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By CloudDiver
#406668
I have VW Jetta Sportwagen with the Thule cross bars. I'm thinking of doing an Icaro Barfly style wing rack. I have 2 inch aluminum tube cut into 10 ft lengths with plastic end caps. I'm going to rivet them to some aluminum angle and set them on the roof rack, securing them with 5mm bolts into the T-nuts on the cross bars. I'll be fabricating some front supports that will go to tabs that bolt into the stock hood hinge bolts. I will still use a rear support from the trailer hitch receiver... I know, it will interfere with opening the rear door but I can deal with that unless I make it stick out far enough to clear the door arc. i just feel like it will be less drag and more stable than doing a front bumper mount, less complicated and easy to take off.

Anyway... does anyone have any idea how far the tubes should be apart on center? I'd could just lay the tubes out on the living room floor and set my wing on them to figure it out, but I don't have my own wing yet (working on that). I thought maybe someone here has tried that set up and would know. Thanks!
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By red
#406669
Luke,

Mount the front crossbar as far forward as possible on the car. If you are going with a rear hitch support, mount the rear crossbar halfway between the rear hitch support and the front crossbar. Otherwise, mount the rear crossbar as far as possible rearward.

Pool Noodles are the classic round-pipe HG rack padding. For 2" tubes, you may need to slit the Pool Noodles (padding) lengthwise and tape them in place.

Truck Extenders make it easy to mount a rear rack further back, just be aware of what the law allows, for long cargo on cars where you live. The same "trailer hitch" set-up on the front of the car is a class act, and the best of support for your glider. If you do not have a front rack, plan on holding the glider end with ropes up front, to prevent bouncing. Without a front rack, plan on carrying the glider "wingtips-forward" on the car, so most of the glider weight will be on the solid rear supports. That "wingtips-forward" plan is usually a good idea in any case, on a car.

https://user.xmission.com/~red/#ts
http://user.xmission.com/~red/FrontRack.htm
https://www.suspensionconnection.com/31 ... hitch.html

On the road, a red flag on the rear end of the glider package should give you some extra allowance from the police.
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By CloudDiver
#406673
Red, what I meant was; what should be be the spacing of the long 2 inch tubes? The ones that go perpendicular to the roof of the vehicle and run parallel under the glider.

For spacing on the supports, my roof rack cross bars are 80 cm apart. The forward support I am adding from the tabs near the hood hinges will be the most forward at about 1.2 m from the front cross bar. The rear support coming from the hitch mount will be at least 1 m if not more from the rear cross bar, depending on what distance it takes to clear the boot door but still be stable. I'm guessing that the total distance from front support to rear support will be about 4 meters, or just over 13 feet.
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By red
#406674
CloudDiver wrote: Sun Mar 10, 2019 11:21 amRed, what I meant was; what should be be the spacing of the long 2 inch tubes? The ones that go perpendicular to the roof of the vehicle and run parallel under the glider.
Luke,

Without having the glider, and the padding in place, there is no good answer for the Flybar tube spacing.

Mount one Flybar as it will be. You can secure the second Flybar to the rack temporarily using steel automotive (screw-type) hose clamps, linked, going around the Flybar and rack crossbar. You want the glider to settle slightly between the bars, but not allowing the glider to sink down too far between the Flybars. Driving then (road bumps) will shake the glider down between the Flybar tubes, maybe more than you might expect. With some experience, you may need to relocate the spacing of one Flybar. Once you find the right spacing between Flybars, then you can mount the second Flybar solidly to the rack.

The center of each Flybar should be at the center of balance for the packed glider; again, no way to give you a measurement there, without having the glider at hand.

For each image below, the top clamp in each image goes around the Flybar, and the bottom clamp goes around the rack crossbar, as a temporary attachment for the Flybar.
Attachments
clamp1.jpg
clamp1.jpg (60.48 KiB) Viewed 314 times
clamp2.jpg
clamp2.jpg (68.32 KiB) Viewed 314 times
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By thermaleo
#406675
If you have roof bars, you don't need to make a front or rear support. Instead you can easily make a "ladder rack" c.12 ft or so long width to suit with c.5-6 padded cross members. Mount this securely on your roof x bars (can be easily removable) and tie your glider down securely to front and rear bumpers. I made one for a BMW320 that carried 3 gliders easily, and could be installed or removed in a couple of minutes.
Here's a pic of one I made for my truck. It's made from cut down 2x4s (3" x1.5") with 4"x1" padded cross members, approx 11ftx4ft, 32lbs weight. I don't need it any more so it's free if anyone wants it.

Leo Jones

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/sonomaw ... 516#p28516