TeraFlex Hinged Tire Carrier install
02-25-2013, 12:38 PM
#1
JK Super Freak
Thread Starter
TeraFlex Hinged Tire Carrier install
This is a write-up of my installation of a TeraFlex Hinged Tire Carrier and Adjustable Spare Tire Mounting Kit. TeraFlex has a very helpful installation video on their website here: | TeraFlex Suspensions
***To be added: Torque specs, fastener sizes for people who know longer have the bolts used to mount the stock tire carrier***
Step 1: Remove the spare tire, then stock tire carrier by removing the eight 13mm bolts attaching it to the tailgate.
Step 2: Remove the right-hand rubber bumper from the tailgate by twisting and pulling.
Step 3: Pop off the plastic hinge covers. I removed the short covers by lower edge down and out first in order to get some leverage. The long covers are removed by pulling them away from the tailgate and to the left. The plastic covers won’t be reused with the TeraFlex kit.
Step 4: Support the tailgate in place by inserting some sort of blocking of the correct height between the bumper and bottom edge of the tailgate. I used a pair of bricks and a piece of wood that happened to be just the right width.
Step 5: Use a 13mm socket to remove the bolts supporting the long hinge bracket arms.
Step 6: Use a #50 Torx socket to remove the Torx bolts on the short side of the hinge. Remove the outside bolt first, then swing the long bracket arm away from the tailgate to remove the inside bolts. The hinges can now be removed. Make sure you don’t open the tailgate now that the hinges are removed.
Step 7: This is a good time to wipe down the tailgate to remove any dirt that would otherwise be pinched between the paint and the new hinge.
Step 8: Rotate the Teraflex Hinged Carrier brackets about 15 degrees to make it easier to insert the bolts in the next step.
Step 9: You’ll reuse the original #50 Torx bolts to attach the carrier bracket. Apply some blue LocTite to all of the mounting bolts. Don’t tighten the carrier mounting bolts at this time.
First, install the outside bolts.
After the outside bolts are installed swing the tire carrier away from the tailgate so that you can install the inside bolts. TeraFlex includes a #50 Torx key to reach into this tight spot, but I was able to install these bolts using a long extension on my ratchet.
Step 10: Swing the carrier closed and use one of the 13mm bolts from the original tire carrier to attach the new carrier to the tailgate. This step will make sure that all of the other bolt holes will be lined up for final assembly.
Step 11: With the carrier aligned, tighten down the outside #50 Torx hinge bolts.
Step 12: Remove the single 13mm bolt you used to attach the carrier to the tailgate, swing the carrier open, and tighten the inside #50 Torx hinge bolts.
Step 13: Close the hinged carrier against the tailgate and install the supplied stainless steel bolts into the four recesses in the carrier. The nuts inside the tailgate may appear not to line up properly, but once you get the bolts started they will move into proper alignment (yes, my Jeep magically turned yellow during this step).
Step 14: This is a good time to work out any wiring paths you might need for a CB antenna or third brake light. I passed my CB antenna through the exposed grommet in the tailgate before proceeding further.
Step 15: Reusing the factory bolts mount the adjustable carrier base plate in the center of the tailgate. Use a supplied flat rubber spacer with each of the two pairs of bolts on the left side of the base plate. The remaining rubber spacers are not used when the adjustable tire carrier is used with the hinged mount.
Step 16: The adjustable tire mount comes with four sets of holes for wheel studs. Use the correct set for the size of your tire. The top set is for a 37” tire, the second for 35”, the third for 33”, and the bottom set for a stock tire. I chose the second set from the top for my 35” tire.
Step 17: The wheel studs must be pressed, not pounded into the tire mount. Otherwise they may slip when you tighten or loosen your lug nuts, perhaps leaving you stranded on the trail unable to remove your spare tire.
Not having access to a press I had to get creative installing my wheel studs. I ended up using a closed-end wrench and a large washer between the mounting plate and the nut I used to pull the wheel stud into place. Applying grease between the washer and nut helped minimize friction and made pulling the wheel stud into the plate much easier. Complete this process for all three wheel studs.
