Custom use of empty spare tire well?

[Bumbo]

For the heater I'm using two Dernord 12v 600W heaters that I got from amazon that's hooked up to a digital thermostat (pic above shows the water at 111F. It takes a little planning to heat the water as it takes approx 1 hour to get water to heat up by 40F. I typically do this by heating the water while driving to my destination.

I like the use of the Victron BMV.

I have a few custom battery projects where I have used those and like them a lot. What are you doing for the rest of your system? Looks like you have some pretty heavy loads there.

 

[Grug556]

Jeep thought this was a good place to put the main fuel tank for the Grand Cherokee from about 1994 to 2004, or thereabouts. Eventually Jeep realized it was a hazard in rear end collisions and did a recall to surround the tank with a skid plate and solid steel bumper, if the GC didn't have them already.
If you go this route somehow, make sure you put a thick skid plate under it and behind it. Then it would be a good idea.
:flamethrwoer2:

You could use a racebox tank that can take a hit, wont leak etc.

 

[rdruss]

I'm not an overlander so and I don't take regular long trips, so an auxiliary fuel tank, water tank, etc. don't buzz me. But if I had welding skills I would enclose the spare tire and then open it up above it so I could access it from inside the "trunk".
Now when winter comes I pull the spare and put it in the back so that if I do need it in winter out on the road it wont be a frozen salt/dirt ball and I wont be rolling around on the frozen/wet/slushy ground trying to get it down so I can swap it.
Just my thoughts.

 

[The_Green_Wang]

I'm not an overlander so and I don't take regular long trips, so an auxiliary fuel tank, water tank, etc. don't buzz me. But if I had welding skills I would enclose the spare tire and then open it up above it so I could access it from inside the "trunk".

Now when winter comes I pull the spare and put it in the back so that if I do need it in winter out on the road it wont be a frozen salt/dirt ball and I wont be rolling around on the frozen/wet/slushy ground trying to get it down so I can swap it.

Just my thoughts.

Not a bad idea... I think I may try this [emoji102]

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

 

[Big Daddy K]

Lighten up nancy. It's a totally impractical move to put the tire on the back door so it's in the way of 99% of your use, and then try to find something to put back where it came from that fits better than the tire you just removed. If you can't laugh at the concept of what this thread is about - what can you laugh at?

I was laughing at you actually... no need for me to lighten up.

 

[OffKamber]

Lighten up nancy. It's a totally impractical move to put the tire on the back door so it's in the way of 99% of your use, and then try to find something to put back where it came from that fits better than the tire you just removed. If you can't laugh at the concept of what this thread is about - what can you laugh at?

Agreed... but if spare doesn't fit... what should I do?

 

[OffKamber]

I'm not an overlander so and I don't take regular long trips, so an auxiliary fuel tank, water tank, etc. don't buzz me. But if I had welding skills I would enclose the spare tire and then open it up above it so I could access it from inside the "trunk".
Now when winter comes I pull the spare and put it in the back so that if I do need it in winter out on the road it wont be a frozen salt/dirt ball and I wont be rolling around on the frozen/wet/slushy ground trying to get it down so I can swap it.
Just my thoughts.

They have that from Wranglers... You gotta cut a big hole though. Not sure I'm ready to do that with a 2019 vehicle.

 

[ChrisJHarney]

I still have my spare there but personally I would be all about a water tank down there… keep the weight as low as possible.

Having space on my roof rack I might build a 5 gallon tube tank up there but just the thought of the weight and hit on center of gravity irritates me to the point I haven’t done it yet.

I would probably pass on putting air tanks or pumps down there, they are light enough to relocate somewhere else. These things are already top heavy, I really try my best to not make it worse.

I tried a 10 gal. gas tank on the roof rack and used a flo'n'go hand pump for the transfer. Besides being messy to fill up on the road, the flo'n'go would leak as pressure increased, it was a disaster. I also hated the constant fuel sloshing around. I'm with you about keeping the weight low.

