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Ford Explorer Community - Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
I think the receiver mounted carriers are the easiest to make, but eat up departure angle. The BII carrier option mainly seems to suffer from thin body panels needing much shoring up and other fitment details. You still have glass quarter panels, yes? Another idea is a burly bumper mounted swing arm, ala Jeep. Given your skillset fabing, you should have no problems.
I don't have a carrier right now, but I did start researching things... and here is the info (mostly links, but one note) I have from my cheat sheet file. Hope this helps a little. The double shear hinge looks really strong:
You might have seen mine before, I did it like Jefe did in the link posted above by Froader. 2x3x1/4" rectangular tubing inside the stock bumper with a hitch in the center. 1-3/4" Comp4x4 spindle with a 6 or 7" extended mounting sleeve.