Ok, here's the deal. Rigid Co rear bumper and tire carrier......the screw style latch just isn't cutting the mustard for me. Every time I drive my jeep, the tire carrier works its way loose and starts banging around. No matter how tight I screw the damn thing in, it always seems to come loose. So I'm taking on this next project with an extremely open mind. I need a latch that is easy to operate, holds tight without loosening during driving, can hold a 35x12.50 tire secure as well as the swing arm, and can be easily added to the Rigid Co rear bumper. Any suggestions? This is what I have right now....
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Tire Carrier Latch
- Thread starter 53guy
- Start date
XJ_Vikings
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Simsbury, CT
just a suggestion to fix the stock latch; maybe a rubber washer to add a little friction to the knob to prevent it backing out? Im not overly familiar with the rigid latch system but i have heard many others complain about it. Have you thought about a cam lever?
fatwreck
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- ottawa, il
This is what was on my BPI bumper:
I think you can pick that part up from mcmaster-carr for about $25-$30. It latches up to a piece of angle with a little nubbin hanging off.
I think you can pick that part up from mcmaster-carr for about $25-$30. It latches up to a piece of angle with a little nubbin hanging off.
fatwreck
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- ottawa, il
That latch NEVER came loose on me. It's almost impossible.....even after dropping off of this and hitting it on the way down....it was still tight.
I haven't seen rigidco's design in person, but I would try to fix the problem first....and then switch to something like the one I used to have. As long as your tire carrier is strong enough, then that latch will hold it in place and keep it from moving.
I haven't seen rigidco's design in person, but I would try to fix the problem first....and then switch to something like the one I used to have. As long as your tire carrier is strong enough, then that latch will hold it in place and keep it from moving.
Well, Rigid's latch style is a screw style that just screws into the bumper end cap. The problem that I'm having is that it not only is it rusting on the inside threads, but the only thing keeping the screw in place is a lock washer that is used to "put pressure" on the nob. It doesn't put enough pressure apparently because no matter how tight it is screwed on, it seems to work its way loose. I don't know of any way to "fix" the screw type other than torquing the hell out of it with a monkey wrench.
fatwreck
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- ottawa, il
It sounds like you need to switch it out then. The little red piece is just a place for your thumb....so when you unlock it....you can swing the ubolt away from the nubbin it catches on. I don't think I ever used it though.
jxj
NAXJA Member # 1559
- Location
- Washington
You probably talked to Terry about the problem, what did he have to say?
I talked to him about it and he said the rust is caused by something with the bolt and they stopped using that type, but he still hasn't gotten back to me about a better design. But if I can make one rather than have him build me one, then I'll do that. It'll be cheaper for me. Unless he wants me to test it for him that is......(too bad he never gets online any more).
I think I'm going to go with that latch, just cut the one that's already there off, weld up the end of the swing arm and use that latch. JRC uses that latch as well and they put a hitch pin in to sorta act as a lock. That's more than fine for me. Soooo....something like this....
a problem I'm also having is that there is a TON of flex in the swing arm. I think it might be associated with the end caps that are bolted on and not welded to the main frame of the bumper. Does anyone (who doesn't own a Rigid Co product) have similar problems with their swing arms?
a problem I'm also having is that there is a TON of flex in the swing arm. I think it might be associated with the end caps that are bolted on and not welded to the main frame of the bumper. Does anyone (who doesn't own a Rigid Co product) have similar problems with their swing arms?
ruggedjeep
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Sherman Oaks
Let me know what u decide to go with, as i am in the same boat. On top of that mine makes contact with the tail-light
So after months and months of trying to figure out what to do, I ended up getting the 2000lb latch that McMaster-Carr sells. I definately got the Stainless Steel one because I wasn't about to throw it on and then let it rust two days later. It cost about twice as much, but in the long run will be better. I started by figuring out what I needed to do. I needed a latch that would pull both forward as well as down, so that both horizontal and vertical movement was covered. That left me with either using two latches or getting one strong latch and using it to pull at a 45 degree angle, thus giving me forward as well as a downward pull. So the fab begins....
First started out by cutting off the old latch that sucked....I cut it off right before the welds. You'll have to take the swivel thingy out first. There's only a cotter pin in there, which showed signs of being threaded into the hole along with the bolt....not a great design IMHO.
Next I figured out how I was going to mount the latch. I could either cut into the swing arm, weaking it and putting the latch closer to the tail light, an already tight area, or add onto the swing arm, putting more material onto the swing arm and putting the latch further away from the tail light. That worked the best for me.
I decided to use a peice of 2x4 box, cutting of two sides and making a 45 degree face which I drilled holes and welded nuts on the inside. It worked well and almost was a perfect fit. I chose to use bolts to hold the latch in place, in case I ever needed to replace the latch, it would be much easier.
Randy (a good friend of Rich....Non-stick....and mine) then proceded to weld....
We boxed in the end of the swing arm and then test fit the latch to see where it would attach to on the bumper side.
We spot welded some angle iron to the end cap, where the old latch would have screwd into. This covered the hole as well as gave us a good spot to put the attaching point. With it all mocked up, it looked something like this....
