xjbones

has anyone on cf built a swing down tire carrier? im building one this weekend and just wondered how to make it "latch" up while driving. i have some ideas. one is i have led tail lights in my bumper, so i could box in my stock tail lights, and weld my latches to those (kind of like poison spiders tj stinger tire carrier pins) and put led turn signals down lower. i saw another guy on cf that had the latch on the tail gate thru the fiberglass. i dont know if i like this with a 50-75 lb tire carrier plus my 37'' spare. i think it would rip my hatch off, or put nice big cracks in it. plus im prob going to buy 38's next.

please let me know you opinions

DJKnightmare

Just roll down your back windows, wrap the whole thing up in duct tape and then in one window and out the other side a few hundred times.

No seriously, what I thought about doing was fairly similar. I thought about fabing up some boxes in place of the tail light housings. Weld the latches to them. then placing LEDs above the original place, in the fiberglass hatch.

also thought about sinking in some reverse lights high on the hatch to throw out more light.

claygrassmann

you should check out cruzin illusions build or write up im not sure which but he mad a really nice one and he tied it into a roll cage alot like yours

19558077

i seen a fold down hitch bike rack on here that would work for me, with a little fab work for the wheel mount.

xjbones

i have no probwith fab work....its fun.

X1994J

I'm the guy with it bolted through the fiberglass, and it works awesome might I add. I have two plates about 3 x 4 inch, 1/4" thick, they are bolted through the hatch with four bolts, like 3/8" I think, then some LARGE, like 2 inch washers on the back of each. It has two 5/8 pull pins at the top, I used leaf spring bushing at the hatch and at the bumper to take any vibration out of it. Here's a few pics.....

ALso, that is a 35 X 12.50 tire, on a 15x10 steel wheel, with the bead locks. And it still works flawlessly. Been daily driven, jumped, Moab'd, you name it. Anybody on here that's seen it in person or wheeled with me can vouch it works with no issues.

xjbones

you are the exact person i was talking about......im gonna just do it your way because i think it will look wierd with the tubes running to my tail lights. thanks for your input!!!!!!!

nick_n_ii

How is your fiberglass hatch holding up to the pulling on it? Have any pics of the inside mounts? Inside the hatch that is.

X1994J

Dude, I was pretty skeptical about it when I first did it. I am a painter so I figured worst case re-paint a hatch and throw it on, and re-design it. But it's been almost a year and no issues. And i've wheeled it hard, long list of broken parts. It was very simple to build too, like 2 hours in my buddies garage. Good luck!

P.S.- I get a ton of compliments on the looks of it too, it's a sexy setup for sure.

X1994J

I could definitely get some tonight, show you exactly what I had to do. I had to remove some of the inside of the hatch to make room for the washers, I just used a die grinder and it was cake. The hatch is holding up great. I check for cracks from time to time just to double check, but never find anything. I figure the weight of it pulling is spread out evenly enough it doesnt cause any cracks or tearing of the fiberglass. I was also very surprised at how thick the fiberglass was when I was drilling the holes, pretty thick stuff.

nick_n_ii

Cool those pics would be great...

xjbones

just picked up this tire carrier from the scrap yard when i went to buy metal to build my tire carrier. im gonna chop off the swing out and latch, then make it into a swing down. i was walking out and saw this and asked how much? $20.....saved alot of time in building my own and a buch of money on metal!!

X1994J

Looks like a steal! My main piece at the top was a front bumper tire carrier for a 69 Ford truck, I cut it up and changed the bolt pattern to fit mine then went from there.

xjbones

just finishing up the swing down carrier....









im gonn try to sneek a high lift mount between the tubes in the last pic

claygrassmann

looks good man but why not tie it into the cage? like at the top or on the sides? you might have been able to make a swing out based off the cage