spare tire carriers on a rig towing an expedition camper/trailer

[BigDaveZJ]

Looking to move the spare tire outside on the ZJ, and it would be a piece of cake if not for the M416. My concern is the swingout portion of the tire carrier being impeded by the trailer itself. What kind of issues have you guys run into with this and what have you done to combat these issues?

 

[JeepDork]

tire carrier on the rear of the trailer, run the same size tire on the trailer as the tow vehicle.

 

[BigDaveZJ]

That is an option, but I do a lot of wheeling without the trailer and can't be without a spare for those times and I want to permanently move the tire outside the Jeep and build a drawer system in the back.

 

[shogun]

Spare on the rear of the trailer, meh. Just another 50+ lbs you have to offset in the front.

I generally disconnect the trailer and roll it back a few ft anyway, because I use the vehicle for access to stuff (fridge). But back to the question, best solution would be a half width swing away. Look for pics of a HMMWV spare, should be a few around here from previous. Oh yea, when they tell you how strong an axle hinge is, run, dont walk.

 

[bob]

Your only option is what is listed above, or extend the tongue of the trailer. Normally will not cause a problem. You can also set the trailer at a 45 degree angle from the tow vehicle and have a lot more space to open the back.

I have an FJ with and AllPro Fuel carrier, a major pain in the but with a trailer. I learned that trick and actually could get the back door open on my box trailer, but not with the new one.

 

[xracer9]

Swing arm for spare and hi lift

 

[brianwj]

Is the roof out of the question? I used both roof and bumper on my XJ and in the end the roof was more practical with access to the back of the Jeep and better rear visibility.

 

[Bad Karma]

Is the roof out of the question? I used both roof and bumper on my XJ and in the end the roof was more practical with access to the back of the Jeep and better rear visibility.

^^ This...

 

[BigDaveZJ]

Roof is absolutely out of the question. I do enough borderline hardcore crawling with the rig that I need to keep the COG as low as possible. I'm thinking a real short swing is going to be the only option.

 

[Casper]

I had this same issue. My first solution was to pull the bolt that held my rear swing on and replace it with a quick pin. Then build a mount for in on the back of the Chaser. This way I could easily move the swing and tire from rig to trailer and bakc when needed. While this worked, it was a pain. Everything was heavy, and I would end up not want to take the time to move it.

On to plan two, I redesigned my rear swing so that it was two swing arms instead of one. This made the arms much shorter, and thus cleared the trailer without issue. It also aloud me to add two fuel cans to the second swing. This has served me very well without issue for several years.

Photos, swings closed:

Center latch point, and no it does not rattle one bit (cause that's the first thing folks ask me )

Open

Hinges

Only photo I could find with the trailer attached and swings open (sorta)

Hope that helps.
Cheers,
Josh

 

[ajsmith]

Casper, great build on the carrier. It should help the original poster, and it has helped me figure out some final details for the carrier I'm building. Thanks

 

[Casper]

ajsmith, thanks and your welcome. I know it's not for everyone, but I really like it and think it's a great solution.

Cheers,
Josh

 

[Tom and Elaine]

How about a longer tongue on the trailer

 

[BigDaveZJ]

How about a longer tongue on the trailer

That thought has crossed my mind as well, but I run into a couple issues there. I have a 24' gooseneck that the ZJ and M416 barely fit on as it is, so lengthening the tongue causes issues there. The ZJ gets towed to most trails we do in CO and to Moab, so the M416 has to fit on the trailer with it if we want to bring it. I could probably come up with a way to have an adjustable length tongue and shorten it for transport on the trailer. Would also be nice on the rare occasion that the M416 sees highway time, on the trail the current length works great.

 

[granitex1]

I ocassionally run a 12 inch extension on the bumper, while it does reduce the total capasity of the hitch it is still well above what it needs to be. With it in I could open the tire carrier with any trailer that I tow, all that it really does is extends the pivot point a foot further back, which has no impact on pavement or fire roads.

That was prior to having to re-work the tire carrier after Moab had its way with the hindge. The new setup is much shorter and offset so that i no longer need the extension at all.