Fabbing tire carrier for stock bumper

I am in the process of designing/fabbing a tire carrier to mount to my stock bumper. I do not do much offroading in this vehicle at this point. I will be mounting a 30" spare on it. Got this idea from the DetoursUSA bumper I've seen on here. If anyone with more info/pics of mounting, reinforcement, etc. could post it up, it would be greatly appreciated.

My plan is to have the hinge on the passenger's side and have the tire offset to the side towards the hinge. This will be mounted on a bracket bolted to the face of the stock bumper and then reinforced behind the bumper like the OEM version. Then, for the other end, I am going to have it latch to/rest on another plate on the other side of the bumper. Some sort of triangulated post will be mounted vertically on the swing arm with the "hub" for the spare.

My question is:
Is this setup going to be ok? I am slightly worried about the possible forward and backward swaying motion of the tire because unlike the OEM setup it is not going to be secured up top on the hatch. I am going to keep the tire as low as possible to reduce this as much as possible and also to maintain visibility.

Flame on. :helpme:

I'm not gonna flame you, but I think that the weight of even an EMPTY tire carrier on the stock bumper would be too much.
I'm still new to the XJ craze, but I've got an '01 with no rust and my best friend tore my rear bumper off last week just by standing on it to reach the roof rack! Of course he's not the lightest guy in the world either! LOL!
I would just start from scratch with some 2x6 tubing and reinforce it to the "frame" and then build off of that.
Just my $.02

Tie both of the stock bumper brackets together with some 2x2 and mount your hinge to that so it penetrates through the stock bumper. with minimal off roading it should hold up ok with spreading the load over both stock mounts and not using the factory bumper for anything but a cover for the framework... Give it a shot

OEM AMC factory swing away mounts to the stock bumper. Although not all the weight is on the bumper alot of it is. As longer as the bumper brackets are in good shape I would try it.

racer32 said:

Tie both of the stock bumper brackets together with some 2x2 and mount your hinge to that so it penetrates through the stock bumper. with minimal off roading it should hold up ok with spreading the load over both stock mounts and not using the factory bumper for anything but a cover for the framework... Give it a shot

Click to expand...

So, what you mean is run a piece of square tubing behind the bumper that is tied into the unibody and use that for all the mounting of the tire carrier? Would 2x4 tubing work better maybe for the greater "surface area" and better more evenly distributed force.I like the idea a lot though, basically an aftermarket bumper in disquise...

If you have a hitch you could fab something like the one on my Jeep.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15617200@N08/

jaburk said:

If you have a hitch you could fab something like the one on my Jeep.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15617200@N08/

Click to expand...

I hate you. I'm probably 12 hours into the way I have planned now. Your way is so much easier and probably sturdier. What did you do for the bearing on the end where it hinges?

How about something like this.
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=925073&highlight=detours+bumpers

If you have a hitch, you could build something like this as well.

http://www.tiregate.com/hg.shtml

xjh3 said:

I hate you. I'm probably 12 hours into the way I have planned now. Your way is so much easier and probably sturdier. What did you do for the bearing on the end where it hinges?

Click to expand...

No bearing involved, it pivots on a piece of solid rod. The upper tire carrier section just slides over the solid rod and has a grease sert installed.