rear bar and tyre carrier

[WHHEMI]

I would try and use heavier springs to hold that up rather than coil spacers, looking good by the way.

[Lim@]

had a bit of progress today but only had about 1.5 hours to work on it.
did a bit more trial fitting and cut up pieces to close up the bar at the corners of the body.

but heres roughly how the whole bar should sit. probably half that gap to the tailgate bottom lip.




tacked it all together and then decided to weld it all up. was going to use my mates mig then thought i may as well ARC it since im going to be rounding it off with a flapper disc anyway.



got half way through cutting one of the mounting plates down and the disc in my cut off saw became too small so called it a day. will get another one tomorrow. if i get the chance i might drill a hole for the stub axle in the bar and weld that in.

[Lim@]

got a few updates guys.

bar install is going alright but not quite as great as i had planned.

installed a tie rod from tailgate to tyre carrier using the bottom left two bolts from the factory tire carrier. took a bit of working out but pretty simple really once you get your head around it. i did this with 2X m12 rose joints, and threaded rod between the two joints.

then purchased 2X casters, removed the wheel to keep the U bracket and welded that to the tailgate bracket and the tyre carrier.

these seem to work alright, but since doing this i'm actually starting to think i may not need the overcentre latch as the tie rod keeps it tight against the stopped i welded to the bar to stop the tyre carrier going in to the tailgate. i've been driving around without the overcentre latch done up and so far so good but once i get some weight on it we'll see.

also just installed a 300N gas strut. went for a short stroke one, and I'm starting to think it may not be a great idea and because of where it's mounted to the bar it doesn't have a lot of leverage to hold it open but as you will see in the video it's enough to not have to open the tail gate, it does it all by itself. so fingers crossed this works.

here are some pics anyway.






heres the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS5fB...ature=youtu.be

as you can hear i still need to sort out a sound dampner for closing the tail gate and carrier as it's currently metal on metal, but this is not a biggy for my right now.

currently my issue is in the strength of the bar near the stub axle, if i grab the top of the carrier and shke it, i can see flex there, so need to add some gussets in before i load her up.

also i think i'm going to make the jerry can mounts removable and just have ubolts holding them to the angles. i may end up just leaving them, but i don't really see the need

[WHHEMI]

Any details on your over center latch mate, where did you get it, price and was it worth it.

[Lim@]

i got it from ferntree gully bolts for $17.
seems good, but i'd definitely recommend getting an adjustable one unlike mine where you need to be a bit too precise rather than just slapping it together

same as this by the looks of it.
http://www.ovesco.com.au/productpics...14_P1_copy.jpg

[WHHEMI]

Thanks, I've been looking at those, but was wondering about adjustment, thanks for the tip.

[bruggz351]

Thats nice. I really like how you've got the carrier acting off the tail gate.