Are rear tire carriers essential?

[matt s]

Do consider how much of a pain the #$% it is to get into the rear once you do it. My blazer has a large swing gate with tire and two fuel can holders. It's sweet, for the trail. For daily use it's a real pain. I don't carry the fuel all the time, but the tire is there and since the blazer is tailgate/swing up window setup you can only access the bed by first swinging the gate open. I can lift the window as it misses the tire, but the 33 inch tire makes reaching in there to get anything heavy or large interesting.

I don't have a better solution for you, but thought you should consider this before you do it. If my setup had cargo doors like the tahoe, well I would mount in on the driver side and have easy access to the main cargo door. That would be nice, but not doable on my rig, or from the looks of things yours either.

[lostworldexpedition]

In my opinion, the only good reason to do it would be if you're going to add an auxiliary fuel tank. They just aren't necessary otherwise and don't accomplish anything. The extra clearance gained by not having the spare tire under there just doesn't come into play.

I partially agree... I installed a long range fuel tank, so my rear bumper install was a must... but the bumper itself is much sturdier than the stock bumper and you can have multiple things installed on it (Bikes, jerry cans, etc.).

Do consider how much of a pain the #$% it is to get into the rear once you do it...

Here I can agree, it is a bit of a PITA. I am sure it will take me a while to get used to it, but having to swing out every time I need to get in the back of the truck is slightly annoying. But MAN I love my rear bumper!

[xcmountain80]

No us Toyota's and many other models for that matter suffer from non barn door style rear gates. I loved the doors on our Astro, Suburban and parents Tahoe.

I can see the access issue to be a PIA but nothing more than having to lift a leg higher to get into the higher ground clearanced rig, Lower MPG's because of the added weight, and so on. I think the build time is about 6 weeks so I'll start counting my change.

Something that was brought up was bikes and well thats what I'm wondering about My bike rack is already way off the ground with the height of the 4Runner and not to mention the fact I will need to make an extension to use the bike rack as they are notorious for non compliance with spare tires.

A

[weezerbot]

Man I wish 4x4 Labs made something for the 4Runner. I'd love to have a bike rack/jerry can combo.

[xcmountain80]

Now wondering if I should ditch the side protection and add fuel holders...........dang!

[xcmountain80]

man i wish 4x4 labs made something for the 4runner. I'd love to have a bike rack/jerry can combo.

x2

a

[Mr. Leary]

The guy who made mine made a template, and he can do the aux fuel tank using the same filler tube if you desire. I have the pics up on here somewhere, but forgot where they are. I'll be out of town this weekend, but I'll try to get you some pics when I get back in town.

The bumper is sweet, but the latch has issues, he will be fixing mine with a more conventional compression latch this weekend.

Blah, blah, blah.... I'll get the pics up when I get back!

[xcmountain80]

The guy who made mine made a template, and he can do the aux fuel tank using the same filler tube if you desire. I have the pics up on here somewhere, but forgot where they are. I'll be out of town this weekend, but I'll try to get you some pics when I get back in town.

The bumper is sweet, but the latch has issues, he will be fixing mine with a more conventional compression latch this weekend.

Blah, blah, blah.... I'll get the pics up when I get back!

Who are you? And what do you drive? You certainly can't just leave us hanging.............well I guess you can still hanging.

A

[matt s]

No us Toyota's and many other models for that matter suffer from non barn door style rear gates. I loved the doors on our Astro, Suburban and parents Tahoe.

I can see the access issue to be a PIA but nothing more than having to lift a leg higher to get into the higher ground clearanced rig,

A

True enough. One more thing to think about. Mine is a full width gate and therefore when swung open in a parking lot it sticks out into the lane of traffic pretty far. Also I have to open my garage door in order to swing it open while loading or unloading. Not a real big deal but we get cold snaps at 30 below here and standing around with the garage door open while you load cargo is cold and pretty wasteful of heat. I would encourage you to go with a smaller gate thats total swing is only the width of the tire and fuel cans (or whatever else is mounted).

All of my complaining aside, I really do like the setup (in concept) and have no better solution. Since mine is simply a custom 3 inch square tubing setup and easy to modify, I am watching everyone else's setups for ideas about how I might mitigate some of the issues that annoy me.

[Spikepretorius]

A tyre carrier is for tyres that are too big to fit in the usual spot under the back. If your tyre still fits there then leave it there.
You can always find another spot to squeeze in an auxiliary tank or whatever.
Besides, when last did you need to change a flat? I carry a tyre repair kit behind my drivers seat and if I feel or hear I'm getting a flat I get out and fix it right there and then without taking the wheel off. The spare is just for emergency if I totally destroy a tyre.