Rear Bumper/Spare Tire Mount Thoughts

[351FUN]

I haven't read through the entire thread Gary, but I made something like this for my Blazer with a Curt spare mount and a folding hitch adapter.  I cut the end of the curt assembly off and mounted it into the adapter, all told it was less than $150 but it folds down so it can be pretty heavy to lift back up.  In the bull I have the spare in the bed taking up the front third unfortunately.

[Gary Lewis]

So you used something in the trailer hitch?

And yes, I have a 33" tire taking up a whole lot of what is left of the bed - after the toolbox and cover canister.  So I really would like to get this bumper built.  But, to follow the work there you should go to Big Blue's Transformation.  Start there and scroll up a few posts.

[Gary Lewis]

Just an update.  I saw an advert for an Affordable Offroad bumper today and followed up.  Their Elite bumper with a pair of 3/4" D-ring shackles, a spare tire carrier capable of 37" tires, 4x4" Nilight flush mount lights, all powder coated black comes in right at $1500 with free shipping.  The bumper is made of 3/16" steel, so should be substantial.

When Janey and I took Big Blue to New Mexico last year we had the bed FULL of suitcases and totes for the camping gear.  If I get to do something like that again I think I'll put that bumper on.  That will sure free up a lot of space in the bed by getting that 33" tire out of the middle of it.

[ArdWrknTrk]

What happened to your tailgate gate plans with the spare and Jerry can???

[Gary Lewis]

Too much else to do and too little time or energy with which to do it.  This looks "close enough" to what I wanted to make it acceptable.  I did want to put the receiver in the bumper, but they don't do that.  Oh well, I have a receiver on the truck that's rock solid.

And with two gas tanks I really don't see the need for a Jerry can.  Further, I mounted the jack on the sidewall in the bed, so that isn't needed either.

So when wants/wishes meet limited time/energy something has to give.  

[BigBrother-84]

Gary, maybe I’m missing something…
Does the spare go there?
If so, you have to pull it off each time you need to drop the tail gate?
And what about the license plate visibility?

[Nothing Special]

Looking at the picture of the spare tire carrier in the link Gary posted, the carrier is a swing-away.  So like a Bronco you need to unlatch it and swing it out of the way to open the tailgate.  A slight pain, but everything involving a spare tire involves some compromise.

I couldn't tell from the picture, but it's possible that the tire would ount high enough to leave the license plate visible.  But that would mean it would be higher, blocking visibility to the rear.  Again, compromises.  Or you could relocate the license plate to the center of the tire.  That's pretty common on aftermarket Jeep bumpers/tire carriers since the factory license plate location results in it getting ripped off when rock crawling.

[Gary Lewis]

Right, Bob.  Here's a shot of the spare tire carrier itself and you can see the pivot and the latch.  Can't tell if it clears the license tag, but I'm guessing that it does.

And yes, the tire will obscure the view to the rear, but that's not a problem in my case as I have the rear view camera and only use the interior mirror as a display for the camera(s).

I don't particularly like the full-width design and it means that you have to have a lot of clearance to the rear when opening it.  In fact, I might not be able to open it in the shop.  My design of the latch being just left of center reduces the width a lot.  But then I'm not getting it made either.

[85lebaront2]

Gary. that is why I found and installed a proper factory spare tire carrier on Darth. Since Darth is a DRW truck, the wheels are a deep dish design but the tires are narrower (215/85R-16). It took some modification to the spare tire carrier so it would clear the bumper/receiver assembly.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Your narrower tires should only be 30.4" diameter.
You have a hard time fitting them between the receiver side plates?

I don't think Gary wants to deal with crawling under the truck to get the spare, and he has a roll out cover so can't use the 'stand up in the bed' factory type wheel mount.

BB is a lot of "stuff" in a small bag.  😉

[Gary Lewis]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

I don't think Gary wants to deal with crawling under the truck to get the spare, and he has a roll out cover so can't use the 'stand up in the bed' factory type wheel mount.

BB is a lot of "stuff" in a small bag.  😉

  Yep, that is true.

And you can see from the pic above (done w/o a # on the post) that the spare takes up a lot of room in the bed - even though that jack is now on the LH bed side not the tire.  The toolbox reduces the length and then the spare in the middle effectively makes the bed quite small.  So, as said, going to NM last year our suitcases and the needed camping gear had it FULL.  Given that, if I get to do it again I'd like to have the spare on the bumper, and this bumper is a way to do that.

[85lebaront2]

Jim, here's what mine looks like in place:

It wasn't so much the side plates as the actual hitch cross tube and forward end of the receiver.