So after months of trying to decide on a tire carrier, i started to wonder about something. I honestly LIKE the way my tire is mounted and opens with the tailgate, and a different bumper could provide the clearance for up to a 37" tire with the stock carrier. So has anyone come up with a way to simply strengthen the tailgate, kinda like the OR-FAB system?

-Adam

 

i want to make some beefy hinges that extend out about a foot and the weight of the tire carrier will be supported on these "uber hinges". Than the tailgate will simply bolt on to my super hinges and bear no weight of the rear tire. I just dont want to add 200 lbs of bumper to support an extra 25 lbs of tire

 

Wasn't there just a post on here about a system from AEV or ARB that reinforces the factory tailgait? I can't find it now. Is that what you are talking about?

 

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/show...-done-this-yet

 

found it. Hope this is what you wanted.

 

The problem is that no matter how strong you make the hinges, unless you add a set of better hinge pins, youll just wear out the pins. And you'll still pop the welds on the gate unless you add solid steel reinforcement to the gate.

 

I was running heavy steel wheels and a five gal gas can off the tail gate for over a year without issue.

 

Then your a lucky puppy. 90%+ of people that run heavy tires on their gates for a long time see catastrophic failure within a year. And it costs big bucks to fix it.

 

I figured the best option would be just to keep weight down. I did plenty of research and chose my pro comp alloys which i weighed in at 18lbs and my 35" km2's which weigh in at 61lbs. That puts me at 79lbs give or take 1-2 lbs for my inaccuracies and that puts me at less than 10lbs extra over the weight of my stock rubi spare which I weighed in at 72lbs. Guys put 50+ extra lbs on the tailgate from spare tire racks/ jerry cans with no problems so I hope my lightweight spare idea works without too many problems.

 

I like your calculations... For some reason, even though they make sense, I'm finding my tailgate is starting to feel the stress of her oversized piggy backed tire...