Factory Tire Carrier

[BCobe]

Saw Offroad Evolution post this up on FB and thought I would share.

"I did it !!! I broke the factory tire carrier . It took 3 years and 65000 miles with a 37 inch Nitto and ATX Wheels slab on it ... I broke it backing off a 12 waterfall and cought the bottom of the tire on the ground.... No problem EZ fix and these are almost free!!! FYI the factory mount is the only mount that has 2 safety strap connected to the studs to the tail gate so the tire can not fall off even if the mount breaks...."



This is honestly the first post/picture that I have seen that proved the stock tire carrier failed and maybe its just a little piece of mind to individuals that want to mount a bigger spare to their jeep but might not have the funds for a bumper of some sort.

EDIT: Anviljk found a video that showed the tire resting on the bumper, at first I only saw a picture of the stock tire carrier. Here is the video he found : https://www.facebook.com/132471153679/videos/10153330928913680/

 

[MTSN]

I think the actual carrier cracking/breaking isn't what a lot of people are concerned with. I think the bigger issue is the stress the extra weight puts on the hinges and tailgate which causes creaks and rattles. I couldn't care less if my carrier didn't break, but if it rattled over every bump it would drive me insane. That's why I didn't change out to 35s until I could replace the carrier and hinges at the same time, but I know some people like to see just how far they can push something till it fails which is pretty much the antithesis of how true overlanders look at equipment.

 

[HRPINDC]

3 years carrying 37" tires and it didn't fail until he banged it, seems like the stock unit did very well IMHO.

 

[GetOutThere]

I didn't even trust the tailgate with the stock tire on there. Has nothing to do with the carrier itself, it's all about the tailgate. If the tire is properly isolated I'm sure you can keep it back there for a long time, but I think it's silly to believe that such a large stressor will not cause eventual failure of the tailgate components.

 

[BCobe]

Yea, I agree that the hinges are the actual weak part but I feel that a lot of people look at it like "if the hinges are week that must mean the carrier itself is weak".

 

[OH9JK]

I've seen several tailgates with broken spot welds due to carrying oversized tires.

It's not the tire carrier itself that fails. All carrier failures I've seen were the result of an impact with trees, rocks or other rigs.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[Septu]

I didn't run my spare (35) until I upgraded the hinges. Still running the stock carrier, but unless I hit something with it, I'm not really worried about that part failing.

 

[1stDeuce]

I think JScherb has pointed it out, but the the reason the stock setup "fails" is that people go to wheels with much less backspacing than stock and take away the stabilizing effect of all those snubbers. Once you do that, the tire starts flexing the gate more, and stuff starts letting go. If you can keep the tire in contact with those snubbers, the whole system works as designed, and will live for a VERY long time, even with tire much larger than the stock one.

Be interesting to know if the tire mounted to that carrier had the snubbers in firm contact with the tire when the gate was shut, or if it was typical, with the tire just hanging in space off the carrier...

I think Jeep learned a valuable lesson with TJ/YJ, and the JK setup is MUCH stronger. You just have to space out the snubbers so they can stabilize the tire like they're supposed to.

 

[toymaster]

Just thought I'd share....

I bought new bumpers and tires in 2009 for my JK. Expedition-one bumpers, the rear has a very nice bumper mounted swing out tire carrier. Made with an axle spindle and bearings for the support of the tire and carrier. In 2013 or 14 I had to replace the bearings because the top bearing failed and all I have ever run is 35"

It is a solid design, my point is the weight of the tire will indeed work on what ever it is attached to. There is no way I would trust a heavy tire on the factory tailgate.

 

[BCobe]

Seeing all the people mention the main concerns were the tailgate and hinges makes me wondered how the tailgate held up. In regards to the snubbers they could have used those daystar extender ones.

 

[1stDeuce]

Just thought I'd share....

I bought new bumpers and tires in 2009 for my JK. Expedition-one bumpers, the rear has a very nice bumper mounted swing out tire carrier. Made with an axle spindle and bearings for the support of the tire and carrier. In 2013 or 14 I had to replace the bearings because the top bearing failed and all I have ever run is 35"

It is a solid design, my point is the weight of the tire will indeed work on what ever it is attached to. There is no way I would trust a heavy tire on the factory tailgate.

You're not the first to say the trailer bearing style spindle had issues... It seems like it would be solid, but the top bearing (The smaller one) often doesn't last... Strange, eh?

 

[WhileInTheWild]

Chiming in here with some recent real world experience, my wife's 2015 JK came with a dealership installed 2" lift and 33" tires, initially they had it on an oversized tire carrier and it banged like crazy. Took it in and they swapped it back to stock it still banged so I put on the extended day star bumpstops (those things suck to install) but it still banged and developed a rattle to boot. Took it in to the dealership for another issue (wife hit a curb, long story) and I insisted they look at it and fix it properly.

It took a bit of convincing but they looked at it and discovered all the spot welds had broken in the tailgate so they approved fixing that and providing a rental on their coin, plus as chance would have it Mopar have only just released a new tailgate reinforcement with optional adjustable tire carrier very similar to the Teraflex kit so they will also be installing that once the body shop is finished with it. Then hopefully that awful banging noise over bumps will go away, it made me wince every time I heard it as I knew it wasn't a good sound.

I think people are too quick to dismiss things like weird sounds and CEL's as just being a jeep thing that are fine to live with, you need to pay attention to your vehicle and take care of it otherwise when you are going to be screwed down the road one day.

 

[Serg5000]

The reason Mel (OffRoad Evolution) was able to carry that 37" tire on there for so long is he put a support bracket on the bumper to take the weight off the tailgate. He put a clip on facebook showing it.

 

[anviljk]

The reason Mel (OffRoad Evolution) was able to carry that 37" tire on there for so long is he put a support bracket on the bumper to take the weight off the tailgate. He put a clip on facebook showing it.

This. The tire was supported by the bumper as well otherwise there would have been damage. Evolanders whole setup is impressive. 37's and stock axles, lockers, driveline, control arms, and he wheels it pretty hard.

Link to the video showing the support bracket. https://www.facebook.com/132471153679/videos/10153330928913680/

 

[toymaster]

You're not the first to say the trailer bearing style spindle had issues... It seems like it would be solid, but the top bearing (The smaller one) often doesn't last... Strange, eh?

Yeah, I noticed there was some corrosion from the weather that may have contributed to the failure. Of course, the other is the small bearing being overloaded; not much I can do about that. I drilled and tapped a hole between the bearings, installed a zerk fitting, sealed the aluminum cap threads, and filled the bearing space with a high quality grease. That will take care of the corrosion issue. Time will tell about the load. I just bought a set of 37" tires, they will get installed this fall.