What happened to all of the hitch mounted tire carriers?

Road Bull said:

I think it's a bit of all the reasons you mentioned that you don't see more of them around. That said, it looks like Wilco offers a decent design for about $600. https://www.wilcooffroad.com/shop/hitchgate-solo/

I have never seen them in the flesh, so I can't comment much on them. But anything you are hanging off your receiver has more potential to lower your departure angle down a bit. The Wilco hitchgate "high clearance" would seem to be the way to go. Also, I would just keep it simple and not try to mount much besides the tire back there.

It is a big jump to find a home for a larger full size spare. I was really considering fabbing up some sort of cargo area mounting situation. This isn't really ideal, but it is a simple fix. Most everything else is a rear bumper swing out. If you thought you were going to end up with a full rear swing out solution you could do it in stages. Buy the bumper first, add the swing out when funds allow. Delayed gratification sucks, I know. You could do this with most swing out options. Some you would just need to let know that you planned to add a swing later so that they could weld the hinge on with the bumper. Savage rear bumper is modular, so that could work too.

It seems there are quite a few that don't appear to run with a visible full size spare. That would suck if you got a flat out on the trail, or blew a bead. Maybe they are just good at fixing flats...

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OldRigNewParts said:

There's no way in hell I'd be caught out on the trail without a full size spare. On another note, I wonder why no one has developed an actual trailer hitch that has a built-in folding or swing-out tire carrier as part of the unit itself. I'd feel much more comfortable knowing that it's attached directly to the part that bolts to my frame, rather than having it hang off of my receiver. I can see that potentially being costly, but interesting to think about.

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Road Bull said:

I see you have 265/75/16 sized tires now. I imagine that is what you have in the stock location. I ran that for a while. It sure simplifies things. Do you find that you are dragging your tire now? Are you having any clearance issues? Or do are you just thinking about getting larger tires?

As to why not many built-in folding swing outs, I think it is too much of a niche market. By doing a receiver, you can sell to anyone who has a 2" receiver. Then, if you decide to move on, you can sell it to anyone else. So, there's that I suppose.

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04rnr said:

why not do something like this? just a thought

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OldRigNewParts said:

Is that receiver mounted, or is it mounted directly to the frame? I love the idea of finding something that mounts to the frame using the existing hitch mounting points, but can't find anyone who makes them, especially for a 3rd gen.

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MaddoxPics said:

I run the Detours Knucklebone. It came out to $307 shipped. Folds down 40 degrees so I can still open the back and get the sliding tray out most of the way.

Believe he sells it where it'll go 90 or 100% down, as well as swing out. Goes right into the hitch, tightens from the inside to prevent shaking. Only downside if you want to use your hitch, such as the Wilco versions do, there isn't a connection at the end of the carrier.

His website is still down, but you can message him on Facebook and he'll get back to you.

https://www.facebook.com/detoursoffroad.hardware/

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OldRigNewParts said:

This is exactly what I've been looking for! How much of a gap is there between where your tire sits and the hatch?

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MaddoxPics said:

It honestly depends as you can choose that. The top of the carrier is adjustable to allow up to a 40" tire setup. It uses a retaining bolt system to allow that, which is one thing I was hesitant about, but to get around that I just drilled my bolts the whole way through and then welded them, as well as welded the sliding "plate" to the carrier as well.

While he said there was definitely nothing to worry about, I'd rather just have piece of mind.

Here's the only real side view I have. I'm running a 285/70/17 setup.

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OldRigNewParts said:

It looks good! The only thing I would have to worry about is lowering it into the front of another car if I needed to get in the back. I live in a city and street parking can get tight at times.

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OldRigNewParts said:

I've been interested in possibly moving my spare to a different location and I don't really want/need a full blown rear bumper yet, so I found a few old posts about folding hitch mounted spare tire carriers. All of the suggested links are dead and Wilco seems to be the only company who offers anything and it's a $1200 unit! At that price, I may as well just spend the extra money for a bumper.

I guess my question is why did companies like CBI, SRQ, Tiretow, probably few others stop making hitch mounted spare tire carriers? Are they not safe? Difficult to manufacture? Not enough demand?

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fourwd1 said:

Outlawed by the fine print in the Affordable Healthcare Act.

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MaddoxPics said:

I run the Detours Knucklebone. It came out to $307 shipped. Folds down 40 degrees so I can still open the back and get the sliding tray out most of the way.

Believe he sells it where it'll go 90 or 100% down, as well as swing out. Goes right into the hitch, tightens from the inside to prevent shaking. Only downside if you want to use your hitch, such as the Wilco versions do, there isn't a connection at the end of the carrier.

His website is still down, but you can message him on Facebook and he'll get back to you.

https://www.facebook.com/detoursoffroad.hardware/

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FinSport said:

Hilarious. I'm still laughing at my computer and my wife thinks I'm weird.

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