Bump it off road tire carrier problems?

[Jacket]

Posting this in the 100 series forum since I think more of you guys have his rear bumper and tire carrier. Mike (from BIOR) and I have talked back and forth about this issue, but it's not an "easy fix" as far as we can determine and I'm wondering if others might have a similar issue and possibly a fix that works.

What I have: BIOR high clearance rear bumper with tire carrier mounted on passenger side. Install has the standard latch with a welded catch on the outboard side, and a spring pin mounted inboard close to the spindle.

My problem: No matter how I adjust the latch, after I drive the truck for a few miles the tire carrier is "wandering" outward away from the truck and is causing the latch to effectively tighten and lock itself into place. It takes two hands a lot of body weight to heave the latch open. The spring pin should prevent this arm movement in theory, but for some reason it is not. There is about 1/4" of play in the spring pin, and I've tried adjusting the latch so that when I close the tire carrier the pin is effectively resting against the outer lip of the bumper hole where the pin secures into. But sure enough as soon as I drive it the latch wanders outward and tightens itself.

Anyone else having issues like this?

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Pictures would help.

 

[davegonz]

Maybe you could weld the hole up some to reduce the sloppy fit with the spring pin.

Does the swing arm rest on a pad when it is closed? If not, you might want to add a Delrin or UHMW pad to the swing arm (drill/tap two holes). This will help keep things from rattling around and loosening/tightening up.

 

[wareagle]

I think I understand the issue. Years and years ago, I had a full lenght swing away (jerry cans and tire). I had to weld in an adjustment mechanism. It was a rubber bumper (called snubber at the time) that was asw attached to a 2" long bold. you would adjust snubber to fit a striker plate. This adjustment prevented the binding that you describe.

 

[Brock]

sorry it must be different than mine....

mine has the externally mounted latches and hooks and the pin is near the end of each swingarm not near the spindle/pivot end...mine are solid as day I put them together for most part. My tire sagged a little over the past few months but the plastic shim holds it up so I just need to adjust tension on hasp as the tire and wheel are 90lbs and I have a big hi-lift on there too but it holds very well and is quiet.

 

[Desert Yeti]

Sounds like the pin isn't engaging all the way, Is the pin loose, or is it not going all the way in?

Some pics would help a ton...

Mike's shop is an hour away from you, I'm sure he'd be happy to take a look at it...

 

[Brock]

yeah i would make the drive and let the builder check it out rather than all of us speculating.

 

[Jacket]

It's a public forum, so you guys can speculate all you want. Mike and I have already been in communication about the issue and what I am after here is whether any BIOR owners have this design and any similar issues or solutions.

Maybe you could weld the hole up some to reduce the sloppy fit with the spring pin.

Does the swing arm rest on a pad when it is closed? If not, you might want to add a Delrin or UHMW pad to the swing arm (drill/tap two holes). This will help keep things from rattling around and loosening/tightening up.

Thanks. Welding or sleeving the hole is one idea we came up with to reduce the play a bit, so I agree that could work. There is a pad installed, and I think part of my initial problem was to assume that the swing arm should sit relatively "square" on top of the pad. But given the spring pin play, I think I've decided that it's better off latched outward a bit to rest on the edge of the pin hole.

I drove it about 50 miles yesterday in a new position and it seemed to work relatively well, not getting itself bound and locked into place. The true test of course is taking onto dirt.

sorry it must be different than mine....

mine has the externally mounted latches and hooks and the pin is near the end of each swingarm not near the spindle/pivot end...mine are solid as day I put them together for most part. My tire sagged a little over the past few months but the plastic shim holds it up so I just need to adjust tension on hasp as the tire and wheel are 90lbs and I have a big hi-lift on there too but it holds very well and is quiet.

Thanks - yea, I think there have been different designs between the latch, pin and other securing mechanisms. I think the ideal positioning is to put the spring pin close to the latch, but there are other things that interfere with that design and how long the designer wants to make the arm to accommodate.

 

[Jacket]

I think I've found a happy place with the swing out. I've been running it in its current position for a week or two, and drove it over a dirt pass this past weekend with tons of vibrations/washboard, and I was able to easily unlock the latch and open the gate at the end of the trip.

So for future reference and/or if anyone else has trouble, the key is to position the swing out in such a way that the pin is backed into the outboard part of the hole (away from the truck), and then adjust and secure the latch based on that position. Originally, my intuition had me adjust it so that the tire arm was snug toward the truck and seated fully on the resting pad (and as a result the pin positioned more toward the truck side of the hole). But this allowed the arm to work itself away from the truck and the force of this movement was absorbed by the latch (thereby getting it in a overtightened/locked state). But by positioning the carrier away from the tailgate until the pin rests against the hole furthest away from the tailgate, and then adjusting the latch to secure it in that spot, it seems to be much happier and with just a bit of a wiggle it opens much easier.

Hope that makes sense. Picture shows ideal placement of the spring pin within it's hole, even if it means that the tire carrier sits outboard on the resting pad a bit.