New Bumper Tire SwingOut Carrier.

ok, my buddy got a Smittybilt rear bumper with tire carrier. Christmas gift! now we got to fit it. The complication is he has shackle relocators, and a gasoline tank skid. We know from info straight from Smittybilt that the mounts they supply will need cutting and welding to clear the shackle relocators, ok We can figure that out. Now today my friend says that he read that the bumper may hit his gasoline tank skid. So we may trim for that too.

Anyway, have any of you got a Smittybilt swingout tire carrier bumper ? Did you modify its mounts to clear shackles, or skid plates?

This seems like a nice bumper with the features he wants, and it was affordable. but do to non stock nature of his jeep, we will have some modifications to do.


What have you done? (Asking for a friend!)

My best friend bought one last year, I tried to talk him out of it and now he hates it. The mounting and the weight is out of this world!

well the bumper arrived at friends house, we did a test fit, it will clear the gasoline tank skid no problem ( he has a Grand Cherokee gasoline tank skid) for the shackle relocators, we trimmed off the top of the bumper mount bracket and will weld an angle piece on it tomorrow, should be easy peasy. It is a nice looking bumper and unlike mine gives some rear protection on the back of the gasoline tank. My bumper does not go that low, I am afraid if some fool rear ends me, my tank might go full Pinto on him. As I am raised up, most cars will go under my bumper. This smittybilt bump is one solid chunk of steel, heavy duty. Now he can get his spare tire off the roof with the bumper swing out carrier! He is just finishing the paint today on the frame stiffener i stall done last week. His rig is getting nice.

Next project is my water pump, which has turned into a saga already, then my frame stiffeners. Still got to finish my led auxiliary light install, need to hook up its switch, and build a door for my storage area behind the rear quarter panel. I also want to find a metal or tough plastic case to mount next to my spare tire on my bumper for added storage. maybe a large metal ammo can or a Pelican case? I got space there cause I dont have the jerry can there, my spare gasoline is roof mounted, sure the center of gravity is high, but it is probably safest place collision wise. I dont want to be rear ended and have that jerry can bust as it crushes on the fiberglass hatch and rear window. Oh yeah, get rear ended and you in the front seat get showered with a cold wet feeling on the back of your neck and shoulders, followed by an orange flash and searing heat, no thanks! My gasoline goes on the roof.

So many projects.

Why not just add 5 gallons to your existing tank and be done with it.
http://gojeep.willyshotrod.com/HowtoFuelTank.htm

Yeah, I recall reading about that modification. I usually when wheeling, or long road trips squeeze in an extra 2 gallons past the shut off by slowly adding gasoline, thus allowing the filler next to burp. Any more and the gasoline spills out. I like having the auto shut off feature too leave me expansion space for times when I park the XJ. top it off, and next hot day, you got gasoline spilt.


Now since I roof rack my gasoline cans, I use light weight 2.5 gallon Blitz cans. Lot easier to handle than the 5 gallon cans. I run four of them on the roof, but I have some 5 gallon cans too, just in case I need to bug out when the big one hits. I got 40 gallons in cans if need be to strap on the roof, thats near over 350 lbs on the rook, yikes! Think of the cruising range with 18 gal. in the tank, 58 gallons, 928 miles!

PS my 60 year old VW fills from the trunk, you can see the bottom of the tank from the large diameter cap, you can top it off to the brim. When you do this, then park the VW in the sun the gasoline expands and burps out the breather hose, forming a puddle of gasoline on the driveway, that car too only gets topped off if I plan on burning thru a bunch immediately like when on a road trip, else I always leave air space for expansion.

With a 30F temperature increase, gasoline expands 2%. that is 0.3 gallon out of 16 gallons. Add a bit of tilt when parked and you may get spilled gasoline

You are correct about the fuel spillage.

ok, we got the Smittybilt bumper installed! modification to fit with the shackle relocator was easy, we cut off the entire flange on the supplied mounts, and welded a 2x2x1/4" angle iron in place of the flange, lowered 1/4 inch to make up for the relocator and an additional 1/8 inch lower to account for the gasoline tank skid. because the angles wall was so close to the mounting bolt heads, we swapped out the hex head for allen cap head bolts.

we also added a 1/4 " spacer ahead of the relocator to level the mounting area to the jeep frame

Nice bumper, and the modification of the mounts was straight forward If you dont weld, you can probably bolt the angle to the plate using half inch long fine threaded bolts, and tap the smittybilt mount for the threads. But we had a welder, and friends genius son did the welding!

All in all, a straight forward modification to clear the relocators