For years I've had a Jeeperman rear bumper/swing-away tire carrier. It's a similar design to what several other companies build with a heavy-duty bumper and a triangular swing-away tire carrier. The tire carrier is mounted to a big steel pin on one side of the bumper, and swings smoothly due to tapered roller bearings in the pivot. It is fastened by a car door-type latch on the opposite side. I never could get the latch adjusted right - if it was loose enough to be easy to operate, it rattled. If it was tight enough to not rattle, it was so hard to operate my wife couldn't open it.
I was pretty happy with it until one year I decided to do a Rubicon trip with the wife and two German Shepherds. To make room for the dogs in the back, I loaded all the gear on two racks mounted on the tire carrier. In addition I also carried two full 5 gallon Jerry cans and a 35" spare. With all that weight on it, as I bounced over the ground the carrier would rock back and forth, banging into the tailgate. The company that made the bumper said that shouldn't happen, but really, with that much weight and only being fastened at the bottom, what could you expect? I ended up running a ratchet strap from the top of the roll bar to the top rack above the tire and pulled it tight. All the way home my mind was working on coming up with a more permanent fix. Something easy to use, wouldn't rattle, and wouldn't let the carrier bang against the tailgate. This was done with just basic hand tools, a welder, and a hand grinder to smooth out the mediocre welds.
I had seen some Hansen bumpers and what I liked about them was that they had two hinge points, one high and one low. I called up Hansen and they were nice enough to sell me just the upper hinge from one of their bumpers. I then went to a local steel fabrication supply shop and purchased two six-foot lengths of 2" square tubing, the same thickness as the tire carrier. The shop also cut them both in half with a 45 degree cut. Their chop saw cut the angle better than any of my stuff could.
First I mounted the Hansen hinge at the top of the tub, using a piece of threaded rod to align the center point of to the center of the bottom hinge. Then I needed a place to attach the upper hinge so I took one piece of steel with the 45 degree cut and welded it to the top of the carrier triangle and cut it to the same length as the bottom arm and bolted it to the Hansen hinge. Then I cut another piece of square tubing to be a vertical brace, then welded it to the top piece of tubing I had added. On the opposite side I did the same. Having two pieces of tubing with exactly 45 degree cuts on one end worked out perfectly to square the triangle on that side. I extended it a few inches beyond the vertical support so I would have something to clamp on to hold it shut.
I took a short piece of leftover square tubing (about 6") and mounted at the top of the tub next to the tailgate latch, so the carrier would be parallel to the tailgate when closed. It was also a mounting point for the stainless steel De-Sta-ko clamp I found on the internet. I cut a small piece of scrap rubber for the carrier to rest against, then a nice coat of gloss black paint and adding 2" square plastic plugs to the open ends of the tubing completed the project.
Now the tailgate pivots on two hinges, on low and one high, and is securely clamped on the high side of the other end. You can pull on the tire as hard as you want and there is no flex or movement whatsoever. There is no rattling or any other noise either. I was super happy with the outcome - the cost was about $25 for the Hansen hinge, $25 for the stainless clamp, and $20 for the metal tubing.
What it originally looked like:
The Hansen hinge:
The Clamp:
Bottom of clamp side:
With Clamp open:
Modified tire carrier:
I was pretty happy with it until one year I decided to do a Rubicon trip with the wife and two German Shepherds. To make room for the dogs in the back, I loaded all the gear on two racks mounted on the tire carrier. In addition I also carried two full 5 gallon Jerry cans and a 35" spare. With all that weight on it, as I bounced over the ground the carrier would rock back and forth, banging into the tailgate. The company that made the bumper said that shouldn't happen, but really, with that much weight and only being fastened at the bottom, what could you expect? I ended up running a ratchet strap from the top of the roll bar to the top rack above the tire and pulled it tight. All the way home my mind was working on coming up with a more permanent fix. Something easy to use, wouldn't rattle, and wouldn't let the carrier bang against the tailgate. This was done with just basic hand tools, a welder, and a hand grinder to smooth out the mediocre welds.
I had seen some Hansen bumpers and what I liked about them was that they had two hinge points, one high and one low. I called up Hansen and they were nice enough to sell me just the upper hinge from one of their bumpers. I then went to a local steel fabrication supply shop and purchased two six-foot lengths of 2" square tubing, the same thickness as the tire carrier. The shop also cut them both in half with a 45 degree cut. Their chop saw cut the angle better than any of my stuff could.
First I mounted the Hansen hinge at the top of the tub, using a piece of threaded rod to align the center point of to the center of the bottom hinge. Then I needed a place to attach the upper hinge so I took one piece of steel with the 45 degree cut and welded it to the top of the carrier triangle and cut it to the same length as the bottom arm and bolted it to the Hansen hinge. Then I cut another piece of square tubing to be a vertical brace, then welded it to the top piece of tubing I had added. On the opposite side I did the same. Having two pieces of tubing with exactly 45 degree cuts on one end worked out perfectly to square the triangle on that side. I extended it a few inches beyond the vertical support so I would have something to clamp on to hold it shut.
I took a short piece of leftover square tubing (about 6") and mounted at the top of the tub next to the tailgate latch, so the carrier would be parallel to the tailgate when closed. It was also a mounting point for the stainless steel De-Sta-ko clamp I found on the internet. I cut a small piece of scrap rubber for the carrier to rest against, then a nice coat of gloss black paint and adding 2" square plastic plugs to the open ends of the tubing completed the project.
Now the tailgate pivots on two hinges, on low and one high, and is securely clamped on the high side of the other end. You can pull on the tire as hard as you want and there is no flex or movement whatsoever. There is no rattling or any other noise either. I was super happy with the outcome - the cost was about $25 for the Hansen hinge, $25 for the stainless clamp, and $20 for the metal tubing.
What it originally looked like:
The Hansen hinge:
The Clamp:
Bottom of clamp side:
With Clamp open:
Modified tire carrier: