I, like many here, have been plagued with the need to find a new location to haul my spare tire as it no longer fits in the stock location.
Like some, I don’t need/want a full on rear bumper, for both the weight and cost is too much for my personal use of the GX.
The market has brought a few options for hitch mounted tire carriers that can be expanded with fuel, hi-lifts, tables, etc and some I have seen here. One I hadn’t seen on the GX specifically is a Wilco Offset Hitchgate.
4WheelParts had it in stock for $1,180 (which is, is mad for what it is IMO) and Jegs had it for close to $1,000 even (with some discount codes) but it was out of stock and wouldn’t ship for 5 months. I got 4WP to price match everything and had it delivered to the local shop. Here’s some pictures to show it on the GX.
I’ve had it on a week now and here’s my opinion on it.
- It sits too far off the bumper and body for me (pretty common for almost all these setups).
- Fit and finish aren’t impressive, but ok.
- Latch pin doesn’t fit well, but it opens/closes and camps ok
- the anti-rattle receiver piece seems mostly gimmicky and there’s easier options to achieve this fix (hitch tightening clamps, which I always run)
- the spare wheel studs are loose bolts and not welded in place to the bracket, so installing/removing the spare requires a wrench on the back of the stud
- it comes with normal size lug nuts (not slim, like many aftermarket wheels require) but the wheel stud thread pitch does match the GX
- on mine specifically, the latching pin that holds the swing arm in specific open positions was seized from new (though I did like the natural limited opening stop it has by design, pic of it open is where it naturally stops, I just couldn’t lock it open)
- overall build quality seems good
- tow rating is good (10,000 lbs and 750 lb tongue weight if I recall)
- it won’t accept my 4” rise lock-n-roll hitch unless I ran it as a 4” drop hitch, which would make my trailer nose dive instead of level. I did know this was likely going in, but specs online didn’t make it clear enough.
- the basic pivot pin is going to be a bad wear point, non-greasable (without disassembly and manually greasing)
-There’s other concerns that most these setups have, with ground clearance too.
After really trying to be ok with it for a week, I’ve decided to return it. It fits a need I have, barely, about as well as any of them would, but I just don’t think it’s worth $1,000+ in the end, so I’m going to keep waiting.
For me, the ideal setup is going to be something like some DIY setups here or specifically the Ronin Metal setup that’s not coming to the market soon enough.
I’ll go back to leaving the spare at home for daily stuff, throw it on top for trips. Just hope the details here may help someone else decide if it’s a good fit for them or not.
Like some, I don’t need/want a full on rear bumper, for both the weight and cost is too much for my personal use of the GX.
The market has brought a few options for hitch mounted tire carriers that can be expanded with fuel, hi-lifts, tables, etc and some I have seen here. One I hadn’t seen on the GX specifically is a Wilco Offset Hitchgate.
4WheelParts had it in stock for $1,180 (which is, is mad for what it is IMO) and Jegs had it for close to $1,000 even (with some discount codes) but it was out of stock and wouldn’t ship for 5 months. I got 4WP to price match everything and had it delivered to the local shop. Here’s some pictures to show it on the GX.
I’ve had it on a week now and here’s my opinion on it.
- It sits too far off the bumper and body for me (pretty common for almost all these setups).
- Fit and finish aren’t impressive, but ok.
- Latch pin doesn’t fit well, but it opens/closes and camps ok
- the anti-rattle receiver piece seems mostly gimmicky and there’s easier options to achieve this fix (hitch tightening clamps, which I always run)
- the spare wheel studs are loose bolts and not welded in place to the bracket, so installing/removing the spare requires a wrench on the back of the stud
- it comes with normal size lug nuts (not slim, like many aftermarket wheels require) but the wheel stud thread pitch does match the GX
- on mine specifically, the latching pin that holds the swing arm in specific open positions was seized from new (though I did like the natural limited opening stop it has by design, pic of it open is where it naturally stops, I just couldn’t lock it open)
- overall build quality seems good
- tow rating is good (10,000 lbs and 750 lb tongue weight if I recall)
- it won’t accept my 4” rise lock-n-roll hitch unless I ran it as a 4” drop hitch, which would make my trailer nose dive instead of level. I did know this was likely going in, but specs online didn’t make it clear enough.
- the basic pivot pin is going to be a bad wear point, non-greasable (without disassembly and manually greasing)
-There’s other concerns that most these setups have, with ground clearance too.
After really trying to be ok with it for a week, I’ve decided to return it. It fits a need I have, barely, about as well as any of them would, but I just don’t think it’s worth $1,000+ in the end, so I’m going to keep waiting.
For me, the ideal setup is going to be something like some DIY setups here or specifically the Ronin Metal setup that’s not coming to the market soon enough.
I’ll go back to leaving the spare at home for daily stuff, throw it on top for trips. Just hope the details here may help someone else decide if it’s a good fit for them or not.
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