Drop-down spare carrier

Timber · Sep 27, 2005

Has anyone done a drop-down tire carrier for an XJ? I thought I was having a stroke of genius, then I realized my idea must have from PSC's TJ "Stinger Bumper" which I'd recently seen in a magazine. I'd still like to try it, minus PSC's goofy stinger bit. I was thinking of attaching 3/16" steel plates to the OEM bumper and use backing plates (or removing it and using the rear crossmember), then have the upper attachments on the tailgate with backing plates there, too. The rest is just a matter of a cage for the spare mated to the bumper plates (I was thinking of small-diameter tubing and shock bushings) and using hitch pins at the tailgate. By the way, I currently run 235s and will (almost surely) never run larger than 32s, so this doesn't need to be able to carry the weight that PSC's is capable of which is rated for up to a 38. Here are some pics of Poison Spyder's setup:

noresttill · Sep 27, 2005

Check this out:

http://www.xjworld.4wdriver.com/tirecarrier/tc.html

Kejtar · Sep 27, 2005

John was working on something like that last time I saw him in Moab. It was going to be a really nicely setup rear bumper/stinger/tire carrier combo. You might want to send him a message and ask him if he has any recent pictures of it.

Timber · Sep 27, 2005

I have seen that, but forgot about it. I don't want a swing-out carrier because I don't want to replace my rear bumper--yet. Right now it's really a matter of cost. I have a local place to get steel pretty cheaply. The hitch pins and bushings will probably cost a third as much as the rest of the project.
EDIT: This was in response to Noresttill. Kejtar, I'll do that. Thanks, guys.

ZPD · Sep 27, 2005

noresttill said:
Check this out:

http://www.xjworld.4wdriver.com/tirecarrier/tc.html

That was mine. What norsttill was referring to was that I use to have a drop down carrier. I built it back in 99 I think. It was strong but a pain to close and my wife couldn't close it. If you want I can probably dig up some pics of it. PM me on it. Overall, I did it because it was unique but I wouldn't recommend it.

olivedrabcj7 · Sep 27, 2005

Timber · Sep 27, 2005

Yeah, I've seen that one, also, but doesn't that one hinge from the hitch? I want to go off the stock bumper, so I can have the hitch open for a small trailer or for recovery (which I seem to need at least once every trip with just 235s and no lift).

XJ_ranger · Sep 27, 2005

Timber said:
Yeah, I've seen that one, also, but doesn't that one hinge from the hitch? I want to go off the stock bumper, so I can have the hitch open for a small trailer or for recovery (which I seem to need at least once every trip with just 235s and no lift).

with 235's it shouldnt turn out to be all that heavy...

im planing on making something like this when i get home for next summer for my 33

it sucks having it inside taking up 33x12" of circular space in the middle of my cargo area...

fatwreck · Sep 27, 2005

This is a really bad picture of one....I don't know if he is still using it or not. I think it was initially bolted at the tail lights, but he was going to make quick pins for it.

Personally, I would not want one.....

xjj33p3r · Sep 27, 2005

Here's a better pic of it

Timber · Sep 27, 2005

I see what you mean, fatwreck. It sits up higher than I thought. Well, I've already got eight holes in the bumper spaced almost perfectly because of my 4xRac, so I'll just grab some tube and my spare and have some buddies just hold stuff in place so I can see how it might look. I'm not terribly worried about departure angle, but I don't want it to be horrible.

Timber · Sep 27, 2005

xjj33p3r said:
Here's a better pic of it

I was typing while you posted. That's really nice (thanks for the pic), but much larger than I'd anticipated. I'd really like to still be able to see out the back. What size tires are those?

EDIT: Maybe I'm just asking for too much from a carrier?

xjj33p3r · Sep 27, 2005

Those tires look like 37x12.5x15 MT/R's. But then again, it's not my jeep. With a tire carrier, you have to give up some visibility to be able to store a tire. Have you thought about trying to find a stock XJ tire carrier? Those will hold up to a 32.

Roxtar · Sep 27, 2005

Right now I'm working on an interesting new spare carrier design.
I considered the drop down style just like one pictured. Looks cool but I decided against it because it did nothing to solve what I see as the main problem of rear mounted spares; hatch accessibility. In fact this makes it worse since you now have to lift the damn tire assembly to open the hatch.

Timber · Sep 27, 2005

xjj33p3r said:
Have you thought about trying to find a stock XJ tire carrier? Those will hold up to a 32.

Yes, but I can't find any. You'd think that being in Toledo I'd be able to find XJs everywhere in junk yards--none, and they won't let anyone in to just browse, either. My father-in-law is a Jeep engineer and said he could get me either a TJ or KJ spare carrier and in the case of the Kj, all of the internal support junk, but I'm not sure about that. It'd be easier; all I'd have to do is find replacement tailgate struts that would support the extra weight.

xjj33p3r · Sep 27, 2005

Had anyone ever thought of a design that would go upwards with the hatch? By that I mean making a hinge on the roof of the jeep, that will have it's own struts, and that will move upwards with the hatch. It sounds complicated as hell to design, but it may be a fun project.

Timber · Sep 27, 2005

xjj33p3r said:
Had anyone ever thought of a design that would go upwards with the hatch? By that I mean making a hinge on the roof of the jeep, that will have it's own struts, and that will move upwards with the hatch. It sounds complicated as hell to design, but it may be a fun project.

If the arms going from the roof to the mount had something like a slip joint, it wouldn't need struts, would it?

ZPD · Sep 27, 2005

xjj33p3r said:
Had anyone ever thought of a design that would go upwards with the hatch? By that I mean making a hinge on the roof of the jeep, that will have it's own struts, and that will move upwards with the hatch. It sounds complicated as hell to design, but it may be a fun project.

I actually started designing version 4 of my tire carrier (not because I didn't like my third version- I think that it is an excellent design- I was just looking for another challenge). I was going to have it hinge off of a roof rack and utilize struts to assist in swinging it upwards. It could either go up with the tail gate or independant and of course it would be able to be mounted down low for the street and up high for the trails. It was a pretty cool design but I sold my XJ a few months ago and my MJ already has a spacious rear tire carrier

xjj33p3r · Sep 27, 2005

The only thing that I can't really figure out is how to get a strut that would lift up something that heavy. But another idea I had was to use a tj spare tire carrier, and mount it on the hatch, reinforce it on the inside, and have a pretty nifty carrier. But again, struts strong enough to lift something like that are kinda hard to find.... or I haven't heard of them.

Bender · Sep 27, 2005

How about some pneumatic cylinders with rod locks?

use the OBA system to open the hatch, just flick a switch and up it goes, maybe some lights and smoke for the added effect??

Drop-down spare carrier

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