Cargo carrier on a swingout

[austintaco]

I have this crazy idea and before I start cutting and measuring, I want somebody to either talk some sense into me or give me an expo stamp of approval. Last year, I finally had a tire carrier added to my Tacoma. It holds my 255/85/16 spare and has a basket that fits two scepter style cans or I use it with a bracket for a propane tank. I use a yakima sparetime rack to take our bikes along on our trips.


The problem is that loading and unloading the bikes securely and to minimize rubbing and crushing the rear shifter is time consuming and the part of loading up that I hate the most. It seems that each trip is unique. Sometimes I plan to do more off road driving, and sometimes we use the truck like a small RV, and sometimes it's both. Tacodoc did a great job when he designed his newest rear bumper with the ability to add and take off items as needed. That's what started me thinking about what I want to do.

I bought this style of cargo carrier a few years ago and wired it up with lights and a license plate frame.

Plans:
Cut off basket
Cut and center hoop for spare tire
weld on either 1 or 2 two inch receivers on the hoop at the same height as the current tire mounting plate
Move the tire back under the truck
Attach the cargo carrier to the new 2" receiver
use either fork mounts or tire cradle mounts attached to the cargo carrier for bikes

video of this style in use:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwA_Op9635I

I have fork mounts on the edges now, but then I still have to throw the wheels in the back. Not a big deal, and the bikes are very secure.
If I need to carry gas cans, water jugs, propane, fire wood, etc...there are lots of mounting options in the carrier or on the edge of the spare tire hoop.

As far as weight goes, the carrier, without the shank weighs 40 lbs, but I am losing the weight of the spare tire, 70 lbs.

I like the flexibility of this idea, but I am definitely going away from a standard style that many seem to favor.

Thoughts? Anyone seen this done before?

 

[SoCalMonty]

I've been planning and sketching plans for this for about 3 months now...I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who has thought of this!

On my Montero, my rear door swings open from left to right (driver to passenger), and the spare is mounted to the door.

I always liked the utility of those small hitch mounted baskets, but clearly, it can't be mounted at the intended height during off-road use. So I explored a bunch of options. I knew that I wasn't going to load it with more than 250 lbs. I started looking at swing-away, hitch mounted bike racks, and swing-away, hitch mounted utility cart carriers. I think Rola actually makes a swing away cargo box system I found on Amazon ($$$$). I was trying to get ideas for materials, hinge design, and load capacity.

Then I had the idea of mounting the basket in my stock receiver, but using a drop-receiver for a lifted truck mounted upside down...these can be found on Amazon with a varitey of drops (lifts) up to 40"...


...flip this upside down, and mount a receiver to the top or weld directly to it. Connect it to a swinging/pivoting hitch receiver adapter, also available online.

At that time, I was still on the stock bumper, which limited my mount options. I'm also on a low budget. A friend met me on a trip this weekend (just got home from a 3-day trip) and showed me his home-made swing-away tire and can carriers. I noticed the hinges and asked about them - they were amazingly simple and affordable. Two plates, top and bottom, with a round 2" tube in between. Bronze bushings pressed on either end of the tube. He's got 3 5-gal cans on one side, and a 33" spare on the other (his splits/connects in the center, and both sides swing out opposite ways). This gave me even more options.

I think at this point, I'm going to attempt this project using those hinges he showed me (I'll post the source if you want; I think he said it was about $68 per hinge). I will triangulate the support structure, with the pivot point on the left side, so the basket rack and my rear door open opposite directions. I plan to mount a 5-gal can on either side, and that leaves a safe 150 lbs of carrying capacity on the basket itself.

Sorry I can't be of more help...but I look forward to seeing what you come up with, and when I move forward on my project, I'll let you know!

 

[austintaco]

Thanks for the info Monty. I am going to do some test fitting on the cargo carrier with different bikes ( road, cruiser, tri, mtn, etc,,) and then arrange gear around the bikes to see what will fit, and and get an idea of what the weight difference will be.

My other thought, now that I am brainstorming, is to leave the current swingout arm as is, and weld up another one of the same length, with the 2" receiver or receivers to try out my idea. I have another truck, the 84 in my avatar, and the 4runner can run out of space quicker than the Tacoma. I have measured the distances from the hinge to the latch and the two trucks can use the same swing arm. This will give me two options, depending on what the trip calls for.

BTW, I am not a welder, so I will have to have this fabricated.

 

[SoCalMonty]

I'm not a welder either. I'm so/so at DIY and I could execute "acceptable" bird-poop welds if I had a machine, but I don't own one.

It looks like I have the added issue of my (33x12.5") spare in the way...I wasn't planning to relocate it, but if it stays on the door, then the cargo basket will sit VERY far aft of the vehicle. It might look a little odd. I am tossing about the idea of relocating the spare, but there aren't many options for where to relocate it. I thought maybe on the underside of the new basket rack, so it will all swing away separate of the rear door - but then my basket rack setup already has ~150 lbs+ on it with just the cans and the spare, and I'm a little paranoid about overloading the rack/hinge and bending things (even though I try to remind myself this is HIGHLY unlikely...no single piece of my gear weighs very much, other than my tools, which go in the back of the truck).

When I get time I'll try to post more setup ideas/pictures.

 

[05nissanXterra]

I am currently doing this, I'm welding two 1.5" square tubes that will slide into a set of 2"x 1/4" receivers that are mounted to my swing arm for my tire mount. The basket will sit far enough out to clear my 305/70-16 spare tire, and I can accommodate up to a 35x1250 without impending on the basket.


Sent from my iPhone4 using Tapatalk

 

[Silver dude]

I've seen something similar on the upo forums. Not sure if it helps but gives the idea of the concept. It appears he made a wheel shoe that rests on the tire.

http://upoverland.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=12287#p12287 Hitch-mount cargo rack

 

[austintaco]

Some ideas:

http://www.peakputters.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1256


and surco makes this:
http://www.etrailer.com/Vehicle-Organizer/Surco-Products/SPSJ4319.html

The first like says that the weight is determined by the spare tire and how it's mounted and the rating is for a jeep spare on a tailgate. The surco model is a lighter weight design of what I am imagining. However, it does leave the spare tire on the back.

 

[SoCalMonty]

Those could definitely work for some people, but I am planning on a swing-away mounted on the bumper...I don't want to add too much weight to the rear door, as it already has the spare on it...so the basket rack, 10 gallons of fluid, plus cargo inside the basket would more than likely cause sag in the hinges or worse. =/