First started out by cutting off the old latch that sucked....I cut it off right before the welds. You'll have to take the swivel thingy out first. There's only a cotter pin in there, which showed signs of being threaded into the hole along with the bolt....not a great design IMHO.
Next I figured out how I was going to mount the latch. I could either cut into the swing arm, weaking it and putting the latch closer to the tail light, an already tight area, or add onto the swing arm, putting more material onto the swing arm and putting the latch further away from the tail light. That worked the best for me.
I decided to use a peice of 2x4 box, cutting of two sides and making a 45 degree face which I drilled holes and welded nuts on the inside. It worked well and almost was a perfect fit. I chose to use bolts to hold the latch in place, in case I ever needed to replace the latch, it would be much easier.
Randy (a good friend of Rich....Non-stick....and mine) then proceded to weld....
We boxed in the end of the swing arm and then test fit the latch to see where it would attach to on the bumper side.
We spot welded some angle iron to the end cap, where the old latch would have screwd into. This covered the hole as well as gave us a good spot to put the attaching point. With it all mocked up, it looked something like this....
After we got the attaching point at the right pull angle, we fully welded the whole mount into spot and gusseted the back of it to give it a bit more strength. We plug welded the bolt holes for the attaching point to the angle iron. It should hold rather well. We put the swing arm stop on the bumper, bolted it on and made sure it would hold the swing arm in position.
After everything was where we wanted, we cleaned it up a bit, adjusted the lever and realized we didn't get the latch at a 90 degree like we had wanted to, so the latch wouldn't lock like advertised. Realizing that it would be almost impossiable to get a direct 90 degree pull because of swing arm clearance to the latching point, we had to brainstorm for a bit. To fix this, we took some metal off the lever arm as well as some of the lever mount so that it had a full 90+ degree of latching movement. It held AWESOME after that. There was also some clearance issues with my high lift jack, so we took a bit off the length of the lever arm...issue solved.
And a shot directly from the back. You'll notice that its not mounted quite at a 45 degree angle, but more shallow, like a 30 degree so that it has more forward pull than downward, but still has a downward pull to it.
And on the way home, we stopped at AutoZone to get some paint and put a bit on in the parking lot. We're not quite done yet, but we reached a good stopping point. All that is left to do is to box in the other side on the swing arm, so that it keeps the rain and mud and stuff out, but that's gonna be done later in the week when I decide what to do, to either make it a flat angle or to slope it down to the swing arm. Mostly we were just too tired to finish.
And the finished product as of now.
Initial driving impressions were GREAT!!! No more sounds coming from the swing arm as it loosens while driving, no more tire sway, no more everything. It is 100 times easier to latch now, about a million times faster and my wife will actually open it now! It accomplished all of my desires and more. Its holding tighter than before and is much easier in operation. I still have to box in the right side of it and drill a hole for a seconday lock, like JCR has on their's. I'm probably going to use a heavier duty lock than them, but very similar. Haven't decided yet though. I'll put more pictures up when its all said and done. Hope this helps and gives a bit of insight to other guys with the same problems as me. I am going to mail Terry this link so he can see as well....maybe there will be a change in Rigid Co latch design in the future, who knows?
After everything was where we wanted, we cleaned it up a bit, adjusted the lever and realized we didn't get the latch at a 90 degree like we had wanted to, so the latch wouldn't lock like advertised. Realizing that it would be almost impossiable to get a direct 90 degree pull because of swing arm clearance to the latching point, we had to brainstorm for a bit. To fix this, we took some metal off the lever arm as well as some of the lever mount so that it had a full 90+ degree of latching movement. It held AWESOME after that. There was also some clearance issues with my high lift jack, so we took a bit off the length of the lever arm...issue solved.
And a shot directly from the back. You'll notice that its not mounted quite at a 45 degree angle, but more shallow, like a 30 degree so that it has more forward pull than downward, but still has a downward pull to it.
And on the way home, we stopped at AutoZone to get some paint and put a bit on in the parking lot. We're not quite done yet, but we reached a good stopping point. All that is left to do is to box in the other side on the swing arm, so that it keeps the rain and mud and stuff out, but that's gonna be done later in the week when I decide what to do, to either make it a flat angle or to slope it down to the swing arm. Mostly we were just too tired to finish.
And the finished product as of now.
Initial driving impressions were GREAT!!! No more sounds coming from the swing arm as it loosens while driving, no more tire sway, no more everything. It is 100 times easier to latch now, about a million times faster and my wife will actually open it now! It accomplished all of my desires and more. Its holding tighter than before and is much easier in operation. I still have to box in the right side of it and drill a hole for a seconday lock, like JCR has on their's. I'm probably going to use a heavier duty lock than them, but very similar. Haven't decided yet though. I'll put more pictures up when its all said and done. Hope this helps and gives a bit of insight to other guys with the same problems as me. I am going to mail Terry this link so he can see as well....maybe there will be a change in Rigid Co latch design in the future, who knows?
FitchVA
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Roanoke, VA
killer! i really like that setup.
