oldguy52

Decided to take a shot at it with a really limited budget. I have a buddy that fabs steel for buildings and got me a length of 4" C channel and some scraps of 4 x 1/4 flat so I had a running start.

I bought at HD a short length of 3/4" and 1 1/2" black pipe and two 7" long 3/4" bolts as well as two 4' lengths 1 1/4 square tube. Cost about $70

First I cut out a pair of slugs 2 3/4 O.D. with 1" hole in the center from scrap 1/4" flat.





I made a set of mounting tabs from 1/4" scrap and cut 1.5" length of the 1.5" pipe and a 4.85" length of the 3/4" pipe. Parts for swivel looked like this.





Here it is assembled. The 1" hole saw made an almost prefect fit for the 3/4" pipe. The trick is square and even. If off by even a fraction it will bind as it rotates. The shims are spacers so after tacked to together it rotates freely even after bolt is tightened. I further carefully ground down the 3/4" a couple thousands to remove additional play.




Here's the swing arms assembled.













With a little graphite grease on the pivots it swung easy and smooth.
Complete and painted. Also added to parts a pair of D tabs from JCR for $29 plus ship, gerry can with holder for $75 plus ship and license plate bracket with light so total cost just about $200 even.




Not the prettiest work I've done but it is sturdy even with the weight of the tire and functional. With a dual swing I can open in my garage otherwise a full swing would have been tight.

jay_sco

Dual swing? So the tire swings to the left and the can swings to the right? That's pretty ingenious! Looks good, and can't beat the price.

offroadordnance

I'm reporting you to an admin, this clearly belongs in Fab section!

Nice job!

Fred/N0AZZ

Nice job but was there a reason for not using roller bearings on the top and bottom of the pivot bolt with a zerk? If it had those IMHO it would be about perfect and the price outstanding. All the dust, dirt, mud in there can make for it to be harder opening where a sealed bearing wouldn't be affected.


Very nice job and easy to see this was NOT your first welding job for sure. I agree needs more photos and moved to Fab.

oldguy52

I could have done the JCR $149 spindle kit but it would have added considerably to the price. Yeah it would've been nice but I think overkill. I'll let time prove me otherwise but I believe this going to hold up nicely in spite of environmental factors. Want to see if a simple design can suffice.

Not first time welding although 35 years of driving a computer admittedly have made me rusty. Just getting back to the things I used to love doing for what then was too little pay. Never understood why the people who know how to actually make things can't get better wages than suits behind a desk. Of course if you can't beat em, join em.

Bryan98XJ

looks great!!

andrewmp6

How good is the bumper tied in to the jeep ?

oldguy52

1/4" and 3/8" plate tee'd and stiffened with frame tie in. Don't think it's going anywhere.

Fred/N0AZZ

You used the hitch frame rail strips on each side with the hardware for it also. That's good if not they tend to break off in short order if not tied to those. In fact more than a few factory bumpers has this issue with breaking off.