All this talk about heavy spare tires tearing up the end gate motivated me to fabricate a solution.
I had three goals in mind when I designed this.
1) Have a threaded, adjustable support that pushed into the bottom of the spare tire. This is made out of a huge bolt with a big washer welded on the end to protect the tire. Nut is 1-1/4 ". I built a custom wrench out of an old metal square. It is very light & plenty strong. It can be seen in one of the pics.
2) I wanted to further protect the end gate in the event I slid off an obstacle & came down forcefully on my spare tire. Which would certainly bend my gate, hinges and possibly the tub. I accomplished this by making a slider out of the main steel piece that slides into the hitch. I angled it upwards to help with departure angles.
3) I wanted to incorporate a large D-Ring. Why so large? The D-Ring also acts as a protector & slider. I welded a 1/4 inch piece of steel on top to prevent the D-Ring from any more upward movement.
Here's a pic of the cut pieces:
Here they are welded together:
Drying in the hot sun in Mommas CRV hitch:
mounted on the Jeep, notice the additional protection the D-Ring offers. It
will not raise any higher than this. It sticks out 2.5" beyond tire.
The final touch was the ratchet strap idea. For a long day on the trail I wanted my tire to be strapped down as well. It would do little good to have it supported only from the bottom on a rough, bumpy trail. The upward force upon the tire when hitting bumps would quite possibly cause damage to the stock spare carrier. The strap keeps everything tight & movement free. I will buy a black one when I get to town.
Here's a pic of the wrench. I just keep it under the seat.
I had three goals in mind when I designed this.
1) Have a threaded, adjustable support that pushed into the bottom of the spare tire. This is made out of a huge bolt with a big washer welded on the end to protect the tire. Nut is 1-1/4 ". I built a custom wrench out of an old metal square. It is very light & plenty strong. It can be seen in one of the pics.
2) I wanted to further protect the end gate in the event I slid off an obstacle & came down forcefully on my spare tire. Which would certainly bend my gate, hinges and possibly the tub. I accomplished this by making a slider out of the main steel piece that slides into the hitch. I angled it upwards to help with departure angles.
3) I wanted to incorporate a large D-Ring. Why so large? The D-Ring also acts as a protector & slider. I welded a 1/4 inch piece of steel on top to prevent the D-Ring from any more upward movement.
Here's a pic of the cut pieces:
Here they are welded together:
Drying in the hot sun in Mommas CRV hitch:
mounted on the Jeep, notice the additional protection the D-Ring offers. It
will not raise any higher than this. It sticks out 2.5" beyond tire.
The final touch was the ratchet strap idea. For a long day on the trail I wanted my tire to be strapped down as well. It would do little good to have it supported only from the bottom on a rough, bumpy trail. The upward force upon the tire when hitting bumps would quite possibly cause damage to the stock spare carrier. The strap keeps everything tight & movement free. I will buy a black one when I get to town.
Here's a pic of the wrench. I just keep it under the seat.