[kawasaki4]

Ok I have never seen this done the way I am going to do it so hey, why not share with the rest of you! My plan is to convert my current tailgate to a fold down CJ style, and then use the hinges the tailgate swung on as mounts for the tire carrier. This is going to be done as cheap as possible so I am sure that a lot of you will like that. Lets start with materials. My buddy bought a complete s10 blazer (93 or 94). Off of the blazer I pulled off the tire carrier itself and the limiting straps, free so far. The only write up I have seen with the s10 tire carrier utilized the blazer carrier to body mounts. I do not want to go that route because the mounts have a very odd shape that requires a LOT of cutting and I did not want to drill into my corner guards. I just realized TODAY that the blazer tire carrier will work with the current tailgate hinges so now it's just a matter of freeing them up an being able to use them, which is why I am doing the CJ style tailgate. This is what I have bought in parts so far for it, total cost was $38. Sheet of steel (to rivet to the body so the hinges are not attached to only thin metal), two powdercoated black door hinges( max load for two of them is 150lbs but I think with the weight being on the limiting straps it will be able to hold a lot more), largest pop rivets I could find.


I was hoping to be farther ahead with this tonight but I figured out I needed more supplies. I need another sheet of steel for the tailgate portion of the hinges, two 1/2x4in bolts, two 1inch O.D. washers, and two 1 inch O.D. lock washers. Ran into two snags while getting the tailgate off so be weary! First was getting one of the torx bits out where it bolts to the tailgate. Had to drill the shiet out of it!


Second pain in the arse was getting the pins out of the hinges. I didn't know how they were supposed to come out so I just took a grinder to the head of each pin and the bottom part where it mushroomed. The bottom one came out easy with a BFH and a punch but the top one I had to use a sawzall in the little space in the hinge that allows access to the pin.Here is a pic of the hinge with the pin ground down and of the rear of the heep with bare hinge mounts.



Here is one last picture of some bolts I had laying around holding it on the hinges, with top of the carrier above the top mount and the bottom of the carrier on the bottom of the mount it literally fits perfectly!


Right now the tailgate is off of the jeep and that is about it. I will be picking up the rest of the supplies needed tomorrow morning and hopefully be done tomorrow! Wish me luck everyone because I will need it

[Leans93]

Good luck! I'm curious to see how it turns out

[kawasaki4]

Originally Posted by Leans93

Good luck! I'm curious to see how it turns out

haha me as well good sir

[AmmitOsiris]

Sub'd

[kawasaki4]

going to the store now to pick up the rest of the supplies!

[youngjeeper11]

well wadda you know! It would be nice if it fit inside the hinges.... begger cant be choosers I guess. Looks great either way! I might try it out myself!

[kawasaki4]

Originally Posted by youngjeeper11

well wadda you know! It would be nice if it fit inside the hinges.... begger cant be choosers I guess. Looks great either way! I might try it out myself!

I know I was just looking at the jeep and the carrier yesterday because I did NOT want to cut the other mounts down and make them fit on the body, and I was like wait a sec. The carrier slipped over the hinges perfectly!! who woulda thought! maybe this will become the new tire carrier to make!

[deermjd]

Looking good. What are your plans for latching the Blazer tire carrier to the tub?

[Luuca]

Originally Posted by kawasaki4

Here is one last picture of some bolts I had laying around holding it on the hinges, with top of the carrier above the top mount and the bottom of the carrier on the bottom of the mount it literally fits perfectly!

I don't think that you are going to mount the tire carrier that way.. are you?

Would it make sense to mount the top bar into the top mount, and then, behind where your spare will cover the lower bar, make a bend and make a bend near the last bend point, to bring the bottom bar eye up into the stock mount? Aesthetically it would be much better, not to mention durability.

[kawasaki4]

I'm not sure I will be able to bent it that much, it would be about 4 inches total but I am not against the idea. I'll see what I can do!

[kawasaki4]

So today I completed the fold down tailgate. The supplies I picked up today included four 1/2 bolts (will only use two but bought four in two different lengths in case I mount it different), nylocks and washers, 16 of the largest self tapping hex heads I could find, and a new drill bit because a lot of drilling will be done and I hate running to town for one thing. I bought another 22 dollar piece of steel because well I got paid today haha but for those on a super budget you can do what I was going to do and cut the one piece in four pieces and bolt each side of both hinges to one. Anyways I drilled what seemed like a hundred holes in everything! Here the tailgate is stripped down in all of its glory.


Here is the tailgate with a piece of steel mocked up to it. I had one taller piece and one shorter piece, this is the taller one but I ended up using it on the bottom of the jeep tub because it fit the space perfectly. I plan on getting a large piece for the tailgate at some point but remember.....BUDGET! (the other piece was already painted so I do not think the store would let me return it).


Here was the first problem of the day! I started my rivets to hold the steel to the tailgate and whaddya know, I did not even think about the tailgate shutting! Lucky this was the larger piece of the two and it needed to be cut down anyways because of the excess hanging off the sides and I realized I wanted it on the tub.



Here I just ground the heads off the rivets and punched them through. You can also see the excess steel that needed to be cut off.


Here is the smaller piece mocked up to the tailgate. This one will be easier to replace with another piece of steel if I go that route but who know.


This is why I used the larger of the two on the bottom portion. It make more sense to have this covered up opposed to the tailgate.


With tailgate latched in


Start of hinge install


With hinges on, looks super beefy. Hopefully it is secured enough


Close up of hinges. I like how they turned out.


With tailgate folded down! Limiting straps will come off of the blazer tomorrow and go onto this bad boy and I believe that will be the end of the tailgate stage. If I had all the right supplies and ran into no snags I could have done it in one day.


Now since that ordeal is done we can move onto the swing out carrier! This is the way I am going to mount it. The only thing I was worried about was not being able to open the soft top back window, but it does not hinder it at all. The picture below shows how it will mount, but will have grade 8 bolts, steel sleeves where the bolt is exposed, and lock washers and nylocks.


Fingers crossed but you should all be looking at a cheaply completed tire carrier with very minimal craftsman skills Feel free to make suggestions or constructive criticism!

[skyj]

Why not move your brackets to line up with the carrier?? mount them to your corner armor sandwiched with some bolts all the way through the tub. Then you solved your problem of it just being mounted to the thin tub sheetmetal. just my .02

[spyder98]

I like your idea a lot and will be using your write up in the near future. 2?s will it be able to handle 35's? and would it be possible to cut the bottom bar and move it to make the ends fit on the hinges instead of the way u have them?

[kawasaki4]

I may go the route of moving the lower mount or I may leave it. The problem with moving the bottom mount is right now it has tons of strength because there is a support bracket on the inside of the tub, similiar to the support on the top one. I'm sure it will still be plenty strong if I move the lower mount and use some grade 8 bolts and some lock washers and nylocks, it's just a pain to get access to the back part of the mount.

[Leans93]

I say leave it where it is and throw some spacers where the tailgate used to connect. Then just throw some longer screws on and you'll be all set with little mod and cost as that seems to be the theme you wanted. Check out the below website. You can basically get any fastener in any size you could ever want.
http://www.mcmaster.com/#unthreaded-spacers/=hzqoyx