Step 18: Now it’s time to determine how far from the hinged carrier you’ll need to attach your tire mount for proper fitment. This step is very important: A gap between your mounted spare tire and carrier could cause vibration, and a tire mount attached to close to the carrier could stress the assembly when the spare tire is mounted.
With your tire resting on the ground back-side-up, place a flat object like a yardstick or broom handle across the tire and measure the distance from the mounting surface of the wheel to the object lying across the tire. This distance will give you an idea how far the mounting surface of the adjustable carrier should be from the surface of the hinged carrier where the tire will touch.
The TeraFlex installation video does a great job of describing the process of determining the correct measurement for the mounting of the adjustable tire carrier. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...XGHNgW8#t=435s
Step 19: Slide the adjustable carrier into the base plate and measure the distance from the mounting surface of the adjustable carrier to the surface of the hinged carrier attached to the tailgate.
Step 20: Use the pair of long stainless bolts, nuts, and washers to tighten the adjustable carrier into place in the carrier baseplate. If your tire is very large you may find that only one bolt is able to fit into the slotted adjuster hole in the adjustable carrier; if this is the case simply tighten the bolt that fits through the adjuster hole, then install the second bolt so that it passes behind the adjuster hole so that it still aids in clamping the base plate tight to the carrier.
Step 21: Test fit your spare tire. Hang your spare tire from the carrier and thread, but don’t tighten, the lug nuts. Check between the tire and base plate or the hinged carrier for contact. Fit properly the tire will fit snugly against the carrier but will not place too much stress against the carrier when the lug nuts are tightened. Adjust the position of the adjustable carrier as need to get a proper fit.
I don’t have a stock third brake light, so I didn’t use the included extension that is used to extend the brake light assembly above the tire carrier.
***To be added: Torque specs, fastener sizes for people who know longer have the bolts used to mount the stock tire carrier***
Step 1: Remove the spare tire, then stock tire carrier by removing the eight 13mm bolts attaching it to the tailgate.
Step 2: Remove the right-hand rubber bumper from the tailgate by twisting and pulling.
Step 3: Pop off the plastic hinge covers. I removed the short covers by lower edge down and out first in order to get some leverage. The long covers are removed by pulling them away from the tailgate and to the left. The plastic covers won’t be reused with the TeraFlex kit.
Step 4: Support the tailgate in place by inserting some sort of blocking of the correct height between the bumper and bottom edge of the tailgate. I used a pair of bricks and a piece of wood that happened to be just the right width.
Step 5: Use a 13mm socket to remove the bolts supporting the long hinge bracket arms.
Step 6: Use a #50 Torx socket to remove the Torx bolts on the short side of the hinge. Remove the outside bolt first, then swing the long bracket arm away from the tailgate to remove the inside bolts. The hinges can now be removed. Make sure you don’t open the tailgate now that the hinges are removed.
Step 7: This is a good time to wipe down the tailgate to remove any dirt that would otherwise be pinched between the paint and the new hinge.
Step 8: Rotate the Teraflex Hinged Carrier brackets about 15 degrees to make it easier to insert the bolts in the next step.
Step 9: You’ll reuse the original #50 Torx bolts to attach the carrier bracket. Apply some blue LocTite to all of the mounting bolts. Don’t tighten the carrier mounting bolts at this time.
First, install the outside bolts.
After the outside bolts are installed swing the tire carrier away from the tailgate so that you can install the inside bolts. TeraFlex includes a #50 Torx key to reach into this tight spot, but I was able to install these bolts using a long extension on my ratchet.
Step 10: Swing the carrier closed and use one of the 13mm bolts from the original tire carrier to attach the new carrier to the tailgate. This step will make sure that all of the other bolt holes will be lined up for final assembly.
Step 11: With the carrier aligned, tighten down the outside #50 Torx hinge bolts.
Step 12: Remove the single 13mm bolt you used to attach the carrier to the tailgate, swing the carrier open, and tighten the inside #50 Torx hinge bolts.
Step 13: Close the hinged carrier against the tailgate and install the supplied stainless steel bolts into the four recesses in the carrier. The nuts inside the tailgate may appear not to line up properly, but once you get the bolts started they will move into proper alignment (yes, my Jeep magically turned yellow during this step).
Step 14: This is a good time to work out any wiring paths you might need for a CB antenna or third brake light. I passed my CB antenna through the exposed grommet in the tailgate before proceeding further.
