Steve
I had the Canyon City rack. It was well made and heavy duty brackets. You have to drill into the tub to attach the latch. I had a Jamboree rack made for it and noticed with the extra weight it started to tear at my tub on the hinge side of the carrier. I removed that rack and noticed that the one bracket was splitting down the seam. It appeared that the weld seam wasn't in the proper place and was only being held on by overspray? of the weld. If the bracket had been made properly in the first place I'm sure it would have held up.

I now have the Bulletproof Bumper/Swingout tire carrier/rack. When the gas cans are not on the rack, the spare tire can be moved in closer to the tailgate.

I have heard that the Tomken setup rattles a bit

Durango also makes a 3 piece set.

Bulletproof Mfg
http://www.bulletproofmfg.com

Durango 4x4 Outfitters
http://www.durango4x4.com

Cutch 88YJ

 

/wwwthreads_images/icons/tongue.gif I just peeked at those two sites, Steve, and I have to say that the Durango setup is somewhat in denial having tied it to the body AND the bumber with a rigid connection/wwwthreads_images/icons/frown.gif which has the potential for removing that little area from the body, but hey, what do I know. Both of the units on the sites look stout enough, as long as they can standoff the bumper all right. We never could find one that was strong enough to satisfy my grizzled old engineering brain, so we......designed our own....painstakingly, and as a combination rear spring hangar set, dual can rack, bumper, receiver hitch, spare tire rack, and license plate mount. We did away with the bumper on the CJ, moved the lights down and the fuel filler up, and got the license plate where it doesn't catch on everything including my coveralls when I work on this Jeep. We used the dual Jeep can swing-away from JCW, and integrated it into the design by inverting it and attaching it to the risers from the bumper. Now all we have to do is the cutting and welding. The thinking is over, and that's the hard part. Hopefully my moonguy/wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gif/wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif/wwwthreads_images/icons/laugh.gif crew is up to the task.

CJDave
I never believe any statistics unless I've made 'em up myself.

 

Check out this site!! http://www.jl4wd.com they sell a combo that I just bought. I got mine with reciever,air tank, tire carrier. They also sell a jaks and jerry cam holder. IT is HEAVY DUTY and real cheap compared to most the others I'v seen. I love it.

Al
http://My web page

 

Pretty slick having the gas can mount to the rim of the tire (or so it appears) I'm not sure how safe (or leagal) this position is but it will give those home tinkerers plenty of ideas on mounting gas can mounts that attach to the rim and maybe go off to each side of the tire and hang a can on each side...?

 

I didn't really like it that's why I didn't get the gascan rack. Off road it's good since it's high so it won't rub hills like they do when they are mounted low but The basic bumper package is a good deal and jerry can racks are not hard to make. This bumper doesn't touch the tub and it holds my 35x12.5 no problem. The bars that tie into the frame didn't line up with the holes on my frame but my rear frame has all bee rebuilt and beefed up. I tried attaching a pic of the bumper on my jeep but the file is too large for this bbs.

Al
My web page

 

Steve-
I did a write up spread over three postings on this very subject just a few months ago. Look it up in the archives and go over it. If you feel you don't have time to fab one now but are inclined to do so if given the time and chance, then I would suggest just taking your spare off of the tub right now and perhaps carrying it inside. Look at all of the features and benefits of the various designs and factor in what you want and post your proposals here and we will help you if you need it at that point. Been there done that.
sln

 

I was was in this same spot a few years ago , I thought the 4 wheel drive version was really nice but costly. I also had a fear that it would sit too high and obstruct rear the veiw. So i bought the Tomken kit. To get the tire carrier you have to by their bumper that comes with a strong looking 2" reciever. To attach the carrier to the bumper you need to drill a lot of holes
that arent predrilled or even marked. When its all done it sits at a good height with a slight angle to it, like the desert runners. I had a rattle that I couldnt get rid of by using their adjustable rubber stop. So I bought clamps and braced the two peices together which worked fairly well. There are no bearings what so ever at the pivot point just a metal washer. I feel that for all the added work and rethinking of their latching mechanism plus the grand total of close to $500. for this "kit". That if I had to do it over again I would go for the more expensive 4 wheel drive version.
bandon

 

I have seen the 4wdhwd version at their retail store and it looks like it is well built.
M.O.R.E also sells what appears to be a nice looking unit but even bigger bucks http://www.mountainoffroad.com/catalog/Bumpers/rockproof.htm

Keep the shiny side up !
CJJ

 

OK,I'm not an engineer type but there's something about all the designs(that
I've seen) that bothers me. With the bumping and jaring of a 4x4, how well
will one of these tire holders hold up? It seems that the majority of the
weight is mounted to high and off to one side of the pivot point. Like I said
I'm not an engineer but I would think the lever action would win out over a
period of time. Am I missing something?

