For today's project, I submit the following: Rear bike rack modification.
My current el-cheepo rear hitch bike rack works great, except for that it sticks too far out behind the car when not in use to be able to keep on the car/park without it hitting things/getting clobbered. It was basically a fixed arm which stuck out to far. I looked at some folding rear hitch bike racks, but at $600-$700 dollars, that's a sham- especially when you throw in having to buy all new yakima/thule key locks.
Several spare pieces of scrap metal/ spare bolts later, and I built a lever arm into the rear extension. It keeps the rack CLOSER to the car than the fancy expensive racks when not in use. Bonus points awarded for incorporating spare john deere hitch pins!
Sometime redneck engineering trips the light fantastic into something that works REALLY well. This is one of those cases.
