Offroad bumpers, tire carriers, and ladders...

[SBJ420]

okay, well I am down by BCIT mon - friday 7:30am - 3:30 or 4pm
let me know what you want to do.

 

[pope_face]

Tommorow would work pretty well... and not to be an idiot or anything, but how do you mount the tire to it? I figured there'd be something to bolt it to...

 

[SBJ420]

well you see that part that sticks up in the air on the second pic?? it mounts to that, to the rim of the tire. thats the side that faces out. I will need to check it out tho. Now you got me thinking. I will need to take a look

 

[pope_face]

I figured that's the side that faces out and all... but I'm just wondering what keeps it from falling off... does it have something that goes through the bolt holes, or what?

 

[SBJ420]

yeah I know what you are saying... I just cant remember what holds it on. Anyone???
I have never ran a BII with this on

 

[pope_face]

Hahaha... well, at least this project is getting somewhere. And someone should know what to do... if not, maybe I'll offer you a 12 pack instead and use a u-bolt...

 

[SBJ420]

okay I found what holds it on, I think as far as I can tell, also the plate the latch attaches too
its back to a 24pac

 

[pope_face]

Hahahahaha... I suppose it is... but, those brackets look a little big (and flimsy) to mount a tire on...


So, tommorow sound good? And I suppose it is a 24 pack... I'm hoping you mean cans though...

You have the bolts and all to go with it too, right?

 

[pope_face]

SBJ... could I ask a huuuuuuge favour of you?

Do you have a picture of the rear of your BII? Or the rear right side?

 

[SBJ420]

hahaha cans, or bottles, what ever is cheaper for you. I dont have a pic but here is a link that found be this one
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=178543 Just go a few post down.
I found all the Nuts and bolts, and the big wing nut that goes on the J to hold the tire on.
give me a call any time tomorrow, this is my direct line 604-676-8911 my name is Lee, or e-mail me at leecolinmurray@shaw.ca and give my your name and # and Ill call you. You can come any time at all, I work right beside BCIT

 

[pope_face]

Hahaha... exactly what I needed... I didn't realize that it came in behind the hatch. Looks like my two choices are either cut away that part of the hatch and mount it there, or slice off that little part that goes in behind the hatch and use a piece of flatbar along the body panel... I'll sort something out though.

Looks like I'm in business though! After I do the install I'll have to borrow a 33" from someone to make sure it won't be too flimsy...

 

[pope_face]

Updates!

Alright, I just got back from picking up the carrier from Lee... And I suppose this has officially become a "build" thread... or, at least a pre-writeup on the carrier.

Upon careful inspection of the carrier, I've noticed some important points that I didn't consider originally...

First off, as was mentioned before, the top bracket mounts onto the side of the body as well as the space above the taillight, behind the hatch. I'm not sure if it's the same for all Ex's, but on mine the angled part just over the taillight (under the hatch) is too high and far to the outside of the body to simply mount the bracket there. It would either have to be mounted up higher, where it would interfere with the window and the bracket for the hatch support, or out further away from the body, in which case the bolts might not have enough support, resulting in the problem of it having too much flex for a 33" tire.

Next, I've realized that the bottom bracket does not fit the body under the taillight. The inside of the bracket is cut square, whereas the body of the Ex is rounded. Also, the Ex has the dimple/notch/whatever along the bottom of the body panel, just above the rear bumper, that stretches from one wheelwell, around the back, along the hatch, and to the other wheelwell. Ignoring the top mount for a moment, the bottom bracket could be mounted onto the body, but it would likely not be strong enough to hold a tire.

Next, mounting the carrier low enough to not interfere with the side window or hatch or anything could make it difficult to mount even a standard sized tire.

Finally, there is the issue of strength... I know anyone following this thread (and people trying to find information on it in the future) is mostly interested in this for wheels too big to fit under the rear... in essence, 33's and over. And, as I've read several times, improper mounting results in flexing or cracking of the body. So, the carrier has to be mounted in such a way to minimize flex when open and to provide the strength needed to hold a 33" solidly while on a trail.

 

[pope_face]

Now, an overview of what I want to do... I want to be able to mount the spare tire carrier on the back of the Ex in such a way that does not require too much fabrication or cost. I'm sure there are things that people would rather spend money on than this, and if we could all afford to we'd just buy the bumper mounted ones and away we go. Now, I just picked up a welder, so I have yet to actually learn to use it, so any welding there may be will be minimal. Also, I'm a student and work part time, so I won't be paying a shop to mount this for me. Finally, I'm going to try to mount this so that it can fit a 33" without flexing the body when open, while retaining a mostly stock appearance.

