Time to get my bed back, building my swing out tire carrier... | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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Time to get my bed back, building my swing out tire carrier...

MidnightRebel07

Explorer Addict
Joined
March 6, 2010
Messages
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City, State
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Year, Model & Trim Level
2003 Explorer Sport Trac
Building my swing out tire carrier...Build pic's added...

"Mods, please don't move this thread as it's 'Sport Trac' specific, thanks". I'm going to make a build thread for the offroad fab section.

Since I have dual exhuast and 33's I can't put my spare under the bed so it takes up most of the inside of my bed.

I've been doing tons of R&D for the past year or so and after having a baby boy 2 months ago I need my bed back to haul the stroller, etc.. When I've been hauling everything under the sun with my Trac I've had to take my spare out and leave it at home.

I did have the spare up on the roof mounted to a Yakima MegaWarrior but have since sold that to another member because I couldn't fit my Trac under most low clearances (fast food places, parking garages, etc.) plus it killed my fuel mileage.

(dead links)

So I removed the bumper cover, bumper, etc. and took alot of measurements, pictures, markings, etc...

I was going to fab up something similair to Jefe's build but as the rest of you ST owners know, we have plastic bumper covers and reinforcements so I didn't/ couldn't go that route. Instead I've devised a design I believe alot of the of you will be recreating soon after I post my build thread.

I'll be using 2", 1/8" thick square tubing for the swing out tire carrier, 6x6, 3/16" thick angle iron and some 3/16" steel plate to make gussets for reinforcement.

I search alot of diffierent forums and found the spindle kit that I feel will work best for me and the price was the best for what I needed. I'll be adding a pull pin to lock the carrier in place while it's open because there's too many hills around here not to secure it.

Here's a link to Jefe's build for reference...

Jefe's Rear Bumper / Tire Carrier

Here's a picture of the Spindle Kit I bought from EMS Offroad. It's the $100 kit with everything.

(dead links)

Link to EMS Offorad...

EMS Offroad

I'll be adding to this as I go, hopefully I'll have it done this Saturday, I'll try and take as many pictures as I can as my buddy and I build it.
 



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Sweet! Subscribing.
 






This will be good!
 






More pictures coming soon.
 












Ok, so I went to my buddy's house today and pulled the steel off of the back hillside that I'll be using to build my tire carrier. Took it home and started cutting it apart to the length's needed.

Here's some pitures of what I'm using... An old heavy duty home made weight lifting bench, a 2" square tube both are slightly thicker than 3/16" thick, a long piece of 6x6 angle iron and a 4x6 angle iron that are 3/8" thick...
(dead links)

Here's the wooden mock up carrier I made for measurement purposes So I can see how high and where I wanted the tire to sit. Used it to know where to make all the markings on the bumper cover, reinforcement and step pads.
(dead links)

Sorry, it's pretty dark in the picture but here's all the pieces rough cut to length. I'm gonna take tomorrow and grind, sand and finish cutting everything.(dead links)

Hopefully the weather stays clear enough tomorrow for me to get alot more done outside, gotta wait to get an open spot in the my custom truck club's garage to weld everything up and get it mounted.

More to come......
 












Nope, it'll be swinging out to the right. Most that I've seen swing to the left but I figure since I live in the city it'd be best to swing out to the right side, plus the left side already has most of the weight on it so I'm trying to even it out alittle.

In the picture of the mock up I had the 6x6 wood blocks holding the tire up into position for visual mock up.

I hope the weather cooperates tomorrow.
 






Ok so the weather put work on hold for a couple days. It's supposed to warm up to the high 30's to low 40's Monday and Tuesday. Hopefully Carol won't be gone too long tomorrow so I can finish up prep work on the metal and start knotching the bumper cover and reinforcement. Hope to get the Trac in the garage Monday or Tuesday to weld everything up. I'll try and take more pictures tomorrow in the daylight so y'all can see the progress.
 






Man Jerry, you're as big a scavenger as I am! :D Suggestion ..... engineer in a place for the back-up camera. I think you might need one with that spare sticking up there. ;) How are you going to "latch" it into stowed position?
 






Looking good, can't wait to see this. Supposed to be a halfway decent week, today ended up being beautiful out. I'll be painting my skid plate, and working on my grandparents car this week, Not too many decent days left to do stuff like that outside.
 






Looking good, can't wait to see this. Supposed to be a halfway decent week, today ended up being beautiful out. I'll be painting my skid plate, and working on my grandparents car this week, Not too many decent days left to do stuff like that outside.

It's funny, it's the opposite down here. Winter is what I get most of my vehicle work done. Other times the heat just kills me. Doing my body lift in the middle of summer was rough.
 






Yeah, the wife decided she'd go out with her BFF so I was watching Matthew all day and couldn't get outside. I told her I'm taking this week and finishing it up so there'll be more pictures up tomorrow. I have two days of good weather left so gotta get on it. Steve, I'll be mounting the tire as low as possible so I don't obstruct my view too much.
 






You could drop it on down into the license plate recess of the bumper if you put the plate inside the wheel area.....
 






Steve, that was in my original design. It's up so high in the picture for mock up because I couldn't hold it in place and step back to check it out so the wood blocks held it there for me.

My buddy has 26 acres and most of which is covered with steel, heavy equipment, car parts, cars, trucks, etc... If he ever decided to scrap it all he'd have $100k-120k, no b.s..

As for the latch, I'm using the 2,000lb latch from the kit pitured and I'll be fabricating a pull pin bracket to hold it open.
 






Ok I got alot done today. The plastic bumper reinforcement and bumper cover are both notched and cut to allow for the steel L channel to be welded in place on the bumper brackets, spindle and latch bracket. I'll fininsh grinding and sanding down the metal tomorrow, making the gussets for the spindle and cut the holes in the step pads for the spindle and latch bracket/ rubber isolator.

I'm making a Photobucket account so I can share all the pictures I have from the build. As soon as the pictures are done uploading I'll post a link for y'all to check them out.

Oh ya on a side note, dickie work shirts "DO" catch on fire from grind ambers fairly easily, never had this happen. I was grinding today, looked down and noticed my shirt was on fire, not a little, big flames. I put it out with my hand but my Down2EarthCustoms shirt (my custom truck club) is alittle crispy on the front. I'll post pictures of the shirt on the photobucket page too.
 






Ha, careful Jerry. Gotta watch those sparks, man. :)
Can't wait to see it completed. Will look rugged.
 






:fire::help::bsnicker::wavey:

Yep, I can make fun of myself. Never had that happen before but I know others that have. Always a first time for everything...:D
 



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WTH is up with PhotoBucket, I made an account, uploaded all the pictures, checked them out, signed out and now it won't let me back in even after changing my password. WTH. I'll figure it out or have Carol figure it out, she has more patience with computers. I'll get the pictures up as soon as I can.
 






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