YJ Bumper Tire Carrier Fail - March 2020
This is one of many posts where I tell you why I didn't do any Jeepster work 😞
About 5 years ago, I added a tire carrier to an existing bumper on my Jeep YJ. It's documented on Jeep Forum, if interested:https://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f12/tire-carrier-added-dirtworx-bumper-2920641/
It's worked well over the past 5 years, and the latch keeps it very secure. No movement, and no squeaking or other issues. I used an A to Z Fabrication "Mega Spindle" for the tire carrier, which was rated for a 37" tire. I'm on 35s. I never used the Rotopax - they are both empty, so no extra loads other than the tire itself. I also have the tire tucked up as close as possible to the body.
Mega Duty Spindle: https://www.amazon.com/AtoZ-Fabrication-Carrier-Swingout-Builders/dp/B01DNC05Q0
On Saturday morning, I went to get something out of my Jeep, and this happened when I undid the latch. Thank goodness that I was in the driveway, and that it didn't happen on the freeway.
Looks like the spindle just had fatigue failure, or possibly the heat from the welding damaged the steel. Or it was just low quality steel from A to Z. The tire carrier has never been removed, so the spindle has never been inspected. I didn't measure it, but the spindle is probably 1.25" or 1.375" in diameter.
Takeaways:
1) Double shear on the spindle would be a better design.
2) My welds didn't fail :-)
3) I was a little tired of the big heavy tire in the back, so I've been thinking about other tire storage ideas. I doubt that I'll rebuild the same carrier. It's more likely that I'll do something completely different. Space in the cab is tight, so I may ultimately decide to rebuild the tire carrier in a much stronger way.
Spare Tire Storage Options:
I
cleaned out the back of my Jeep. The Bestop security
trunk, tool bag and baja rack all came out.
Goals of this (in no particular order)
1) Figure out spare tire storage since my tire carrier
broke. This will involve a welded structure, I think.
And maybe an appropriate ratchet strap.
2) Install a CJ7 drop down tailgate - I like the look
of it. It wasn't important to do this mod with the bumper
tire carrier, since you couldn't see it. I already have
all the parts.
3) Get rid of the Bestop trunk, so I can actually use
the tailgate to open up the back of the Jeep. I daily
drive my Jeep a lot and do a lot of shopping in it. It's
a pain to load cases of water, etc, behind the passenger
seat.
4) Do some different locking storage for my tool bags,
etc. I'm thinking of making storage boxes over the wheel
wells like Tuffy makes. (the Tuffy versions are almost
$400).
5) Maybe do a single back seat, so I could carry 2
passengers. But it's really tight back there. I may need
to wait until I do a 15" YJ stretch like Tommy.
6) Find a solution for my existing 35" tires, but also
something that may work for 37". This could be tough. On
a YJ, the area between the front seats and tailgate and
between the 2 wheel wells is almost a perfect 36"x36"
square. It's fine for now on 35" tires, but may be
problematic if I ever go to 37".
7) Do all this relatively quickly.
4 options for in cab spare tire storage:
1) Stand it up behind the driver seat.
A 37" tire might fit:
An old Mustang seat that I had laying around - just for
mockup:
Likes:
Makes it possible to add a 3rd seat
Pretty good use of interior space - still lots of
storage room
Dislikes:
I tried sitting in the 3rd seat and it's pretty
claustrophobic
I'd put a tire cover over it, so it wouldn't be so ugly.
I'd put a tire cover over it, so it wouldn't be so ugly.
It's another 100 lbs or so on the driver's side of the
Jeep, so weight distribution isn't great.
2) Lay it down flat on the floor (or on a platform of
some kind with storage underneath). This is a common
solution. I like the weight down low and centered. But
I feel like I lose a lot of storage area.
3) Stand it up right behind both front seats. Lots
of great storage space at the tailgate. This would also
seem to be pretty claustrophobic for the people in the
front seats. This might be okay, if I made an angled
mount to lower it a little bit (at the cost of floor
space). If I did that, it would probably look a little
like a baja truck spare tire mount.
4a) Stand it up behind the
passenger seat - not considered because of the huge
blind spot it would create.
4b) Stand it up right in front of
the tailgate - not considered because it would block all
storage access from the rear.
5) Build a stronger bumper tire
carrier. Or a tub mounted carrier?
6) I even briefly thought about
moving the wheel wells 2-3" out on each side to gain
more interior space. There's tons of room to do this
with my full width axles. But then I remembered that I
wanted to do it quickly 😀
I think #1 or #5 is the answer. I
may look more at an angled #3 mount to see if the
dimensions work out, but I don't think they will.
Still looking at all the
options...a couple of my friends are recommending something like
this:
Saw this, and thought it would be good for temporary use (Jamboree, etc). I would want to re-design it to help the departure angle and strengthen it up a bit, but the general idea is good. Of course, you lose convenient access to your tailgate, but that's probably okay for occasional use. Even if I choose an in-cab mount, I still might fab something like this up, so I could get the spare out of my cab if needed. (By "fab up", I mean strategically cutting up the old, broken tire carrier and modding it to function like this one. I've probably got 50% of it already done)
Spoiler Alert: The YJ Spare storage gets resolved in a future post.