A water tank is a really good idea down low with a decent pump to retrieve the water. My only issue is that I'm not going to use that space for a giant shower, and the water gets awfully warm after a long trail run, making it a not so great drinking water storage tank unless I could insulate the tank with something very thin and something that took to molding well. It would also have to have a skid plate there. I saw how my spare took decent hits on the trail, and I wouldn't want to lose all my water due to a rock.

Agreed... but if spare doesn't fit... what should I do?

I have a great deal of respect for Jetboy, and I think (assume) he was referring to people with stock or slightly above stock tires getting a rear bumper and tire carrier because they think its cool (Lamborghini doors are pretty cool too, on a lamborghini of course, but also impractical). And I agree completely that it's a giant pain in the ass to have to open and close swing gates when your rig is used as a daily driver (which I'm glad that mine finally isn't).

One thing that isn't cool though, is having oversized tires and an oversized spare to match, and having the spare tire be almost as low as your rear diff because it doesn't fit anymore. At that point you almost have to get a rear bumper mounted spare because unless you're 7 feet tall and have 23" biceps, getting a near 70lb. tire off your roof rack without killing yourself is next to impossible. Especially if you're on the trail and don't know if you'll even have the room to get the spare tire out from underneath your rig.

So at that point, this thread becomes extremely relevant and is great for people who want to swap ideas and engineering techniques.

I'm not an overlander so and I don't take regular long trips, so an auxiliary fuel tank, water tank, etc. don't buzz me. But if I had welding skills I would enclose the spare tire and then open it up above it so I could access it from inside the "trunk".
Now when winter comes I pull the spare and put it in the back so that if I do need it in winter out on the road it wont be a frozen salt/dirt ball and I wont be rolling around on the frozen/wet/slushy ground trying to get it down so I can swap it.
Just my thoughts.

I have a Honda Ridgeline and the under bed trunk was really the only reason why I considered it over traditional trucks. 8 years later and it's been the most versatile vehicle I've ever owned. If it wasn't for the frail transmission and complete lack of aftermarket support, it would be a very excellent overlanding vehicle. I believe they even ran a bone stock one in Baja back in 2007 with some custom King suspension and won class. Anyway, love the trunk idea.

 

[Jetboy]

Agreed... but if spare doesn't fit... what should I do?

If it doesn't fit - I'd probably toss it on the back. I just don't see many 35"+ tire setups on the 5th gen yet. 34's fit underneath. 99% of the ones I see have 285/70/17's that easily fit underneath. The situation where you can change a tire, but not access the underneath tire storage does not exist very often in the real world. It's fun to imagine - but it just doesn't happen. I've never seen nor heard of it ever happening. If you can jack up the vehicle to get at tire off, you can also get the spare out. The tire on the rear door gets caught on rocks a lot more often than the one on the bottom.

I like modifying vehicles. I really don't care what people do. The first page has all of the options already, so at this point it's just a thread of re-hashing the same stuff. The options are - small water tank. Crappy tool storage options. $$$ OEM Prado aux fuel system. Or custom aux fuel system that also no one has done. For practical use - I'd put the tire in the spot it's engineered to fit - and put the fuel tanks on the rear bumper swing. It's a shitty spot to put anything other than a tire or an aux fuel tank. And it's a lot more practical to put the fuel in cans on the swing out. But then where would one hang their trasharoo?

 

[Bumbo]

A water tank is a really good idea down low with a decent pump to retrieve the water. My only issue is that I'm not going to use that space for a giant shower, and the water gets awfully warm after a long trail run, making it a not so great drinking water storage tank unless I could insulate the tank with something very thin and something that took to molding well. It would also have to have a skid plate there. I saw how my spare took decent hits on the trail, and I wouldn't want to lose all my water due to a rock.

.

Everyone has their own needs, but my idea for a tank was primary for a hand, face, and dish washing station sort of thing in a 5 gallon size. Drinking water I typically carry bottles in the fridge. I rarely if ever need/want to shower on a weekend trip.

When I go out with my truck, and got used to filling up a 5 gallon jug and throwing it in the bed. I don’t want it to leak or fall over inside the 4Runner cab. I don’t want it on the roof either. The small tank was more of less a convenience item if I could just fill and go and not have it in the way.

