Spare tire lift and what I learned.

[Ramathorn15]

So after stepping back and looking at my idea I now see a fundamental issue. The bar across the rear frame crossmember that I removed has a huge function. It prevents the spare from being crushed up into the sheet metal when the vehicle slams down onto the spare tire coming off a ledge. My spacers will keep everything snug BUT don't project the body panel they are attached do. They will either crunch the panel or crush themselves. Neither of those option are any good. I think I'm going to scratch this idea and just mount the factory bar 1.5" higher. I will need to drill new holes and dig up some hardware bolts. It will be REALLY close to the pinch seam. I am going to notch the pinch seams right where the bar crosses under it. If none of that makes sense then sit tight. Will take about an hour before I have it all done with pics posted.

Yeah, I wasn't thinking as far as slamming down on the tire, but my last wheeling trip I was dragging my spare all over the place and that definitely would have destroyed the pinch weld/body where those mounts are.

Drilling holes may be difficult since you cant get behind the frame to put nuts behind it unless you weld nuts to the exterior of the frame. I used washers to pitch the factory bar upwards but I also only went up 3/4".

 

[bhicks]

Drilling holes may be difficult since you cant get behind the frame to put nuts behind it unless you weld nuts to the exterior of the frame. I used washers to pitch the factory bar upwards but I also only went up 3/4".

The frame has large holes directly across from where I need to drill the holes. Very easy access to get behind there with a nut. No need to weld a nut on from the exterior. I decided to notch the body where the bar gets really close to ensure I don't smash the bar up into the body. I also notched the body where the winch bar goes through since the winch for the spare tire is now 1.5" higher, I needed the extra clearance. Also allows me to get the tire even tighter to the body at the outer edge of the frame. I will get pics of it all installed in just a bit. Here's what it looks like now.

 

[bhicks]

Here's a pic with the bar installed and finally with the tire installed. It's as snug as I can get the tire. Everything is super secure and the tight. Now I may have one final issue. The BIOR bumper may hit the tire. It will be super close. If so, I will just shim the bar with washers until it clears. I don't think it will be an issue. The bumper will go on tomorrow.

 

[bhicks]

So I just slid the new BIOR rear bumper on and and sure enough it hit the spare before it flushed up against the crossmember. I had to yank the bumper back off the drill new holes .5" lower for the rear spare tire bar. I reinstalled the bar and spare and then reinstalled the bumper. The bumper now just BARELY clears the spare tire. that means that I was able to raise the spare tire to the back edge by only 1" and not the 1.5" I had hoped for. The spacers are still 1.5" tall so the spare sits at a slight angle but it's in and super snug. Not ideal but at least a little more clearance than stock, clears the new bumper, and I don't have to worry about body damage if I slam down onto the spare. I will get some pics of the new bumper and spare tire installed later. I decided to remove the bumper and go one more coat of paint. Once I got the bumper out into the light and on the car I realized I had some issues with paint so I did another coat and am now waiting for it to dry.

 

[camino70]

Thanks for all the updates!

 

[Rigger]

Great thread! You're blazing new trails here, man. Good on ya!

 

[bhicks]

Here is the final result of the BIOR rear bumper with 1.5" spare tire lift. The bottom of the spare is now on the same plane as the bottom of the tow hook and the bottom of the exhaust/tail pipe. I guess that is a good thing. The 3 objects are all helping protect each other. the tire would probably tuck up a lot better if it wasn't a 33.5" x 11.5" tire. I wanted to get the tire higher but the BIOR bumper would not allow for that. A little increased departure angle is always better than no increase.