[Omelet]

Alright, tire carrier time! A few years back I started trying to design a rear tire carrier for the Bison. I wanted a rear carrier and not a rooftop carrier for a could reasons. I'm not a fan of bolting a spare to the roof. I've done it in the past with my XJ and it just adds too much top weight. Not to mention how difficult it would be for my wife to get a 35" spare down form the roof and back up there by herself (Yes because the Bison is still her DD ) Now seeing as the largest tire I could squeeze under the rear is a new 255/75R17 (32"), that area is clearly not an option anymore. When hitting a trail I had to strap the full size spare down in the rear cargo area, which works but then you lose most of that space for other things.



I thought I wanted a full width arm that went from one side to the other and would hold my tire, Hi-Lift, and 1 or 2 jerry cans. Since we don't have a rear bumper manufacturer who makes a steel bumper with a tire carrier that I like, I plan to stick with the stock bumper for now. That meant this would have to fit in and on the plastic bumper and still look good, like it belonged. Here's a moch up with a 35"



Now since coming up with the original design I have changed it a few times to better suite my needs or desires. The biggest change being I wanted a half carrier and it needed to hold a beefy 37" tire. I slowly acquired some parts, but never seemed to have the time to tackle the project. I recently pitched my idea to Chris at Craw Offroad who was all for it. It is a fairly simple design and is something this community desperately needs! So we went to a local fab shop he's been dealing with, Southern Cali Custom Metal Fab. Worked through the design with them and then left the Bison in their capable hands for a week. The end result was beautiful! It was just what I was wanting and they did a better job than I probably would have been able to do.

The corner where I wanted the spindle was of course a pinch weld location where 4 layers came together. The end was cut off flush, welded together, then ground smooth.



Now it was a clean slate to work off and know it wouldn't try pulling apart. The original plan was to make this a bolt on mod. It would sell better and be easier to install for the average WK owner. Unfortunately the unibody just wasn't going to support the kind of weight we were going to put on it along with trail abuse. So it turned into a weld on mod. A piece of 1/4" plate was bent to match the corner and welded in place, this added further strength and provided a sold place to mount the spindle.





With the bumper trimmed the spindle now pops through perfectly.



Then they went to work building the swing arm. Notice the radius in each section so it's molded to the curvature of the Jeep! The lower section matches the curve of the bumper, while the upper matches the curve of the rear hatch. This one was made out of stainless, but future arms won't be to save on material costs.





Since the hitch is a solid point and a lot of guy have them and if you don't they are cheap and easy to install, it was a great place for the latch. So a piece of 1/4" steel was welded to the hitch extending up over the bumper. This way you can either get just this piece and weld it on yourself or buy a hitch with one already welded. If you have a hitch but can't handle the welding, then you can send yours in as a core.



Look at that radius!



And lastly the latch was added (2000lb rating)

 

[Omelet]

The end result. . .























Just enough clearance for the rear wiper to still be functional.



I added a lock to the latch by drilling a hole in the body and used this pin. Now even if the latch gets bumped it can't spring open. Just a little peace of mind while driving around with a beefy 37" tire hanging onto the rear!



I loved the final result with the stainless so instead of painting it up like I originally planned, I cleaned it up and sent it off for a clear powdercoat. And while I waited I masked off the Jeep and shot the spindle and hitch with some semi-gloss black.











In the end I absolutely love how it turned out! Keep in mind this is just the prototype and there will be some changes made to the design, before it's up for sale. Such as the plate on the hitch. With the current design I can't remove the bumper because it's in the way. This piece will be some what different next time. And the latch isn't perfectly placed and needs to be adjusted slightly for a better clamp. We also need to add a stopper pin. But as is this sucker is solid! Next up is to remove the small spare from under the rear, get the skid back on, and relocate the license plate. . .

 

[JReilly]

Love the design! It looks super clean and extremely well built!

 

[nvrdone1]

looks fantastic, but how do you get away with the license being covered ? I know WSP would have a fit & I bet CHP is the same. any thoughts on remounting it ?

 

[Hendrix9]

I've been dying for you to post the specifics of that baby! They really did fantastic work. I love how they curved it to match the lines of the jeep, that was a really nice way to do it. I also notice it looks like the departure angle stayed the same, which I was wondering about. :cheers2:

It makes sense going with a setup like this in my mind, because as nice as a full bumper would be, they wouldn't sell enough of them since the price point would have to be so high. Something like this would be far more in reach for most guys I'd think. Very nice!

 

[waterhammer]

Looks great. Can't wait to see the final tweaks and to see them in production...for me to buy...

 

[DB05wkNY]

Looks great. Can't wait to see the final tweaks and to see them in production...for me to buy...

Totally agree, can't wait to see production and get one of these. I'll be watching very closely!

Omelet, will Chris at Crawl Offroad be offering these for sale at some point? Any idea on when production will begin roughly?

 

[DK2005WK]

So when does this become forsale??? I need one!

 

[jtomaselli83]

I gotta say, I love this build! The spare carrier looks sick!

 

[waterhammer]

...is that an Ingress sticker I see?????

 

[JeepN4KC]

Outstanding work on the tire carrier! :thumbsup:

 

[Omelet]

looks fantastic, but how do you get away with the license being covered ? I know WSP would have a fit & I bet CHP is the same. any thoughts on remounting it ?

I've had the tire off so the plate is somewhat visible, but like I said above relocating the place is next on the to do list.

