4+PLUS Tire/Cooler Carrier Install- FJ40 (1 Viewer)

[wantatlc]

SAweeet.. jealous. love that carrier. great write up...



BTW, I have seen your rig up in Carlsbad... ridden my bike by it a few times back by the Hedionda lagoon. wondered if you were a member here at Mud... but figured your username would be your license plate.

 

[78-FJ40]

Yep, it's a really nice spare tire/cooler setup. Easily holds my 37" spare. I did add a back-up light.

I've also ordered another basket. I'm going to make a bracket that bolts to the two holes on each side of the basket and that will support the second basket above the current one. I'll then be able to pack more gear outside the cruiser.

If anyone else wants to do the same, the part number is
1045BASKET and it's $245 plus S&H.

 

[DomSmith]

Thanks for the replies. I've gotten so much good info here I try to make time to add stuff I wish was on here as well.

Andrew- I decided to keep the hitch, but it does look like it may hit once in a while. I'll deal with that later if I have too. I do use this rig to launch and pull my buddies wakeboard boat now and then so the hitch is a must.

Phishtaco- Those lighted bolts look pretty sweet but I couldn't find much info on them online. Anyone used these? I ordered the Hella license light that MAF sells for their Kaymar bumper so we'll see how that turns out. It looks pretty low profile on their site and I'll post a pic once I'm done.

LakeNorman- Thanks for adding your info. I wasn't too sure how it shipped and feel lucky to live reasonably close to both big SoCal suppliers. I'll post a pic of the Hi-Lift mount soon. I'm probbly going back to a Peterbilt truck supply here in SD as they had a ton of lights and various mounts to choose from for a backup light.

wantatlc- My buddy lives on the lagoon and I'm either there wakeboarding or he's borrowed it out of my garage while I'm at work. I use his '05 Carrera and he uses the cruiser... oh yeah and he's getting the better end of the deal.

78-FJ40- I'd love to see the pics of the double basket once you get it on.

 

[LakeNorman_FJ40]

Dom: That's a good idea about Peterbuilt supply. The more I think about it, instead of just backup lights I'm probably going to get some kind of higher wattage fog light to serve dual purpose as camp site lighting off my 2nd battery. Whenever I add my backup / camping lights on the rear I'll post up some pics...

Here are pics of my Hi-Lift mount along with the cooler too:

Per my prior post, if MAF would just make this basket 1" wider and 1" deeper, it would fit the larger Igloo 5 Day Cooler. Are you listening MAF???

I'm not planning to use the wing-nuts...using nylocks instead will deter theft of my jack...and I'll probably drill one of the bolts and put a small padlock on it.

78FJ40: That's a great idea about attaching a 2nd basket. Please post pics when you get it installed.

 

[REZARF]

Nice write up, great pics, thanks for sharing man, those carriers are SWEET!

Drew

 

[DomSmith]

LakeNorman-

Thanks for posting up the pics of the Hi-Lift mount. That helps me a bunch.

 

[DomSmith]

Well one of the last things to do was figure out what to do about the license plate light since I drive this rig at night all the time. For the last few weeks I've had to be careful about when I drive it.

I decided to order the Hella Light from MAF (KA 6040):http://www.man-a-fre.com/pa2/kaymarlicenseplateholderhiliftjackcarrier.htm I ordered the light ONLY.

Once I got the light I decided the best way to mount this would be to use a small piece of metal to attach to the light and extend it down to the narrow mounts on the carrier. This would help clear the bolts on the back of the light and allow me to NOT have to drill new holes in the basket.

 

[DomSmith]

I used a small, thin aluminum sheet (.032x4"x10") and cut it down to the width I wanted (2 3/4") and left it at 4" to start. I also got a few stainless bolts to give me a few options to mount it once fabbed up.

I drilled the 2 mounting holes and then a third middle hole for the wire to pass through.

Once the light was mounted I temporarily placed the aluminum sheet up to the basket and marked the holes.

