Tire Carrier

[Paul]

Just got the truck back this evening with my new fabbed tire carrier !!

Bought the http://www.rockstompers.com hinge for $40, and had the same guy who fabbed my winch mount install the tire carrier.

The bumper is a Smittybilt dual tube bumper. It currently holds a 33" tire, but there is room for a 35" tire when I bump up to the next level.

These photos are poor (was dark by the time I got the rig home). I'll take some more tomorrow after I Herculine the carrier.

Paul
'91 Sport

 

[Paul]

The bottom bar has the same bends as the Smittybilt tubes. The carrier swings from the drivers side. The guy who put it together wanted it to be symmetrical, so he built a pressure latch on the passenger's side of the bumper. The carrier is held closed in the same manner as an ammo can. I'll take a few pics of that tomorrow if anyone is interested.

I'm pretty stoked on how well it came out. . .

Paul
'91 Sport

P.S. Thanks to CBoug76 for posting the link about the rockstompers hinge

 

[Jason_25]

Paul, Lookin good!

I'm having one made right now as well, unfortunately it doesn't have a rockstomper hinge though

 

[Trckmagik]

That looks great. So does the Hinge just get welded on to whatever they design?

 

[Paul]

Thanks for the comments

Jason - I bought the rockstomper hinge because it was far less moola than having the guy who built the carrier spend time and money fabbing his own hinge. The materials alone for the rockstomper hinge must cost at least $20. Figure and hour or so to make a hinge from scratch, and you can see why I opted for the rockstomper.

Brian - The hinge is mounted into the top tube of the bumper. If you check out the hinge on the rockstomper web site you can see that the hinge has a "post" (okay - - so I'm not too proficient with the technical mumbo-jumbo) on the bottom. The guy who built it cut out a portion of the bumper, dropped the hinge in, welded it to the top and bottom portion of the tube, and that was it. He also made a flange on the top of the bumper tube to accommodate the curve of the bumper.

I've had the Smittybilt for about 5 years. It was still in good condition, so I wanted to build on to the existing bumper than start from scratch. If you want I'll include some photos tomorrow of how the hinge was mounted to the bumper. . .

Paul
'91 Sport

 

[Trckmagik]

Yea that would be great.

 

[CBoug76]

Your Welcome......

 

[Paul]

Hinge Shot

Okay -

Here is the pic of the hinge. . .

 

[Paul]

Here is the "ammo can" style latch. . . Closed

 

[Paul]

Here is the "ammo can" latch . . . Open

 

[Paul]

"Herc-uleeze, Herc-uleeze, Herc-uleeze" !!

Here is the whole schmear with a fresh coat of Herculiner on it. . .

 

[taxx]

sweeeet!

 

[Bigcheck1]

if you dont mind me asking, how much did you pay to have that fabbed up for you?

 

[Paul]

Bigcheck1-

As far as the cost for the fab work, it was probably one of the cheaper mods I've had done.

The hinge was $40, delivered to my door was an additional $8. The cost to have the tire carrier made was $160 - - Pretty freakin' reasonable if you ask me. . .

When you add the locking lug nut and amount of Herculiner it took to cover the carrier it still comes in way under $250.

I decided to go with round tube because of the style of my bumpers and rock sliders.

Once again, I'm pretty excited about how well it all turned out.

Paul
'91 Sport

 

[Bigcheck1]

i am thinking of doing this same thing in may possibly. i like the smittybuilt bumper and am trying to figure out how i would get one to work with a body lift, ever since i did the body lift i have not liked how i moved my bumper up and am wanting to get the tubular style anyway. if i could find a way to make it work with the body lift then i woud go this route. i like how yours turned out and may actually take those pics to a fab shop and let them play around for me a bit. thanks for the pricing info, i'll try it this summer when i'm working again i suppose

 

[GJarrett]

Lookin' Great, Paul! I HOPE to see it next month

 

[Perry]

Looks good
As you might know I have one that I made that is kind of like yours. The one thing you have to be careful of is backing into something or in my case climbing something to steep and hitting the bumper hard on a rock. Even though it seems pretty stiff it still will move and leave a nasty dent in the rear hatch.

 

[Paul]

Thanks

Perry -

Thanks for the warning. I've seen a few guys with tire carriers who have banged up their hatch a bit due to flex.

I've been thinking on how to reduce the possibility of that from happening. . . no great ideas yet.

Paul
'91 Sport

 

[JoshC]

Man, Paul that is awesome on, nice going!! Looks great with everything herculined!! Did the ammo style latch come with that or just the hinge? Always wondered how everyone was locking these things down.

Happy trails!!

 

[Perry]

Re: Thanks

Originally posted by Paul

I've been thinking on how to reduce the possibility of that from happening. . . no great ideas yet.

Paul
'91 Sport

Good luck because I thought I had mine braced pretty darn well and I still dented my hatch. I'll get pics this weekend or if I can this evening.