New Bumper - Add tire carrier or not?

[YotaPilot]

Austintaco, what shop did you get you bumper done at? I think I would get the shrockworks bumper then add to that one. I could make a trip to Austin to gave the bumper done. Do you mind me asking how much it cost?

 

[austintaco]

Cameron, formerly of Krawltex put it together. Unfortunately, they are no longer around. Are you a member of any groups in Corpus? There's a fabricator in San Marcos that many of the local TTORA guys have used, but you would still have to travel and be up in the area for a day or leave your truck.
I think, if you can find a good fab guy, that going dual swingouts is the way to go.

 

[austintaco]

Don't forget frame plates too.
If you can't find something to your liking locally or a good fabricator, make a road trip. If you want the CBI, make a trip up there, camp along the way, do a trail or two or three, and remember it as the bumper trip. Looking at their site, they do make great stuff with lots of options to suit your needs.

quick search on dailylister turned up this. It's only the swing arm, but maybe you can have the bumper shipped to TX and pick up this piece for it?

http://nashville.craigslist.org/pts/4370815368.html

 

[Arctic Taco]

Eric at Relentless Fabrication in Sparks, Nv. Makes them for 1st gen tacos. I don't know about dual swingouts tho. They make good stuff over there, usually about 2+month wait they are pretty busy.

 

[Milo902]

Not sure on the weight, but it's probably about the same as yours. It will be mounted to the bumper, not the body. I know about the taco frame issues and will get the reinforcement plates if I got a swing out bumper.
Your last statement is basically the reason for this post for those that have swing outs...do you think it's worth it now that you have it?

I guess I wasn't quite clear, but I didn't get the swingout with mine for the reasons stated. I would wager a swingout adds a solid 30-50lbs to that setup, and I know their plate bumpers are heavier than the hybrid I have. I know I'm in the minority here, but if you can still fit a full size spare in the factory location, keep it there. The weight is kept low and closer to the axle line, and you don't have to mess with it every time you get into the back.

I have a hitch mount swingout bike rack, and it's a pain to unscrew & unlatch every time I need to get into the hatch. Luckily it's not on very often, I would go mad if I had to deal with it daily. Do you really want gas cans mounted on the back of your truck? Seems like a bit of a liability if you get rear ended. There's still Jeeps out there that catch on fire in a serious accident from the back, and those tanks are a bit tougher than your average jerry can.

 

[soonenough]

..... it's a pain to unscrew & unlatch every time I need to get into the hatch. Luckily it's not on very often, I would go mad if I had to deal with it daily.....

That's why I went with the Synergy latch, takes 1-2 seconds to open it up. Much much easier than threading and unthreading a latch every time.

 

[calicamper]

What manufacturer is that?

I want to carry fuel/propane and an armful or firewood. The spare is less important.

I do like the storage box idea, like the Aluminess product:

A.

Wow thats a nice set up.

 

[Milo902]

That's why I went with the Synergy latch, takes 1-2 seconds to open it up. Much much easier than threading and unthreading a latch every time.

Very true, that would be a much nicer setup. Still not my preference but to each his own.

 

[calicamper]

I didn't want the weight of a full on bumper + swing out rig given I didn't see my self needing or wanting that on my LC all the time. I also didn't feel like dropping $$$$$ into that sort of set up for what I needed it for. I picked up a Tiregate hitch mount swing out. I actually was in LA area and the company offered to drop it off given one of their employees lived in the area and he could just take it home with him and drop it off for me. I think all up it was $390 shipped 400 miles I was looking at about $500.

Couple of things I like about it - easy to install and remove given I didn't need to haul my big spare with me all the time just on big road trips etc. The hitch rack was very tight and clean it didn't impact the hitch limited departure angle any more than the hitch bar was already impacting. I think its about 50lbs nakid, and with the 285 BFG on the stock wheel it was in the 150lb range. What has been cool is that I sold the LC kept the hitch rack and can see my self using it on my new truck with a bike rack bolted too it. And later down the road I would love to sell the Soccer Mom SUV Sequoia and get one of the modern midsized trucks maybe go with an FWC or get really crazy and go flatbed FWC and I could see the hitch rack possibly still being a great tool for toting gear or even a tire when needed.

