Completed rear tire swing carrier for my LR3

[perkj]

I finally completed the rear tire carrier for my LR3. The carrier started as a partially finished unit from 05lr3guy on lrrforums (who was attempting to produce 20 of these). I was lucky enough to pick up the 'test fit' unit the fabrication shop shipped to him for test fitment before they started welding/completing up the other 19. Unfortunately the test unit they sent wasn't a perfect fit and needed quite a bit more work, which led the fabrication shop and 05lr3guy to part ways. Since 05lr3guy still had the prototype he built for himself, he offered up to sell the "test fit" unit to me since I was willing to take on the task, with my buddy's help, to complete it. The carrier needed roughly 12 hours of additional work to it for fitment...drilling, welding, grinding, cutting, etc, etc, etc. The end result is a beautiful tire carrier! We ended up shortening the arm that extends out the back to tuck the tire up closer to the body from the length 05lr3guy had it in his original design. We also put a slight tilt to it to follow the line of the rear hatch to give it a more OEM look to it. We ended up welding the bracket into place, instead of just bolting it, since we saw a hint of flex in the bracket when the tire swung open since there wasn't a good place to bolt it from the bottom to tie together the far right side of the bracket. The slight flex also produced a hint of creaking too. Welding the bracket into place completely eliminated the flex and creaking and now its solid as heck! Big thanks to 05lr3guy for an awesome design and allowing me the opportunity to complete it. See the pics below.



Carrier when I received it:


Cut to the bumper:



Face of bracket pre-weld:



Top pre-weld showing top plate welded on:


Bottom showing top plate welded on & angle cut and welded cap:


Bottom angle cut and welded cap:


Left top weld to bumper:


Left side weld to bumper:


Right top welds to bumper:


Weld to the right end bottom of the bumper (this was the key weld to make it solid):


Swing Arm out of powder coat:


Completed on the LR3:

[BigAl]

The completed bumper looks sweet, I can't tell exactly from the photos, is there a plastic bumper cover on there? i like how OEM it looks.

[perkj]

The completed bumper looks sweet, I can't tell exactly from the photos, is there a plastic bumper cover on there? i like how OEM it looks.

Thanks! Yes, its the stock plastic bumper cover that goes over the bracket and metal stock bumper. Had to cut two holes in the bumper cover: (1) small one for the striker bolt that locks the arm closed with the dual rotor latch mechanism and (2) larger one for the arm hinge.

[BIGdaddy]

very nice. there's a jeep version of that that reuses the old sheetmetal bumper as a "skin" once the beefy subframe is bolted on in no less than 18 or so places.

Definitely a clean, balanced look in both cases.

Cheers, and thanks for the pics!

[dcwhybrew]

Are these for sale?

[perkj]

Are these for sale?

Unfortunately no. The guy on lrrfoums was going to produce 20 of them, but the fab shop wasn't precise with following the prototype and they wanted him to cover the cost for their mistakes, so they parted ways. The reality is the test fit unit I purchased from him was ~60% complete and needed another 12 hours from both my buddy and I to finish. Cost wise I have have roughly $650 into the arm - $500 for the "test fit" unit, $100 for the powder coating, $25 in grade 8 bolts, and another $25 in other material. This doesn't include the 12 hours of labor for my buddy and I, so at the end of the day the Rasta and Frontrunner units at ~$1200 probably isn't a bad price given what it takes to make one of these.

[chris snell]

Wow. Probably the first decent-looking LR3 tire carrier that I've seen. Nice work.

[perkj]

here is a picture of the stopper. the T-handle is spring loaded so it ride on the metal semi-circle until it encounters one of the hole and then it drops in to stop it. I have two open postions: (1) just enough to open the rear hatch and fold-down and (2) open a little further to get the tire out of the way if you're trying to load something large into the back and just enough to have the tire miss hitting the tail light. There is actually a third hole with a bolt in it, used as a stopper just in case the T-Handle ever failed and the stopper bolt would keep the swing arm and tire from hitting the tail light or side of the LR3.

[ntan]

Very nice. I really like that T-stopper bit!

[HillbillyfromAL]

Very nice work. I really like the different stops for multiple open positions