My DIY No Weld tire carrier with Stock Bumper (1 Viewer)

[MPolley]

There have been other tire carriers with the stock bumper on here, but I tweaked some designs and made mine a little different to suit my needs. I posted pics on Facebook and got lots of requests for a write-up, so here it goes.

This is a hitch mount tire carrier, but I mounted a hitch offset to the bumper to use for this. It is far off center so no one will accidentally try to tow from it, but it helps with departure angle and lets me still use my main hitch without losing my spare tire.

 

[MPolley]

Here is the materials list

Hitch receiver, bolt-on Amazon link here

Curt Tire Carrier I bought used, but here is an amazon link

Folding Hitch Adapter -- Ebay link here

Anti Rattle adapters -- Amazon Link here

Also needed:
5/8 bolts or hitch pins to connect pieces
1/2" bolts with nuts and washers to mount hitch
M12-1.50 bolts and nuts to mount wheel, or OE studs with nuts on them
OEM lug nuts to hold wheel on

 

[MPolley]

First step was to mount the hitch on the bumper/frame crossmember. I held it up and marked, then used a ruler to measure and make sure I was pretty square with the bumper.

Drilled the holes with a step drill bit and bolted the hitch on with 1/2" grade 8 bolts with washers.

Then I had to cut off the leg on the tire carrier and grind it smooth

Then I test fitted it in the hinged receiver adapter and mounted the tire up with OE style studs. Make sure to put a regular nut on each stud to lock them in so they can't spin.

With everything dry fitted, mark the vertical leg so you can drill for the hitch pin/bolt

 

[MPolley]

Mount your tire to the carrier, measure how much distance you have between the tire and the back window, so you know how much length you can cut off the hinge adapter. Make sure you leave 4 or 5 inches so if you bottom it out, or get rear ended, the tire won't hit the glass. Then you can use that measurement to cut down the hitch adapter at the points below, and grind smooth

With the adapter cut, put everything back together again and mark the adapter for the hitch pin hole, and drill

Then you can assemble everything. I used bolts where the assembly goes into the hitch, and where the tire carrier goes into the adapter. This way the tire is impossible to steal without tools, and keeps anyone from pulling the wrong pin and having it come apart on them

 

[Cruzerman]

Way to think outside the box. Was wondering what the goal was? What was wrong with under the rig?

 

[MPolley]

Either use the anti-rattle adapters, or wedge something in the hitch receiver connections to help eliminate slop.

With a pin in the bottom hole, I have a position where I can open the hatch without letting it all the way down

As well as all the way open and pinned flat

 

[MPolley]

Way to think outside the box. Was wondering what the goal was? What was wrong with under the rig?

My winch for underneath is rusted and jams up, but the 285 tire hangs down too far and would get damaged/hung up on some of the trails I go on. It just didn't feel like a safe place for it anymore

 

[Cruzerman]

You do know you can raise the spare tire under the rig higher so it doesn't hang down nearly as much?

 

[1911garand]

I like this idea!

 

[MPolley]

You do know you can raise the spare tire under the rig higher so it doesn't hang down nearly as much?

Yeah but that only raises the front of the tire, and my spare tire winch assembly is bad, so would have needed replacing

 

[BILT4ME]

Can you lower the tailgate with the tire in the second hole? Or does it hit the upright?

 

[davidp14]

Strong work.
Thanks for sharing.

I'm assuming you didn't use the pintle because you tow stuff with it?

 

[Heckraiser]

Clever idea.

You'll still probably have to keep an eye on your departure because it sticks out, but your towing reciever will probably take the brunt of most impacts. I wonder how the cross member will hold up with the weight cantilevered out a bit like that. I'm sure you'll notice if it starts to bend Probably fine.

You've gotten my wheels turning on something simple to get my spare out of the cargo area (wife objects to the smell) and maintain tow-ability.

 

[nukegoat]

I doubt that part of the bumper is reinforced. Not my cup of tea but good job I guess

 

[MPolley]

I doubt that part of the bumper is reinforced. Not my cup of tea but good job I guess

It is bolted right about where this red circle is on the crossmember. It is 1/8" thick steel C channel, definitely strong enough for a tire carrier. The steel here is stronger than the frame rails on some vehicles. I wouldn't tow from there, but I'm not worried at all about an 85lb tire

 

[MPolley]

Strong work.
Thanks for sharing.

I'm assuming you didn't use the pintle because you tow stuff with it?

Yep. I use that for light towing, and am going to have a friend gusset it to be even stronger. I also wanted the tire carrier offset so I have the option of mounting something else on the other side

 

[MPolley]

Can you lower the tailgate with the tire in the second hole? Or does it hit the upright?

It hits the bolts on the anti-rattle adapter. Gonna flip that around and see if it clears. It will be close, but it might open. A standard NATO jerry can just happens to sit beautifully in that space too

 

[MPolley]

Clever idea.

You'll still probably have to keep an eye on your departure because it sticks out, but your towing reciever will probably take the brunt of most impacts. I wonder how the cross member will hold up with the weight cantilevered out a bit like that. I'm sure you'll notice if it starts to bend Probably fine.

You've gotten my wheels turning on something simple to get my spare out of the cargo area (wife objects to the smell) and maintain tow-ability.

Thanks!. Yeah, I will still have to watch it, but the existing hitch will hit first 90% of the time or more. I'll just err on the side of making sure obstacles hit on the driver's side if possible. I've come down on the hitch before, which is why I wanted to get this mounted as high up on the bumper as possible

 

[nukegoat]

It is bolted right about where this red circle is on the crossmember. It is 1/8" thick steel C channel, definitely strong enough for a tire carrier. The steel here is stronger than the frame rails on some vehicles. I wouldn't tow from there, but I'm not worried at all about an 85lb tire

View attachment 2036642

Depends on the lever arm

 

[MPolley]

Depends on the lever arm

The effective lever length is the 12" or so of length out from the bumper, plus maybe 10% from the levering of the vertical arm (won't get the full force because it angles back toward the base) so we are talking about at most a static 110 ft-lbs distributed across 11 square inches, right next to reinforcements. I weigh over 3x what the tire does and I jumped up and down on the hitch assembly and nothing budged.

I'll keep an eye on it, but I really don't see any reason to worry about it. to be honest, the body mounting to the frame is probably weaker than this, and without a doubt, the entire drivetrain is held in with weaker mounting points, as are most of the suspension components