Step 15: Reusing the factory bolts mount the adjustable carrier base plate in the center of the tailgate. Use a supplied flat rubber spacer with each of the two pairs of bolts on the left side of the base plate. The remaining rubber spacers are not used when the adjustable tire carrier is used with the hinged mount.
Step 16: The adjustable tire mount comes with four sets of holes for wheel studs. Use the correct set for the size of your tire. The top set is for a 37” tire, the second for 35”, the third for 33”, and the bottom set for a stock tire. I chose the second set from the top for my 35” tire.
Step 17: The wheel studs must be pressed, not pounded into the tire mount. Otherwise they may slip when you tighten or loosen your lug nuts, perhaps leaving you stranded on the trail unable to remove your spare tire.
Not having access to a press I had to get creative installing my wheel studs. I ended up using a closed-end wrench and a large washer between the mounting plate and the nut I used to pull the wheel stud into place. Applying grease between the washer and nut helped minimize friction and made pulling the wheel stud into the plate much easier. Complete this process for all three wheel studs.
Step 18: Now it’s time to determine how far from the hinged carrier you’ll need to attach your tire mount for proper fitment. This step is very important: A gap between your mounted spare tire and carrier could cause vibration, and a tire mount attached to close to the carrier could stress the assembly when the spare tire is mounted.
With your tire resting on the ground back-side-up, place a flat object like a yardstick or broom handle across the tire and measure the distance from the mounting surface of the wheel to the object lying across the tire. This distance will give you an idea how far the mounting surface of the adjustable carrier should be from the surface of the hinged carrier where the tire will touch.
The TeraFlex installation video does a great job of describing the process of determining the correct measurement for the mounting of the adjustable tire carrier. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...XGHNgW8#t=435s
Step 19: Slide the adjustable carrier into the base plate and measure the distance from the mounting surface of the adjustable carrier to the surface of the hinged carrier attached to the tailgate.
Step 20: Use the pair of long stainless bolts, nuts, and washers to tighten the adjustable carrier into place in the carrier baseplate. If your tire is very large you may find that only one bolt is able to fit into the slotted adjuster hole in the adjustable carrier; if this is the case simply tighten the bolt that fits through the adjuster hole, then install the second bolt so that it passes behind the adjuster hole so that it still aids in clamping the base plate tight to the carrier.
Step 21: Test fit your spare tire. Hang your spare tire from the carrier and thread, but don’t tighten, the lug nuts. Check between the tire and base plate or the hinged carrier for contact. Fit properly the tire will fit snugly against the carrier but will not place too much stress against the carrier when the lug nuts are tightened. Adjust the position of the adjustable carrier as need to get a proper fit.
I don’t have a stock third brake light, so I didn’t use the included extension that is used to extend the brake light assembly above the tire carrier.
Last edited by DesertJeep; 02-25-2013 at 12:56 PM.
02-25-2013, 06:37 PM
#3
JK Freak
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Poway, California
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02-26-2013, 12:19 PM
#4
JK Jedi
Thanks Jon...it was all Bill...of course if you love the write up it was all me and Bill just took the pictures! 
Sure love how snug this fits and how freely the tailgate opens and closes. No longer do I have to worry about a carrier slamming closed on me while I'm doing something in the back of the jeep or seeing it swing open violently. One thing we found is it might take one or two attempts to get the backspacing of the wheels dialed into the carriers setup. The first attempt it was not quite right so we removed it made a quick adjustment and all was well. Not the best pics but you can see the oem rubber stop is still in place on the driver side and making good contact. Also, good contact against the carrier as well. This carrier will get put to the test and I'll report back how it does!
Sure love how snug this fits and how freely the tailgate opens and closes. No longer do I have to worry about a carrier slamming closed on me while I'm doing something in the back of the jeep or seeing it swing open violently. One thing we found is it might take one or two attempts to get the backspacing of the wheels dialed into the carriers setup. The first attempt it was not quite right so we removed it made a quick adjustment and all was well. Not the best pics but you can see the oem rubber stop is still in place on the driver side and making good contact. Also, good contact against the carrier as well. This carrier will get put to the test and I'll report back how it does!