These days, I don’t really do much of any overland style travel. I used to, but if I can get out for a weekend without having to juggle a bunch of gear, I would be happy.

 

[ChrisJHarney]

Everyone has their own needs, but my idea for a tank was primary for a hand, face, and dish washing station sort of thing in a 5 gallon size. Drinking water I typically carry bottles in the fridge. I rarely if ever need/want to shower on a weekend trip.

When I go out with my truck, and got used to filling up a 5 gallon jug and throwing it in the bed. I don’t want it to leak or fall over inside the 4Runner cab. I don’t want it on the roof either. The small tank was more of less a convenience item if I could just fill and go and not have it in the way.

These days, I don’t really do much of any overland style travel. I used to, but if I can get out for a weekend without having to juggle a bunch of gear, I would be happy.

I like the idea of a hand wash station. That is actually way more useful to me since I have a small drop down table built into my bumper swing arm that I use for quick stops and lunch breaks for the kids. How would you plumb for that? And assuming you didn't want to drop the tank to fill it every time, would you put the fill nozzle on the exterior similar to an RV, or have it in the hatch area inside?

We sometimes go out with the kids for a week at a time, especially winter in Death Valley or Mojave, so it's very inconvenient to have 8+ gallons of drinking water taking up the precious space we have in the cab. I don't have a fridge yet so our cooler takes up an enormous space which I'm currently trying to sort out. It's a long process.

 

[Bumbo]

I like the idea of a hand wash station. That is actually way more useful to me since I have a small drop down table built into my bumper swing arm that I use for quick stops and lunch breaks for the kids. How would you plumb for that? And assuming you didn't want to drop the tank to fill it every time, would you put the fill nozzle on the exterior similar to an RV, or have it in the hatch area inside?

We sometimes go out with the kids for a week at a time, especially winter in Death Valley or Mojave, so it's very inconvenient to have 8+ gallons of drinking water taking up the precious space we have in the cab. I don't have a fridge yet so our cooler takes up an enormous space which I'm currently trying to sort out. It's a long process.

It’s a process I know all too well… I have a small folding table and a 5 gallon jug with a spigot which gets lugged around and setup once we make camp. I rarely blow thought 5 gallons for dish and handwash over a weekend so I find it to be a good size for me.

I haven’t thought that far ahead about plumbing it all up, but I would probably have a schrader valve drilled into my bumper or something to lightly pressurize the tank and a bulkhead fitting at the bottom to a hose on a quick disconnect with a valve. Something as simple as a magnetic mount to just temporarily stuck it to a fender would be sufficient for my needs. Doesn’t have to be fancy, but just needs to be quick.

In my parts bin in the garage I also have a small submersible 12v pump, windshield wiper water pump, and other things I could rig up. Its not like I haven’t done something like this before. The windshield wiper water pump I used previously with a water jug for a shower which I used on an extended trip.

Searching around just now I found this...

4 Quart HDPE Windshield Washer Tank assembly with 12 Volt Pump - 8.63" L x 4.15" W x 9.84" Hgt. | U.S. Plastic Corp.

 

[dtrnvco]

want to put a 5g air tank or a water tank under mine

 

[ChrisJHarney]

It’s a process I know all too well… I have a small folding table and a 5 gallon jug with a spigot which gets lugged around and setup once we make camp. I rarely blow thought 5 gallons for dish and handwash over a weekend so I find it to be a good size for me.

I haven’t thought that far ahead about plumbing it all up, but I would probably have a schrader valve drilled into my bumper or something to lightly pressurize the tank and a bulkhead fitting at the bottom to a hose on a quick disconnect with a valve. Something as simple as a magnetic mount to just temporarily stuck it to a fender would be sufficient for my needs. Doesn’t have to be fancy, but just needs to be quick.

In my parts bin in the garage I also have a small submersible 12v pump, windshield wiper water pump, and other things I could rig up. Its not like I haven’t done something like this before. The windshield wiper water pump I used previously with a water jug for a shower which I used on an extended trip.

Searching around just now I found this...

