Advice needed on my rear Tire Carrier

[fightman80]

Hey folks!

After a long distance drive and camping trip, I found my tire carrier to be a little worse for wear. Looks like the little bumpers I made up, have finally buckled under the pressure of that 285 70 R16, and snapped!

I had made the bumpers out of old record player legs, a long bolt, some washers and a couple of nuts. The bumpers gave me almost a year and a half without any major issues, but now I'm looking to beef them up a little.

Here are a few pics of my current setup, and I'm hoping you guys could take a look, and maybe revise or suggest another idea for securing that spare to the rear of my truck.

Side view of the carrier: (note the distance from the rear hatch...I'd like to bring that closer)

Pic of the little bumper I made up:

Pic of the little bumper installed on the carrier and doing it's thing:

Pic of the locking pin:

The entire assembly lowered down:

And another shot of the assembly up:

Please keep in mind, my theme for this truck, is kind of a "TRD Edition 4Runner", so I want things to look as stock as possible without costing me a fortune to do. I realize that some have installed the rear tire carrier from the Hilux Surfs in Japan, but I can't afford to go that route. I don't want to cut into the rear bumper, and am not remotely interested in adding any armored bumpers.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[Shawn5800]

Im a bit confused on what exactly your trying to ask us but here goes. I think it looks like the whole assembly holds up quite well, no snapping of any welds or structural damage to be seen.

The stops just look to be worn and bent( which is expected from 3/8? threaded rod.

Personally, if it were me. I would go to the hardware store and buy two steel nipples already threaded in the size you need. Or rent a pipe threader and buy some pipe.

Get both sides threaded up, then drill a 1/2 hole in the actual frame of the carrier, then tap it. And/or weld that end to the frame. Then on the other side get yourself a flange like what i pictured. thread it on, then get yourself a hockey puck, counter sink some holes into it deep enough so that only the hockey puck hits. then throw some carriage bolts through them with nuts holding it on the flange side.

IMO thats a solid way to get a good 2-3 years more out of it.

Good luck!

 

[fightman80]

After talking to a Off-road fabricator I know, I've decided to try re-using my rubber portions, but using some 3/8" x 5" carriage bolts with some lock nuts to fasten it to the carrier. The previous bolts and nuts were extremely small....so these should hold up pretty well!

Wish me luck???