Outside tire carrier ideas

[appalacious]

Hey guys,
I know this has been "touched" on before, but I think it deserves a second look. An outside tire carrier would be really practical in these trucks, but the hard-to-find civvy racks can be a little tough on the body. Are there any good products out there that mount on the bumper? Or maybe something could be fabbed up real cheap? Do you think it could be welded onto the stock bumper? Or is it not strong enough?

Thanks
J

 

[snakeater]

I wouldn't think the stock bumper would be strong enough. Take a look at some of the fourwheel offroad sites and they have tons of ideas for externally mounting the tire. One comes to mind that could be built fairly inexpensively if you can weld and have a way to cut and weld steel. check over at tennessee offroad and search for rear bumpers, you will find a few ideas there. snakeater

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Most of the outside carriers either mount to a receiver hitch or mount to a big, sturdy bumper. There are the "stinger" type that are an A frame mounted to the frame rails (where we conveniently have our D ring mounts) but then you have that thing to move and lift up and down every time you need to open the tail gate.

Currently pondering this situation for Big Ugly as I don't want to have to keep carrying a 38" spare in the bed.

 

[thedeliverator]

I'm thinking of re-creating the front brush guard with a tire carrier, attaching it to the front frame rails. We'll see how the welding classes go.

 

[stampy]

What about a side mount like the old jeeps had? Probably not great for a full size spare but could handle a donut ok.

 

[motormayhem]

I have one on the back for my 35" but like you said it is hard on the body.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Make sure you have the internal braces for the factory tire carriers. Even with them the body is known for tearing at the mounts on the sheet metal.

 

[appalacious]

Thanks guys, i'll check out the site that was mentioned.
I also like the idea about front mounting, although I'm not sure how visibility would be affected.
J

 

[motormayhem]

Make sure you have the internal braces for the factory tire carriers. Even with them the body is known for tearing at the mounts on the sheet metal.

Ya the body is torn at the mounting points as the previous owner just bolted the tire carrier on. I keep the spare in the bed until I can get around to making some bracing for it.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Might be time to just cut your losses and remove it. Even properly braced it was known for tearing the body with 31's so with 35's...

 

[86M10086.2L]

I'm looking into building a swingout tire carrier for my truck based off the bumper of my m1008. One of the TV truck shows showed a kit you can buy the comes with a spindle and bearing set for a "universal/build your own" spare tire mount. As said before there a few aftermarket companies that offer them. Right now the only thing thats stopping me is I'm trying to come up with a way for it to be closed with the tailgate down. That way I can still maintain the same width on the trail/road but have the extra room in the bed for whatevers in there that requires the tailgate to be down. I was originally going to have the tire mount be two sided and secure it to the side of the bed when open. But the tire stuck to far out for my tastes. By having it closed with the tailgate down it would also work as a cargo gate. Of course It will have a Jerry can mount and possibly a tool rack. At the very least a hi lift jack mount. Ultimately you are limmited to only your budget skill level and imagination. I have seen some crazy stuff that guys have come up. Now if I could figure out how to get a roof rack on this truck to mount some off road lights and limb risers to......

 

[appalacious]

I found a couple links, but I can't really make heads or tails of them.
Can anyone pass judgment on these two?
They're supposed to be kits to make your own, although neither includes the carrier frame.

http://comp4x4.com/diy0001.html
http://www.atozfabrication.com/store/product.php?productid=16413&cat=274&page=1

 

[86M10086.2L]

The second one is nice, as it gives you a latching mechanism as well. The tire mount themselves are not that hard to make, just time consuming. If it were me, I'd spend the extra $20 and get the second one. But the first links spindle setup is real nice too.

 

[appalacious]

So what are yalls thoughts on mounting the spare on the brush guard?
J

 

[dmc-4359]

The only functional issue I foresee would be with air flow through the radiator versus interfering with a headlight. Possibly an issue if you wanted a winch as well.

I would want something that had the spare mounted to a receiver hitch of some kind. Normally, this receiver would be mounted inside the truck where it is currently located. Should the time come where the extra room is needed, it can be pulled it out and slipped it into a regular receiver hitch on the rear after all the gear/lumber/whatever has been loaded. If you need to roll with the tail gate down (4x8 sheets or something) then you can just lay it on top and ratchet it down or secure it by some other means.


For me, I don't think there would be too many opportunities where I absolutely needed the space that the spare tire is normally sitting in. Just a thought.

 

[wallew]

I do have a couple of ideas about this subject. I have two spares for my M1009.

One goes on the passenger side in the normal position. I've been looking at other options. There seems to me to be two options for mounting my second spare on the inside of the rear of the truck. While this IS for an M1009, it should also work for an M1008.

First is kind of a 'reversed' mount using the same geometry of the passenger side spare mount. I was going to use square tubing and just fab up a bracket that would mirror image the passenger side spare mount. It would mount to the bed side, the wheel well and the rear floor. Kind of a triangular mount like the other side.

The OTHER idea I have is using the driver side mount cut out of a 78 - 91 Suburban. This piece is a 'tub or well' type of cut out on the drivers side for the tire to fit in behind the rear wheel well covers, effectively giving you pretty close to full access to the rear of the vehicle.

Those are just my two ideas. I can weld. I can cut the piece out of a Sub and weld it into the Blazer. But I'm not sure if I'm going that way yet or not.

 

[appalacious]

I thought about the winch issue, then I saw how one guy mounted the winch behind the front bumper. Doesn't seem like that would interfere. Not sure about the radiator, but I don't think it'd be a huge deal.
J

here's the link to the winch project
http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/brandpa..._3/photos.html

 

[sandtalker]

So Confused

I have been looking all over the interweb, and I cannot find a website that sells non-jeep swing arm carriers. I noticed the link above for the build your own kits, but I don't have the talent or time to: a. learn to weld. b. buy a welding machine. c. build one from scratch.
My question is, are there pre-built swing arm tire carriers out there? I know that installation may require reinforcement, but I need to find the dag-on things first!

 

[Crash_AF]

Here's a design that a friend of mine is working on for his 78 Bronco. The stock carrier ripped up the quarter when the latch wasn't quite closed and he went around a corner and the 35" tire swung it open.

The long platform under the cans isn't there anymore, he's changed his mind and is mounting them as shown in the pic and just hadn't cut the old mount off and re-welded it.

I'm thinking of having something similar made for my 1009, but without the massive winch bumper on the rear. His front is that big too and he wanted them to match.

Later,
Joe

 

[coyotegray]

I have just decided I do not need to look around for what I want to do any more. I just want this... All of it...