TJ custom Rear Tyre and Jerry can carrier
 

Hi everyone,

I thought I would post up some pics of my latest fabrication work.
I previously posted in this section my steel flares http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...d.php?t=143802

This time I thought I would tackle a spare tyre carrier as i felt like my spare was a bit too heavy for the rear tailgate hinges and latch.
I also wanted to be able to carry extra fuel on board and I'm too cheap to buy a bigger fuel tank or sub tank.

I already had a Smittybilt XRC rear bar which had the mounting facility for a swing away carrier.
I ended up buying this stub axle kit and grinding down the square edges to fit into the round hole of my bumper.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/REAR-BAR-...YAAOSwv0tVAjNp

I then just started fabricating the carrier up out of some box section steel
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...0b1fccc138.jpg

I didn't really have a plan except to say I knew I wanted to have the Jerry Cans behind the Spare tyre and against the tailgate.
So I just kept welding stuff together and seeing how it looked as I went.http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...0b3615587e.jpghttp://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...0b3cad97db.jpg

More to come

More welding together as I go, starting to take shape and looking better than I expected.
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...147ce0307c.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...1481700f7d.jpg
Test fitting the Jerry Cans in and more of checking to see how it looks.
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...148f52dffa.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...1492343fb8.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...14964b743a.jpg
I now decided it was turning out better than I expected so I should start putting some thought into it. I decided to put a gas strut on it to keep it open when parked on hills and latch it to the tailgate so it opens with the tailgate and doesn't need its own separate latch.
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...14a9fe09fc.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...14ad839301.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...14b06c127c.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...14b5880aa8.jpg
Unfortunately I don't have any better photos of the latch at this stage of the build, more will come.

Next I started making some brackets to secure the Jerry Cans onto the carrier and started putting some primer on the welds to stop the surface rust.
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...14c97a89cb.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...14cc2115d0.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...14d6535e8e.jpg
It was now time to mount the Tyre which I happened to conveniently find an old AU Falcon front hub in the shed which I used for the wheel mount. I measured it by eye and welded it on, added a gusset for strength as the tyre is fairly heavy, don't want that coming off on the highway.
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...14ea9da426.jpg
A keen observer might also notice that I finished off the mounting for the Jerry Cans in the last photo.
I also finished making a mounting plate for the Licence Plate and Brake light in the center of the spare, pretty happy with how its looking.http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...14f96f332b.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...14fec0f4c7.jpg
All ready for paint.

Painted it up in my favorite Bed liner flat textured black, same as the flares and hardtop.
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...1513a16448.jpg
I ran the wiring for the lighting through the inside of the carrier so it's nice and neat.
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...151c3eb68d.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...1521dc4d3c.jpg
And finally with the wheel and everything mounted on just checking to see how it all works and looks.
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...152fc96340.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...1534f60460.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...153ae6ee1c.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...15412716d8.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...1546ed07c1.jpg

I'm very happy with how it has turned out and it works exactly how I intended while building it.
I will get some more detailed photos of the latch mechanism and the Jerry Can mounts so you can see how it was done and how it works.
If anyone wants some more information on how I did something feel free to ask.

I have now started making some rock sliders so that will be the next thing to go up, I will try to keep more detailed photography this time.

As always your comments are appreciated, let me know what you think.

Thanks
Dave

Looks great, how do you get the jerry cans out when it's mounted to the tailgate.

More pics as promised.
The tyre carrier can be separated from the tailgate easily to remove the Jerry Cans as per pics below
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...371f9ea46e.jpg
Thumb screw makes it easy to disconnect the tyre carrier from the tailgate
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...37258ab3e7.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...37273b946d.jpg
More thumb screws to undo the Jerry Cans
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...372cf5a6e5.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...372e9c09e1.jpg
http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/...373046d7dc.jpg

I hope this makes it clear how it works.

Thanks
Dave