 

[DomSmith]

Once the holes were drilled I measured what to cut off the bottom and trimmed the aluminum piece. You can see here all the parts I used:

1. Hella light with hardware and vacuum plugs to cover the extra bolt threads
2. Aluminum plate with 4 mounting holes and one wire hole.
-(2 1/4" Height X 2 3/4" Wide X .032 thick)
3. Two stainless bolts/washers/lock washers/nuts for the basket

I then soldered a wire to the positive side of the light and routed it to the side and out the back.

 

[DomSmith]

I painted the aluminum bracket, soldered some electrical connectors to the light and wiring (black) and attached it all with black zip ties to try to keep it all low profile. I also used a few adhesive zip tie mounts (we'll see how long those last) on the flat surfaces of the swing arm and bumper and routed the wiring just above the tail light and down behind the rear quarter panel. I found an unused "green" wire with connector that was a part of the rear wiring harness and plugged it in.

 

[DomSmith]

Here are the final install pictures, wired up and working. I was lucky that the carrier is grounded but we'll see if it is intermittent or not. I was thinking between the pin and the grease I may run into a problem in the future.

I used flatter carrier bolts for the lower mounts to help reduce the interference with the license plate. As you can see the plate does press against them and there are tiny bows in the plate at that spot but very minimal.

Now I need to figure out reverse lighting...

 

[LakeNorman_FJ40]

Has anyone come up with something to lock the basket side of the carrier open at 90* or 135*? Was thinking about drilling and tapping the hinge for a spring loaded pin...

The tire side isn't a problem as it will open until the tire touches the quarter panel. But, open the basket side while on a hilly trail and it could swing open and whack the passenger side of the tub.

 

[1973Guppie]

dom, looks good! when we going wheeling?

 

[crazylandcruiser]

I will have to agree the latch is a bit wierd. i really liked mine but now im having some problems saying i cant get my spare 39 on the back so im modifing my cooler so that i can fit a 39 up on the back of the rig. Good write up the pictures are very well done with arrows etc. overall the put together wasnt to bad when i did it but this would have given a little help that for sure! looks good on the rig!

 

[DomSmith]

Almost forgot... added the best part yesterday...

 

[DomSmith]

Anyone know what size STAINLESS cooler fits these?


My Coleman is just too big...

 

[Poser]

I will have to agree the latch is a bit wierd. i really liked mine but now im having some problems saying i cant get my spare 39 on the back so im modifing my cooler so that i can fit a 39 up on the back of the rig. Good write up the pictures are very well done with arrows etc. overall the put together wasnt to bad when i did it but this would have given a little help that for sure! looks good on the rig!

I have a 15x42x15 swamper on a 10" steel wheel that has been mounted on mine...


What is in the way?

 

[Panzer]

Anyone know what size STAINLESS cooler fits these?


My Coleman is just too big...

Nooooooooo!
It won't fit, that sucks.
I just bought a red coleman to match the 40 with the future plan of putting it on a MAF cooler/tire combo carrier.

 

[Poser]

The basket is now a modular design folks. Make your own to fit whatever you want to carry, and bolt it to the rack.


Right after the manufacture of this would change the basket to accommodate whatever cooler was the one that everyone wanted to use; the cooler manufacture would change the dims on the cooler, and make it so that it would not fit the re-designed basket, and we would be right back to where we are right now.


It never ends folks.


There is no way a license plate lamp, or a metal cooler would have survived on the rear of my junk since 1998....there are not any cooler manufactures out there that offer anything near as stout as the carrier.



That lamp set-up looks nice Dom.



Good thread guys!

It is in the FAQ.


I will be modifying some older 4+ carrier units with the new, modular-style cooler basket, adding grease fittings, and modifying the bushings so that the grease flows around the spindle, and will update this thread with the information when I do this.

 

[DomSmith]

Just added a ghetto fabulous tractor light as a backup light. I've been looking all over for something a little more flush/clean without luck. I'll probably head back to the Peterbuilt place one of these days. Met a dude there with a Cruiser and turned him on to MUD. I had this light sitting around for awhile and thought I'd use it for now. It's not super clean as I didn't want to drill into the frame again so I just used one of the existing frame holes (bumperette spot) and tapped into the backup wire at the left rear well.