I seriously considered something like the above solutions. The problem I see with a swing away carrier, though, is using it if the truck is anything but level. Either it will fall away downhill and possibly bend or break something, or it will want to swing back in and kill you.
I finally just aired up my spare to the max and put it on the roof. With durable tires, I probably will never need it anyway. I built an "X" shaped rack from pipe, put pipe insulation on where it contacts the roof, and U-bolted it to the factory rack. Then used tie-downs to hold the tire there. Not particularly "trick", but the problem is solved!
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All of the carriers I build have stops to prevent them from opening up to far, and multi position pin holes to lock them open on uneven ground. The way I see it, there are advantages and disadvantages to both routes, this was a previous toyota I had set up with a roof rack, spares and fuel on top (a 24 gallon aux tank was where the spare would normally be).
I like the access to my stuff (cooler!), and no swingaway made that much easier in the little toyota. The roof rack and gear, however,made a huge difference in fuel economy and noise at highway speeds. Also, the change in COG was very noticeable. Also, getting the spare down is no problem, but putting destroyed, muddy tires with wire sticking out BACK onto the roof rack was no fun. In the dodge, with 37's and its overall height, that would have been a real PIA.
On the dodge, there was a lot more room in the cab for the essentials (cooler!), and it saw quite a bit of "tow rig" use, the swing away made a lot more sense.
Also, if you can let me know where to buy these durable tires that never fail, let me know. I've never seen such a thing...:ylsmoke:
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I've run everything from the run of the mill mud terrain radials, bias ply swampers, 11-00 20 goodyears, to BFG Baja Projects, and many in between. They ALL fail sooner or later...