C-Ya.....................kh

 

Couple of years ago I got the Tomken setup with a single Jerry can. After a few months use I came to a conclusion. The Jerry can deal looks neat, or should I say "kewl", but for my application was worse than useless. I do extreme trails in the South and Southwest. Always filled the Jerry can, wanted to be prepared etc. Only time I ever used it was to loan some gas to a trail leader in Big Bend Nat'l Park. The rest of the time I just poured it into my tank after returning home. I said "worse than useless" and have only covered the "useless". "Worse than" involves several instances of rubbing the spare tire on the ground due to the extreme angles I often achieve and the distance the spare sits out from the rear of the Jeep because of the Jerry can. This has resulted in bending the entire setup more than once. Finally removed the Jerry can holder.
Hopefully not stepping on anyones toes here, it is my OPINION that one should consider these types of Jerry can holders in ONLY two situations. 1) Looks. 2) Much time spent alone or with only a single other vehicle or maybe two others really in the back country. Far enough away from civilization and gas stations and for a long enough time that it makes extra fuel a real necessity. In situations like that extreme trails and off roading are important and fun but the real reason for being there would probably be something else - hunting, prospecting, running from the law /wwwthreads_images/icons/tongue.gif, job related etc, and the off roading part while great, would be secondary. In that type of invironment the idea would be to get in, do your thing and get out, so extreme trail running would be less likely to happen and therefore the clearance problems created by the Jerry can holders would not be so noticable.
As far as your tail gate is concerned, I have commented several times on this forum that the tail gate is no place for the spare tire if you do any off roading at all. It is more convenient, but even a stock size tire and wheel will, can, and has bent hinges, tail gates and latches and torn mounting bolts out of the tail gate too.
If you decide on the Tomken and for whatever reason want or need the Jerry can holders, mine can be had cheap.

Doug '97 TJ
My Web Site

 

I guess I'm a tight wad but I built my own tire carrier onto my 6" channel bumper by using a piece of 1 1/2" pipe for the piviot and welded a piece of angle iron to the face of my bumper with the open side of the angle against the pipe clamping it against the bumper. Then with $15 worth of scrap rect tubing built an A frame with a tire mount and hy-lift jack and cb ant mount, welded it all up, painted it and it works great. Just a little grease down around the pipe once a year wheither it needs it or not. Just my .02 Steve

Mopar360yj
87yj+20,74CHR.030360,SOA,35BFGATs,46RH,241DHD,
D60-44-4.10

 

Not really a problem. All the weight is pretty much pushes straight down on the bumper. The swing out does suffer a bit from the weight, but not enough to be concerned about.

Doug '97 TJ
My Web Site

 

I knowmost people will not like this idea but I just cannot let go of $300 to hold a tire. Last week I made my mount. i took a 2 inch angle iron bolted across the jeep in the area that a bumper would, upside down. then fab a T out of 2 inch square tubing so the top of the T upside down would ride on the angle iron, A mount for tire on other end. The T was bolted to angle iron using 3/4 bolts one on each end. So this would swing once I can figure out the latch. I copy a mount I saw here but cannot remember the name. Terry Howe has one. But here the big part; It only cost me $30 and a couple hours welding. The mount does not touch the body at any point and there is enough room under the angle iron for a reciever hitchs.

brownbagg

 

I got a very nice bumper/tire carrier from a place called kennesaw mountain accesories. Very stout! It's has held up wonderfully for the past 2 years and if I remeber cost about $350. As for wear and tear, I used to have to keep tightening the bolt ever so often but then I put a small weld were the frame meets the bumper and it doesn't rock loose any more. Here is the web site.

www.kenmtn.com

http://www.kenmtn.com/assets/images/prodpic2.gif

 

I built my own that looks almost exactly like the 4wdhw one. Mine has a stronger hinge though. I spent about $50 to build mine. I did learn a lesson in the process. Don't use any less than a 2000 pound rated latch. I used a 750lb one and I ended up taking out 2 mailboxes when it broke and the rack swung open.
Good luck,
Aaron

 

Thanks for all the input... Being an engineer myself I agree with everyone about fabricating my own bumper, in fact I already have a decent design thought out and access to enough scrap steel to do it. All I have for a welder though is a little 120V buzzer, hopefully Santa remembers next year. I could do it at work on the weekends but that gets to be a pain. Not sure which carrier I'll end up with, but I'm sure not paying $800 for a carrier/bumper combo...

Steve

1994 YJ Sahara