evenly distributed. It's not possible to consolidate it in the center. This was why he was concerned about wobble at speed.)

Just an engineer overthinking things and being overly cautious. My buddy has one on his class C to transport his firewood, another guy I know has one with his dirt bike on it. 250+ lbs

[landyacht318]

I would not disregard the reports of the engine running hotter with an obstruction in front of the radiator. You will lose some cooling capacity. Will it be enough to put your engine in danger of overheating?

No one here can offer anything but a guess as no one knows what van or how much of the radiator is occluded by the potential front storage box, the particular aerodynamics, and the state of health of your existing cooling system.

So if you find the temperature needle reading higher, whats the plan?

It's a distinct possibility. A bigger thicker radiator. A heavier duty fan clutch. Potential extra electric fans. Thicker engine oil. All of these might be enough. Or might not.
Overheating is not just stop and let it cool or simply slow down. It can crack or warp the heads, blow head gaskets, crack the block.

Dont assume or wishhope the only issue is stability of the front storage box. A hd truck might very well be able to handle the partially blocked airflow. A van never intended for a raised roof or loaded to the gills is likely lacking in cooling capacity to begin with.

I'd say at the minimum to get some powerful electric pusher fans mounted in front or puller fans mounted behind radiator , that kick on at 200f especially summer driving out west.

the transmission cooler in the radiator and airflow.over the potential additional cOoler need to be considered too. A transmission running 20f hotter will not be happy.

The storage box out front might be a solution for storage issues, but help to destroy the drivetrain.

I would personally find a different storage solution, and i have additional temp sensors on the vitals, and additional coolers and know the health of my cooling system.

[Naio]

I sure am appreciating you folks and the additional info you bring :-).

[pianotuna]

Naio,

Does the vehicle have "tow hooks" at the front? If so, a ratchet strap to the sides of the rack would keep it from flopping from side to side.

Mine had dual receivers. Make sure there is enough clearance for air for cooling the engine.

I did just one 600 mile trip with the front rack/cage. It was in June and the engine ran hotter than without the rack.

My overhang without the rack on the rear is 11.5 feet. The spring folks didn't like that one little bit.

The way to decide whether it is ok on the rear is to calculate the wheel base to length ratio. 55% or higher is ideal. 50% is on the edge and you will be doing a lot more "driving". Below 50% is, so I'm told, NOT a good idea. A 26 foot RV is 55% with 176 inch wheel base.

My RV is 28'5" and works out to 53%. My previous unit was 26 feet. Tail swing is WAY more on my current Rv, and I had four tail swing "encounters".

I've finally learned how to avoid such issues.

[NRALIFR]

Naio wrote:
I think a cargo trailer would be overkill for the hundred pounds of stuff I have on the rack 🙂

Totally agree. If you can safely carry your gear on a front rack, that’s exactly where you need the weight on your rig. My camper can unload the front axle a bit at times, so putting a few hundred pounds back is a good thing. The roof is NOT a good place to carry anything that weighs more than an empty water jug.

The two corner markers on my box are actually Bores bumper guides made for commercial trucks. They light up when the truck lights are on. I need them to remind me the box is out there because I can’t see any part of it from the driver seat. The two LED lights on the front are aimed to the sides to act as “ditch lights” when I’m on an unlit road looking for a turn in the dark.

Also, the box is mounted on a pintle hitch mount that has a lot of up/down adjustability. If I need to raise it up off road, I can.

:):)

[JIMNLIN]

An engineer friend saw it yesterday and said he thought it was extremely dangerous,

I have a neighbor who is a engineer...which means nothing as far this subject goes. He is a engineer for a large gas and electricity generating company.
I also worked with aircraft engineers who also knew nothing about automotive front mount carrier's and highway safety.
The only engineer I would listen too would be a structural automotive engineer. Other engineer types are out of their element and can give very bad/ignorant opinions as we see on so rv websites.

As mentioned the OP question can only be considered a loaded question as we have no idea how his front mount carrier is rated or fabricated or mounts to the van or what or how much it carries.
But in general front mounts are just as safe as any carrier mounts.

Get a trailer ??
We see lots of trailers on the road (large and small) with front and rear mounts carrying something.
Are those carriers safe or unsafe ??
It depends on the particulars.

[JRscooby]

Cloud Dancer wrote:
Immediately I was negative. Then, after thinking about it, I asked myself, what if it was my problem? I don't know.

Saw a minivan around town. Hanging off the hood had a bike rack designed to work on the trunk lid of a sedan. First thought, "What a idiot" A week later watched traffic ducking bicycles sliding behind a trailer. "What a rectum"

Naio wrote:
I don't want to get into personal details here, but I'm hauling stuff that isn't appropriate to have inside the vehicle. Nothing flammable, though.

On my previous van, I had a rear rack. but my new van has a different configuration, and a rear rack would be too far away from the rear axle.

I guess vans must be different from other RVs in this, but the difficulty I have is in keeping enough weight *forward*. It's easy to load up the rear axles and underload the front one. The front rack helps with that, a bit.

I'm still thinking over the point about a rear rack being dangerous for other drivers. I'm so used to being the only car within a mile of road that I didn't consider that.

Even with trucks, you will rarely see the front axle overloaded unless the rear is also over. RVs are no different, but most do not think about it.
As for safety of the rear mount. First, the load or carrier not secured. This should be obvious. Maybe you are perfect, will know when something falls off. But if you are driving along with no traffic in the mile in front of you are you expecting something laying in the road?
And then there is the problem of the weight that far behind the axle.

[time2roll]

At least in the front you can keep an eye on it and slow down before the death wobble takes over.

[Naio]

I think a cargo trailer would be overkill for the hundred pounds of stuff I have on the rack 🙂

[Naio]

I don't want to get into personal details here, but I'm hauling stuff that isn't appropriate to have inside the vehicle. Nothing flammable, though.

On my previous van, I had a rear rack. but my new van has a different configuration, and a rear rack would be too far away from the rear axle.

I guess vans must be different from other RVs in this, but the difficulty I have is in keeping enough weight *forward*. It's easy to load up the rear axles and underload the front one. The front rack helps with that, a bit.

I'm still thinking over the point about a rear rack being dangerous for other drivers. I'm so used to being the only car within a mile of road that I didn't consider that.

[MrWizard]

On my second class A, I used a front rack, I carried 1 Honda express moped, then 2 express moped, then one larger scooter , never had a wobble, just add extra support arms and receivers so it can't rock