I've been dying for you to post the specifics of that baby! They really did fantastic work. I love how they curved it to match the lines of the jeep, that was a really nice way to do it. I also notice it looks like the departure angle stayed the same, which I was wondering about. :cheers2:

It makes sense going with a setup like this in my mind, because as nice as a full bumper would be, they wouldn't sell enough of them since the price point would have to be so high. Something like this would be far more in reach for most guys I'd think. Very nice!

Glad you like it! I wanted to get the tire up so the bottom was flush with the top of the bumper. It is also slightly angle forward at the top. I thought this was the best looking position visually and functionally. Any lower and it would start getting to close to the ground/obstacles and any higher and rear visibility would get even worse and it would also raise the center of gravity more. On a side note, expect to see a full steel bumper in the future with this same carrier setup!

Love the design! It looks super clean and extremely well built!

Looks great. Can't wait to see the final tweaks and to see them in production...for me to buy...

Totally agree, can't wait to see production and get one of these. I'll be watching very closely!

Omelet, will Chris at Crawl Offroad be offering these for sale at some point? Any idea on when production will begin roughly?

So when does this become for sale??? I need one!

I gotta say, I love this build! The spare carrier looks sick!

Outstanding work on the tire carrier! :thumbsup:

Thanks guys! I'm definitely loving it! I'm not sure when production will start. You could give Chris a call or email to let him know you are interested and see what he's thinking time wise.

...is that an Ingress sticker I see?????

It sure is!!! I've been playing for the past 2.5 years since it was in beta. And boy has it grown and changed since. If you are ever in San Diego let me know. Viva La Resistance!!! :duhrock:

 

[waterhammer]

Nice, I've been playing since Dec, 2013. Not as high as you yet...

 

[Jesseharvey3]

Stock Locks

So for the benefit of those who don't want to buy new door locks but still want some low profile ones, here some awesome info for you!

I chopped one down to 1 1/8" the same as the billet ones. Then I used a drill bit and made the hole go all the way to top leaving only about 1/8" from the end. Here's the chopped stock post next to the billet one.

You don't have to chop them for them to sit flush. You can leave them the stock length, but chopping them makes it easier to screw them back on. All you have to do is drill them out farther. Here is how it sits once modified.

And then locked.

So if you like your stock locks and don't want the billet one, then this is a very easy mod to do! Although if you plan to do this you might want to go easy on the soft plastic locks. As you can see I didn't really care about mine and they got chewed up pretty good. I hope this is useful news

Hey man, I was wondering if you or anyone else knew where I would be able to buy more stock locks? I've been searching the internet and am having no luck.

 

[Omelet]

Nice, I've been playing since Dec, 2013. Not as high as you yet...

Excellent! It only takes time and perseverance! I enjoy playing when I can, but it's definitely not my life. Plus I had a couple deployments mixed in there. There are a few guys I play with who made L16 in 9 months! But That's basically all they did in there free time.

Hey man, I was wondering if you or anyone else knew where I would be able to buy more stock locks? I've been searching the internet and am having no luck.

I'd think your best bet would be to find them in a junk yard, or find someone parting out a WK.

 

[Omelet]

Next up I needed to relocate the rear licence plate to be fully visible in order to stay legal. I had a few of options. I could make or buy a plate holder to relocate it in the center of the wheel like you see a lot of Wrangler owners do. This would be the easy way as there are multiple bolt on options out there. But I'm not crazy about the look, I'd rather not have to remove the plate every time I removed/installed the spare, and if I wanted to remove the swing arm temporarily then I'd lose the plate too. Another option was to make a bracket to mount the plate to the swing arm to the right of the spare. But again I'd lose the plate if I removed to arm temporarily, plus I wanted to be able to see as much of that beautiful arm as possible. Option 3 would be to make a mount that would bolt onto the bumper. It would always be there and wouldn't be in the way of anything. SO that's the route I chose to go. Besides I could always change it later if I wanted!

First thing I did was pop the bumper step up to see what I was dealing with. I found a good spot to slide a piece of aluminum into I just had to trip one of the tabs from the bottom.



I grabbed a spare piece of aluminum I had sitting around and gave it a gently bend. Then drilled a few mounting holes, 2 for the plate to bolt into and 4 for the bracket to mount in the bumper.



Then I needed to trim a little off the edge so the plate could slide under the step and it would still clip back down properly.



Because of minimal space behind the plate I decided to use aluminum rivets instead of bolt or screws.



I added a piece of velcro to the back of the plate because it was going to rest up against the chrome trim and I didn't want it to scratch it up or rattle.



Using aluminum rivets again I secured the mount to the bumper underneath the step. So that once the step is snapped back into place, you won't even see it.



And here's the finished product!









I was waiting for the light I ordered to get here, so it came today and I can truly finish! (I made the mount yesterday) It's just a simple 5 LED lamp with an adhesive back.









You can see below that the LEDs on the ends are angled out for better light spread.





And night shots!

 

[ggrassmid]

Oh to see the mind of a genius at work.... AMAZING!!

 

[JakeWK]

Hey are you keeping a spare underneath the rear as well as one on the carrier? I really love the carrier and the plate relocation man

 

[DB05wkNY]

Nathan you are seriously amazing. I think have a crush on the Bison. Your rig is ridiculous in the best possible way. The carrier came out awesome, and your creative thinking to relocate the plate on the bumper is great. No cutting into the bumper, no serious mod, just clean, easy, smart relocation. Well done sir.

 

[Omelet]

Haha, thanks guys! Rob had his in a similar spot just a different method and I liked the look of the location. The spare under the rear right now will be coming out when the skid goes back on. I need to drop the tire/tank combo and then mount the tank back up there along with the twin ARB compressor I've been sitting on for the past year and a half.