I want to re-engineer my tailgate to be a true tailgate that folds down and basically turns the back of my TJ into a little mini-truck bed. I will not be running a back seat at all. The reason I'm doing this is because I want to make my Jeep more utilitarian for hauling stuff around the house and the cabin.
This leaves me with the dilemma of what to do with the spare. I want to remove it from the tail gate , but I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with just leaving it at home all the time. I know I could go with a swing out tire carrier mounted on an aftermarket rear bumper and I am strongly considering that, but as I was standing there looking at my TJ the other day I took a measuring tape and realized that I could mount it inside the Jeep over the right rear fender well. I can design a bracket (I design steel structures for a living) and have it fabricated that would bolt (clamp) to both of the right rear roll bar uprights and mount the spare up and out of the way over the right rear fender well and tucked in between the two roll bar uprights. Kind of like in a XJ.
It would just be a simple flat bar with hole sin the ends and a "U" bolt to bolt around each roll bar upright and a bolting pattern in the center to bolt the spare tire (or bolt the spare tire mount that I remove from the back of the Jeep.
One day this week while it's not raining I'm going to take the spare off and just set it up there and maybe strap it in with a ratchet strap or something and just see how it looks.
I've Googled images of this and came up with nothing. I realize this wouldn't work with super large tires, but mine are only like 29" in overall diameter.
Does this seem like a crazy idea?
This leaves me with the dilemma of what to do with the spare. I want to remove it from the tail gate , but I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with just leaving it at home all the time. I know I could go with a swing out tire carrier mounted on an aftermarket rear bumper and I am strongly considering that, but as I was standing there looking at my TJ the other day I took a measuring tape and realized that I could mount it inside the Jeep over the right rear fender well. I can design a bracket (I design steel structures for a living) and have it fabricated that would bolt (clamp) to both of the right rear roll bar uprights and mount the spare up and out of the way over the right rear fender well and tucked in between the two roll bar uprights. Kind of like in a XJ.
It would just be a simple flat bar with hole sin the ends and a "U" bolt to bolt around each roll bar upright and a bolting pattern in the center to bolt the spare tire (or bolt the spare tire mount that I remove from the back of the Jeep.
One day this week while it's not raining I'm going to take the spare off and just set it up there and maybe strap it in with a ratchet strap or something and just see how it looks.
I've Googled images of this and came up with nothing. I realize this wouldn't work with super large tires, but mine are only like 29" in overall diameter.
Does this seem like a crazy idea?
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