Now... for the fun stuff... the brackets appear to be one piece aluminum or steel... the tubing for the carrier itself is squared off at the end with a hole drilled vertically through it... the tubing sits between two "tabs" on the bracket... these tabs have holes drilled in them, and everything is secured with a bolt with one of those lock washers (or whatever they're called). Now, I can choose to keep the stock brackets and modify them to work with the body, or I can replace them. At the moment, I'm doubting that modifying the brackets would be easy, so I think I'm just going to remove them and make my own.

Also, maybe I'm taking the easy way out on this, but I'm mounting the carrier so that the bottom of it almost touches the bumper itself... This will allow me to mount it low enough to clear the side window and the taillight. Normally this wouldn't allow anything to me mounted to the carrier, negating the point of having one, but I'm going to mount it so that the "outside" of the tubing sits level or just behind the back of the bumper... that means that the tire will sit behind the bumper, rather than over it. Not only will this give me virtually no limit on tire size, but it'll also give me more clearance between the carrier and the hatch, in case I want to add a hi-lift jack or whatnot there in the future.

Sorry for the super long post, but that's the rundown on the carrier... This is only the introduction though... I'm one of those people that likes to know all the details of what I'm doing, so if this gets mounted expect a long write-up... I'll be asking a lot of questions and posting a lot of findings.

Thanks to everyone that has commented and helped out so far... If it wasn't for that support, I probably wouldn't have gotten this far...

 

[Gatorblazer]

Maybe we are thinking of this all wrong. Instead of adapting the BII carrier to work, what if we looked around for other vehicles that have the carriers? Maybe one of them might be closer to what we need. Something like a sportage, s10blazer, pathfinder or trooper might have better measurements for us. I thought of this while sitting in traffic behind a pathfinder yesterday

 

[CodePoet]

aftermarket blazer works

look up explorerkids old one

Personally i'd just build a new bumper, weld a spindle on, get the hub for that spindle and a lock out and build the carrier off that. Shouldn't cost a whole lot if you have a few parts laying around.

 

[pope_face]

I agree with the idea of using other vehicle's tire carriers... especially since I doubt the BII carrier will work with the stock brackets without heavy modification... however, with what I'm going to be trying to do, it works well... the sizing is nice, and it's a fairly readily available part for us.

As for the bumper part... I'm hoping to be able to get this done without too much fabrication... I know that I'm going to have to strengthen the body and all, and I suppose I could use the BII brackets without too much trouble... it would just be a matter of adjusting where they mount to, as well as slicing off the tab that goes behind the hatch on the upper bracket. Some sort of angle iron should work for the bottom bracket though... you'd just have to bolt it to the frame as well, as otherwise there may not be enough space to put the bolts through the bracket...

However, I've got the BII carrier now, and the wheels are turning... I didn't get paid yesterday, so it's a matter of waiting until at least Wednesday to get some money so I can head out to Rona or Home Depot and pick up some steel to get this thing going...

 

[Arthur]

Maybe we are thinking of this all wrong. Instead of adapting the BII carrier to work, what if we looked around for other vehicles that have the carriers? Maybe one of them might be closer to what we need. Something like a sportage, s10blazer, pathfinder or trooper might have better measurements for us. I thought of this while sitting in traffic behind a pathfinder yesterday

My friend has a 94 trooper and I already checked out his tire carrier. It brings me back to this picture because it is the exact same set up.

 

[SVO42]

Hey, pope face (sounds like an insult in a way, doesn't it? : ), could you do me a favor? I want to see for myself how the brackets would look on my Explorer (spacing-wise). What is the exact distance between the bottom of the top bracket and the top of the bottom bracket? How "tall" is each bracket? Thanks in advance.

 

[pope_face]

SVO...

Sorry about not getting back to you about that sooner... I didn't have a measuring tape, but I've got one now... however, I don't have a camera, so I can't get you pics... however, the distance between the top of the bottom bracket and the bottom of the top bracket is 14 3/8", the bottom bracket is 2 1/2" tall at the highest point, and the top bracket is 3 1/4" tall at the biggest point...

Hopefully that made sense... I tried to take pics, but it's dark... I'll take some tomorrow...

 

[Arthur]

yeah i wana see how this works out