New style tire rack. Only weighs 20 lbs

I designed and built a tire rack for my Jeep. I wanted to make something that was light and functional, and here's what I came up with. I still have to do some tweeking to perfect it.

The whole thing only weighs about 20 lbs minus the tire of course.



It's got a simple turn-latch to lock the rack into place



In this picture, you can see that the pivot point is on a horizontal 45 degree angle.



The tire folds down at a 45 degree angle all the way to the ground for ease of removal when changing a tire.

 

Cool idea.. good thinking.
May need a little more beef on the mounting area ,
and the latch needs to be higher up for better leverage .
cool idea though.
I like not havng to realy lift the whole weight.

On the trail behind someone,
you can realy see how much the tire can bounce around,
realy stress the mount.

I have seen a couple come open.

FWIW

 

Tou really have to appreciate someone thinking out of the box. Run it and dial it in, it looks like a good idea.

 

Thanks for all the comments, and suggestions.

I do plan on beefing up the mount, but I can't make it higher, otherwise I won't be able to use the tailgate. Hence the reason for the short latching mechanism. It actually holds up rather well. I think I just need to use thicker material to make it stronger, but it's not bad for my first attempt.

 

Very nice, like was said already dial it in as you use it.

 

How about a rotating joint fitted with pins? So that when you pull the pin, you can spin the shaft holding the tire to make it perpendicular to the ground, would make mounting that much easier.

The latch system looks to me that it could too easily pop undone.

 

I've already been thinking about adding a pivot to the vertical post, and since that post swings down at a 45, there's no chance of the latch ever comming loose, unless you don't lock it.

 

I like the design, but I'd worry whether it's strong enough to resist the lever arm of the upright. I've seen tire carriers break out the back panel of Jeeps, and I don't think the rear cross-member is strong enough to with stand that much twisting force.

 

I can see where that would come in as an extra drag point for a really steep decent.

Will you be welding this onto the bumper in the future?

Neat design. When you get a minute or ten, could you list the parts and speculate on how thick they should be for strength?

Great Job!

 

If you look closer, I actually mounted it on the reciever frame. The rear is only gonna help to support some of the weight, not all of it.

 

To me, it looks like the receiver is welded to the bottom of the channel, and the channel is bolted or welded to the bottom of the crossmember. I don't see any other bracing. If there is, that's good, but if not, then the crossmember will twist.

 

Nope, there's lots of other bracing on the reciever. It surrounds my gas tank (which by the way, makes it a pain to remove the gas tank) LOL.

I've actually thought of a completely different design for this carrier, and as soon as I can figure out all the logistics of it, I'll build it. My next one is gonna be really cool. PM'd you a hint.

 

Geez, guys. Give the guy a break. He comes up with a cool new design and all you hear is 'you need more bracing' or 'its hard to put the lugnuts on'. I think he came up with a really cool design that doesnt weigh 300 pounds or cost a small fortune. Good job!!!

 

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