Removable swing arms on tire carrier

[Bdiddy11]

I'm not a good fabricator yet, just an interesting imagination.

I was wondering if it was possible to make a rear swing out tire carrier that had to swing arms on it. The left side would be a swing arm for the spare tire, with the right arm being for Jerry cans. What I really want to know, is if there is a way to make it that those swing arms could be removed fairly easy when not in use.

My Cherokee is more of a DD/weekend warrior type and would benefit from taking any extra weight off when possible. It wouldn't be hard to take the tire off the tire carrier... but still bothersome having to open up the swing away every time I wanted in the back of the Jeep.

The way I imagined the removable swing arms is by having some kind of hitch pin (the thick ones that hold a receiver in place) at the top of the spindle that you would remove to lift out the swing away carriers... is this making sense to anyone or do I need to do a 3rd grade level drawing (I'm not an artist).

 

[Herbie]

Check out this thread:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/38349-swingout-tiregate-question?p=560699#post560699

Casper ingeniously used heim joints to make a very slick (and adjustable) double-shear mount for a double swing-arm bumper.

Using something like that, you could theoretically remove bolts and remove the swing arms, leaving only the tabs on the bumper. Switching from bolts to pins might also be possible, making it a tool-less job.

 

[Bdiddy11]

Thanks for the link. Looks almost like what I had envisioned. I was thinking more of a recessed bumper, but this gives me some good ideas and how it would work =)

 

[BIGVAN]

This is another simple design, you may get some ideas from the pics.


http://www.reunel.com/FordExtremeDutyRearBumper/index.html