rear door mods

i carry lots of 2x lumber.. and have to use my car to move it still (with the back seats down and trunk open) because it wont fit in the VX (as many have pointed out here)..

i saw some pictures of people with lumber hanging out the back of the vx with the rear door open.. and id considered that but my drive is really bumpy.. so im worried the rear gate hinges would bend or break after being bumped around too much while its hanging open... anyone have thoughts on this.. or ideas about how to support it while its hanging open?

the other thing i thought about was modding the back door so the glass is able to flip up like many SUVs do.. anyone done this.. or know if it would even be possible? the potential problems i saw with it were the defrosters because the wires attach at the bottom of the glass.. and a way to secure the glass down/lock it (i dont live in the best neighborhood)

You could probably get a hitch & a small used trailer cheaper than modding the rear glass.

Ldub

Ldub, thats exactly what i was thinking, tow hitch and a lil 4x6 or 4x8 trailer, and you would not only keep from potentially messing up your vx, but also you'd have 10x the space even if the back door mod was a success.

I'm dreaming of the styling possibilities...matching rims and paintjob, of course, but what sort of body and/or shell?

This is what they make roof racks for. A Thule rack (or another gutter mounted rack) mounts to the stock roof rails with no modifications.

Be sure to get some ratchet straps, they are worth their weight in gasoline.

-Tad

i agree with nazrat, i would go with a roof rack to hook em down to...but i also like the look of the roof rack when there is no wood on it so thats also a plus =)

I'd go with the roof rack. You don't want to mess up your interior and door hauling around all that wood. I also think the hitch and small trailor sounds like a good solution as well.

However, It would be awsome if we could open the rear glass on the back door. I'd imagine gas milage suffers greatly driving around with just the driver and passenger windows open. It would be cool if the wind had some where to go to prevent drag. :)

I'd like to have the rear window roll down into the rear door, like the Toyota 4Runners and the old full size Ford Broncos used to do.

Also I'd like to have side windows to tilt out so you can open them too.

I'd really love to make the side windows open. Silly as it is, one of my wife's biggest complaints is that the dog can't stick her head out from the back seat of the VX :p.

Same complaints for the same reason. My 4 runner is great for the dogs, but they hate the VX. If ya'll come up with something I'll try it too. As for the roof rack, I have a stock one and have put over 400lbs in lumber on it with no problem. YMMV.