Mounting spare tire/cargo box directly to rear door?

[Marauder_Pilot]

I'm looking into building a storage box and a spare tire carrier to mount to the back of my van. I was thinking of just bolting them directly to the rear door-drilling all the way through the door and mounting some fender washers to help distribute the weight.

But most of the carriers I see mount to the bumper, or at least the hinges, although I have seen plenty that seem to mount to the back door. Are the back doors strong enough to hold a spare tire and some cargo without bending out of shape, or should I try and build a bumper-based setup instead?

 

[spencyg]

The only dent I have in the rear door of my van is from the tire carrier that used to be mounted directly to it. If you back into anything (or if anything backs into you!) than the door will take the hit instead of a remote mounted carrier assembly. I have, at one time or another, mounted both a box and a tire to the rear doors. Both systems worked temporarily but it made the doors overly heavy which I believe adversely affected the hinges and latches. Combine that with the significant increase in damage potential due to direct mounting and I would personally strongly advise against it. If you need to do it than it will work, but be prepared to deal with consequences down the road.

SG

 

[dwh]

My truck has both - a spare tire carrier and a box that I built to house a generator. Both are 3-point mounted with two points being through the hinges themselves.

The spare tire has been there I suspect since the truck was new in 1976, and the door works fine.

Hinge wear doesn't really seem like much of an issue, since the only time there is weight on the hinges is when the door is open, and that's only occasionally and for short periods of time.

Denting is definitely an issue, but I have a motorcycle carrier which sticks out past both the spare and gen box, so that acts as a sort of extended bumper.

I've had zero issues.

 

[quickfarms]

If you mount it to the door, design it so the hinges take the weight and the third point is just for stability.

Denting the door is an issue but you can make a auxiliary bumper to mount into the receiver hitch to solve this issue. On my truck I used a 2 1/2" receiver and with the auxiliary bumper in place I still have a 2" receiver to tow with.

Over the years I have seen many doors that were damaged from carriers being directly attached to the door and not the hinges.

 

[derjack]

I'm looking into building a storage box and a spare tire carrier to mount to the back of my van. I was thinking of just bolting them directly to the rear door-drilling all the way through the door and mounting some fender washers to help distribute the weight.

But most of the carriers I see mount to the bumper, or at least the hinges, although I have seen plenty that seem to mount to the back door. Are the back doors strong enough to hold a spare tire and some cargo without bending out of shape, or should I try and build a bumper-based setup instead?

Hi,

no way that bolting to the sheet metal will hold that load!

See this:

on the right you can see (the much bigger of course) tire and the steel holder. This broke in the middle of nowhere, made of 2mm steel. You can imagine how long your tire will hold into 0,7mm sheet metal.

This one didn´t broke but left a dent:
http://www.derjackistweg.de/wp-cont...-4x4-aussen/Iveco Daily 40.10 4x4 aussen8.jpg
This is already MUCH beefier that most other solutions. It has been modified with 4mm (1/8 of on inch) steel from the inside and now it holds strong.

The force that will be transmitted to the bolts is extreme. As this is the 4x4 section I think you will not only drive on perfect roads.

 

[derjack]

I'm looking into building a storage box and a spare tire carrier to mount to the back of my van. I was thinking of just bolting them directly to the rear door-drilling all the way through the door and mounting some fender washers to help distribute the weight.

But most of the carriers I see mount to the bumper, or at least the hinges, although I have seen plenty that seem to mount to the back door. Are the back doors strong enough to hold a spare tire and some cargo without bending out of shape, or should I try and build a bumper-based setup instead?

Hi,

no way that bolting to the sheet metal will hold that load!

See this:

on the right you can see (the much bigger of course) tire and the steel holder. This broke in the middle of nowhere, made of 2mm steel. You can imagine how long your tire will hold into 0,7mm sheet metal.

This one didn´t broke but left a dent:

This is already MUCH beefier than most other solutions. It has been modified with 4mm (1/8 of on inch) steel from the inside and now it holds strong.

The force that will be transmitted to the bolts is extreme. As this is the 4x4 section I think you will not only drive on perfect roads.