4 Quart HDPE Windshield Washer Tank assembly with 12 Volt Pump - 8.63" L x 4.15" W x 9.84" Hgt. | U.S. Plastic Corp.

Huh, I never thought of something as simple as a windshield washer tank pump, I was thinking more along the lines of a 2-3 gal./min Shurflo pump like the ones used in RVs, but that might be overkill for something as small as a wash station tank. Maybe in a 10 gal. drinking water tank setup.

So your outlet flow would come either from the bottom of the tank in a pressurized gravity fed hose, or a 12V external pump fed hose, presumably still tucked and attached via magnet or velcro straps, something simple.

I'm curious how you would fill the tank, and whether you would choose to remove the tank to fill it, or have it permanently attached and drill either up into the rear hatch area and install a 3/4 double female adapter for quick hose fill ups, or possibly mount it externally on the bumper. Or have the tank permanently attached and just have another hose tucked up under the bumper and strapped until you fill up again.

 

[Bumbo]

I haven’t given much thought to this setup because that area still holds my spare, and will continue to until I decide to do something significant which allows for larger tire sizes.

Most of my ideas or planning has been roof rack mounted water tank. Typically black ABS build, gravity fed or lightly pressurized. Fill and dispensing valves are all pretty easy an accessible to mount for something like that, plus my roof rack can easily accommodate it.

If I just build something conservative out of black ABS and get over the fact I have to add weight up there… 4” dimeter pipe in 6 foot length would hold approximately 4 gallons of water with a weight of about 34 lbs

5” diameter at 5 foot length = 5 gallons @ 42 lbs

 

[ChrisJHarney]

Yeah I’ve seen those rack mounted tubes before. It’s something I’m incorporating on my trailer to separate drinking water from shower water. Pretty simple setup, durable, and cheap. I just don’t want that weight up on my rack, and I definitely don’t want something I’d have to, or be tempted to, remove before trail runs.

That pic has me itching for some desert time. Is that Dumont? Being out in Jtree this weekend just doing touristy stuff doesn’t count, and the weather is absolutely perfect which just adds to the frustration.

 

[Akkording]

For a water source I enjoy my WaterPort, Costco had the best price, easy to use, refill, just straight up portable take it anywhere. Used it for showering at the beach, camping, fish filet time, and it holds 4.5 gallons as well. I also carry a rotorpax for refills. I have a 255 80 17 in the spare location. I use the hitch adapter for transport and store it In the cab the when offroading the hairy trails. This product fits my light duty needs, your requirements may vary.

I have no issues with exit angles or just using my spare as a skid. Heck Tacoma exit angles are really crappy.

Rotorpax mounted on the underside is a creative idea, seen it done a few times if you aren't concerned about punctures.

 

[Bumbo]

That pic has me itching for some desert time. Is that Dumont? Being out in Jtree this weekend just doing touristy stuff doesn’t count, and the weather is absolutely perfect which just adds to the frustration.

Sounds like we would get along just fine... The same can set off desert withdrawals for me as well haha.

That is Superstition Mountain OHV. Not too far from off from Anza Borrego.

It’s a nice spot, little something there for everyone… I started going there when I started to ride ATVs, but those are all sold off now. These days I just cruise around in 4Runner around cocooned in SR5 luxury and air conditioning while trying not to shake up the beers in the fridge too much.

His & Hers... before the wifes 4Runner got modded.

Ok... that's enough reminiscing and derailing this thread.

 

[Bumbo]

For a water source I enjoy my WaterPort, Costco had the best price, easy to use, refill, just straight up portable take it anywhere. Used it for showering at the beach, camping, fish filet time, and it holds 4.5 gallons as well. I also carry a rotorpax for refills. I have a 255 80 17 in the spare location. I use the hitch adapter for transport and store it In the cab the when offroading the hairy trails. This product fits my light duty needs, your requirements may vary.

I have no issues with exit angles or just using my spare as a skid. Heck Tacoma exit angles are really crappy.

Rotorpax mounted on the underside is a creative idea, seen it done a few times if you aren't concerned about punctures.

I didn’t know about this thing… simple and turnkey.

Awesome recommendation, thank you.

 

[Akkording]

You're most welcome.