Bolt on-together Rear Tire Carrier

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DetroitStyle said:
As a part time/temp/rarely used solution, I think you will be fine as long as you keep an eye on it. We've all bent metal by hand and you know it goes from strong to fatigued and breaking very quickly. Meaning... once a weak spot materializes, all of the stress will go there and it's going to break. For an emergency backup, it should be very easy to hook a strap to the spare and through the hatch to an anchor point inside the truck. If the carrier breaks, it would keep the spare from bouncing down the highway and hitting/killing somebody until you can pull over.

The only other thing I would recommend is some Loc-Tite on the threads. The shake rattle and roll of the road/trail can cause those nuts to get loose quickly.
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I totally agree... I plan to loc-tite everything in addition I'll put in pins where ever I can. For the spare I always run a locking cable and I plan to run it from top to bottom.
 
Hey QBall... Mine currently are at ~33". Nice find on that tire. I think the fun name for those types of tires are "Pizza Cutters" I could see how it would work well for a day trip as a backup. However I'm going to be out in the sticks for 6 days and only one stop for fuel on about day 3. So I'm not sure I'd want to run a multi-day trip on a Pizza Cutter but let me think on this a bit more. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
that tire and wheel combo is VERY tough, much tougher than your average 33 inch tires and with it airs down to match your other tire height it will have better traction than most. But if your trip has a lot of driving on the road then It might not be a good choice as it will not be good on the road. But as offroad spare it's as good if not better than most 33 inch full size tire........best part is your get to use the back of the truck.

I have the same thing and will not use it unless I'm off-roading, I have AAA for the road.
 
I like the idea and I've been tossing around something similar (welded square tube stock, but using the stock bumper holes).

But I plan to use the stock spare tire space for air tank and storage, otherwise, I would do the spare tire mod and leave it under the truck. I bet a 255/85-16 sits about flush with the frame (see post #15 in this thread: https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/largest-tire-that-will-fit-on-oem-tire-carrier.388501/ or here's a good thread, but the pictures are dead: https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/fj-fzj80-spare-tire-lift-5-the-easy-way.778554/ )

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This looks like a fantastic idea for a temporary tire holder. I just bought a fzj80 and It came with a 4x4 labs bumper but no swing out tire holder and the bumper eliminated the spare holder and I think the previous owner had a new exhaust routed through there as well so i don't think a 33" will fit under there again without some modifications.

anyway I have a 5,000 mile road trip ahead of me and I was gonna make my own swinging tire carrier for the 4x4 labs bumper because its around $500 for the double swinging kit from them but this has me kinda interested.

I am also on a time constraint (that I am setting myself) and technically homeless. I can do it better when I get settled in to my new place in two months.

And I will need the interior space for moving my possessions from Wi to AZ.

There is always someone on forums who thinks that everything has to be build like a tank. If you have ever used Unistrut in a industrial application you know its way more capable than holding a 70 lb tire. same with that 7/8' all threaded rod. look up the shear strength of that. I bet its 20,000 lbs

Kinda like the spindles for the 4x4 labs bumper use what looks like trailer bearings rated for 3,500 lbs. and they cost $95 buck each.

I looked around for 2 minutes on mcmaster carr and I could probably come up with some bronze top hat bushings for 20 bucks on both sides and theres no way you need to use a solid 1.5" rod going through the bumper.

I'm not bad mouthing 4x4 labs at all. the bumper looks sweet as tits but i think the spindles are overkill for what it does.

but I have no experience in tire holders so perhaps I shouldn't talk.

Good Job! I will have to consider doing a design similar to this and then just building my swinging tire carrier and ladder when I move to Prescott.
 
Sorry to have offended you, not my intention. Just giving my 2 cents since you are posting your custom tire carrier on the forum for opinions. I have no doubt that the materials you are using can hold 70 lbs, but why would you want something that you have to go check on every so often, build it once. I am just not sure what you are ultimately gaining here, you still have the stock hitch on. If clearance is an issue than take that off otherwise just raise the spare tire carrier.

fzj80joe said:
There is always someone on forums who thinks that everything has to be build like a tank. If you have ever used Unistrut in a industrial application you know its way more capable than holding a 70 lb tire. same with that 7/8' all threaded rod. look up the shear strength of that. I bet its 20,000 lbs
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The shear strength would depend on the grade of all thread he is using.
 
I don't think anyone was offended. I can understand that he wanted a temporary solution for a temporary problem. when he gets a new bumper then he can upgrade.

Personally I quit my job and have been traveling the country. I bought a land cruiser in new mexico. My welder is in a storage locker in Wisconsin where my journey started and I'm in Sand Diego right now so instead of buying another welder I could just use 60 dollars worth of unistrut and bolts.

sometimes its okay to over engineer something, like a critical component. but a tire holder ?...

it seems common for people that home build things to go overboard to me thats just extra weight.


is it the best solution? No. Will it work? probably
 
Hey thats pretty cool. and you could get rid of the wobble with a ratchet strap I'm sure.

Unfortunately I am going to use the hitch to tow a 66 VW from WI to AZ.

I put the spare in the Bug!
 
I've seen those by Curtis. Yep they are pretty cool, however, as you put it, not swing away. I was looking for something I could drop down and I didn't want to add inches to my departure angle. Though I think they have good value for someone looking for what this is.

BTW - Nice find on the tighter. UniStrut sells something simlar for $5 vs $21 -- http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Unistrut-P2786-EG-U-Bolt-Channel/dp/B00I8VRJWU?tag=ihco-20 and you can find them at most HomeDepots, Lowes etc.
 
Hey folks... Just a quick update.

Things are progressing nicely and the 1st draft assembly is complete. I added nuts with nylon washers and cotter pins to hold things together. Everything is working out okay with one exception, the mechanism to hold up the tire carrier. The pins I choose, nothing more than a nut and bolt, worked just okay. However it was a pain to have to take of the nut every time to release the carrier. I thought about using a hitch pin through the bolt but I really wanted it to be more simple.

So I changed my design a bit to include 2 x rubber bump stops and a toggle latch. The latch clamps down nicely and compresses the bump stops on to the bumper. However the latch is not holding well and easily pops open.

I guess at this point I'm looking for a locking toggle latch or another similar idea.


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Lots of swing aways are held closed with that type of mechanism. Perhaps you just need to adjust it to make it tighter. Also the hook that the loop hooks on looks a little shallow. It seems like I've seem some where the hook part is deeper and thus less likely to pop out. Hopefully someone with more experience using them will chime in.
 
Gotta pay to play sometimes.....
 
What latch are you using, is that a Destaco latch? I tried using some no-name cheapy latches from Amazon and they sucked hard. Wouldn't close down right, same issue you're describing. When it comes to holding important things like a tire carrier, I'll only use Destaco latches. These mofos are expensive. The vertical latch pictured on my bumper is the 375 version. That's an $80-90 latch

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