Not for everyone but not a bad option if your on a budget and don't need to be hauling your heavy gear with you every day.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

I generally don't recommend tire carriers if you can carry a spare in the bed. Multiple reasons have brought me to this conclusion.

1- they are never as strong as they need to be to keep the carrier from bouncing, rattling or swaying. I have even seen them break from lack of triangulation and too much leverage.
2- departure angle can be compromised depending on the design.
3- rear view can be unnecessarily obstructed.
4- backing up into things is a problem, because you can't see.
5- weight, as you mentioned, can be a problem as well. Mounting the tire closer to the cab of the truck distributes the weight more evenly.

The strongest method of latching a tire carrier, to keep it from rattling and to better control the swaying, is by a wing bolt which I usually make out of a 5/8 bolt with a handle welded to the head. But they are a pain to use. The latches you commonly see on tire carriers don't hold well and stretch over time.

These are opinions based on my experience. Others love them.

 

[calicamper]

I generally don't recommend tire carriers if you can carry a spare in the bed. Multiple reasons have brought me to this conclusion.

1- they are never as strong as they need to be to keep the carrier from bouncing, rattling or swaying. I have even seen them break from lack of triangulation and too much leverage.
2- departure angle can be compromised depending on the design.
3- rear view can be unnecessarily obstructed.
4- backing up into things is a problem, because you can't see.
5- weight, as you mentioned, can be a problem as well. Mounting the tire closer to the cab of the truck distributes the weight more evenly.

The strongest method of lathing a tire carrier, to keep it from rattling and to better control the swaying, is by a wing bolt which I usually make out of a 5/8 bolt with a handle welded to the head. But they are a pain to use. The latches you commonly see on tire carriers don't hold well and stretch over time.

These are opinions based on my experience. Others love them.

^ All things I learned while researching them and why I opted for the simple and removable hitch mount option. Fewer miles of it sitting on the back of the truck less abuse. The rack to my surprise the way it mounts really didn't change my departure angle in anyway that would make a dramatic difference over the stock tow bar that already had a sizable impact on the LC departure angle already. The set up of the Tiregate rig all the weight sat on the lower bar when pinned in place. My only big worry would be having the gate swung open and having it levered by someone hanging on it or added gear as some people have added fuel cans etc which case I would have some concern about the hinge point getting tweaked and the frame being bent. I found that with the stock wheel and 285 BFG it was solid and did not rattle or vibrate on rough roads but larger tires and heavier extras I could see it having these issues.

For really heavy gear which has no place to go but that rear location I can see a big advantage to the duel swing out set up given your balancing the load points and cutting the load in half between the two gates vs all loaded on one single gate which is twice as long and will have lots of added levered loading on it due to this.

Weight is a big deal back there especially if your also packing gear in the back of the vehicle along with your rear rack. Which is a big reason besides the cost that I did not want the heavier rear bumper and a tire rack. As that would mean having to upgrade the suspension to handle the added weight, snow ball effect on the mods and budget.

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Yeah, the dual swing out is a neat setup.

And yes, the rear of the frame can flex considerably. I had a Jeep once that had a tire carrier that I could not keep from boincing while driving down the road. Well, after triangulating and reinforcing the heck out of it, I realized that the frame was flexing causing all the problems.

 

[Dave Bennett]

When I worked with Demello on my new rear bumper design, my main concern with my old swing out/spare tire carrier design by CBI was WEIGHT. Having the tire and all that way back behind the axle was no bueno IMO. MUCH better weight distro with our current setup with the spare back under the bed in the original position. This also created room on the swingout for things like 2 can holders, tools and propane - using aluminum on as much as possible helped keep weight down too.