Tow bar Cycle Carrier on Defender 90

[Court Jester]

Having taken the useful advice of a few of you on here (thank you) I purchased a Defender 90 TD5 Hardtop for my wife for her birthday. It is an excellent vehicle - I had to up my budget quite a lot, but got a 2003 County Spec with 95k on the clock and a really nice spec.

We wanted to carry bikes on with the Landie and dogs in the back. Having done some research on various forums it seems that the spare wheel on the back door is an issue for tow bar mounted carriers other than the 'hanging type'.

As I wanted a rack type system we went for the Thule G5 909 which although very expensive, seemed to be the only lockable and secure system. I know you need the 'spare wheel adaptor' to go round the wheel, and 13 - 9 pin electric adapter, but I cannot actually get it onto the towbar. It seems the ball of the bar is too close to the mounting plate. I assumed the tow bar is a standard Land Rover item as the electric plug thing is branded.

Has anyone tried these or do any of you have any comments please?

Thanks

Stuart

[thinfourth2]

Can you weld??

Buy a secondhand steel wheel and weld some arms onto it to turn it into a cycle carrier

Job done

[GKP]

Would a simple tow ball spacer help? They're around £10 from most good trailer/caravan stores, you might even find one at somewhere like Halfords.