home made tire carrier Ver. 2.0

[2ndGen]

actually, i added a Hi-Lift mount so i don't have to put it on the roof or front bumper. i used to carry the second spare on the roof, but real... i could never put a 60 pound tire back on to the roof by myself after changing it. i don't want to carry the Hi-Lift on the front bumper is because the front end is already heavy enough for the suspension with the engine and ARB bumper.

this is true one-person operated, non-back-breaking design. i used some basic power tools and handtools, welded with both mig and tig. comes with relocated licens plate and light, so it's totally street legal.

here is how it looks:


[img width=599 height=800]http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w38/tonniechengca/spare/DSC02999.jpg[/img]

tag light is plugged into the standard 4-wire trailer light plug.



pull out this safety pin



the whole thing folds back and holds itself, alos it clears the path for the back gate, you got full access of the trunk.



the bottom of the Hi-Lift is held on by 3 1/2" pins tig welded to a plate. the Hi-Lift foot plate has those holes from factory, so no modification on it at all



gasset on the bottom of the plate




home made slider adapter, costs: <$3



Hi-Lift was secured with one single 3/8" bolt on top, i put a swaybar bushing between the mounting tab and jack shaft to provent noise. the jack can be removed by only loosen up one nut,



the fullsize spare was secured by 3 wheel locks.

[4Runner202020]

have you thought about making it come out of the trailer hitch at an angle? it just seems like that will get hung up on a lot of stuff going up steep hills, or coming off tall ledges. i mean my bumper is tucked way up there (almost sits higher than my 35's) and i still hit it.

bobby

[2ndGen]

i thought about it but i'm limited by the tools and materials on hand. basically the tubings i used are:
a.) 1/8" wall, 2" HREW square tubing for the receiver, tire plate arm and short vertical piler.
b.) 1/8" wall, 1-3/4" HREW square tubbing for the swing out arm.

these are cheap materials that i can find everywhere. but the receiver tube goes up with an angle, there will be one extra weld, i think the strength of 1/8" wall won't be adequate. in the 5th picture form top, you can see i welded a full 2-inch long tubing stacked to work as a gusset, if i use 3/16" wall tubing, then i do NOT think i could find 1-5/8" tubing for the swing arm. well, 1/4" wall is just way too expensive for an experiment.

by the way, i have BruceTS rear bumer, its built-in hitch is already couple inches higher than the most stock hitch.

[4Runner202020]

got ya. it looks good none the less!!

bobby

[Chapman88SR5]

Did you get the idea from bike racks? Nice job.