Tire Carrier/rear bumper options/opinions

[stan98tj]

Im in the market for a rear tire carrier (this is on a 98 wrangler btw) because my 33" spare is beating up the stock carrier and my tailgate. What im looking for is quality (obviously), a simple but good latch system (by that i mean i dont want to be fiddling with pins, levers, turning knobs etc all to just open my tailgate or having to push against the tire, pull a pin, lift a latch, pull a handle etc etc etc) AND i dont want it to rattle much, if at all. It's cool if the carrier is packaged with a new bumper, but keep in mind that the carrier is the issue and therefore more important than getting a new bumper.

[stwilson74]

I know the new Hanson carrier that goes with their bumper has a door latch type mechanism. I've been very happy with my hanson bumper but the carrier has kind of sucked and I had to re-weld it once but they redisigned it some. Two negatives, price and weight... this thing is friggin heavy as sin and cost a bunch.

[Land Pirates Off Road]

We have not seen anyone out on our side of the country with a really great option as of yet. ARB is about as good as it gets. There are a few other companies that copy them... But they all have latches just like the ARB. We LOTS a tire off the back of our Cruiser using an ARB rear bumper and tire carrier... That was a $500.00 loss... Tore the metal, sheared the bolts, what a loss! It was under warranty, so they replaced the broken bumper parts. (Not the tire)
Guys who have upgraded the gate mount start ripping off the gate under heavy loads.
This will be interesting to see what people come up with! =-D

[stwilson74]

Savvy Offroad has been working on developing a tub mounted carrier, but I know Blaine is also developing at least one or two other things (probably more since Savvy just bought a JK) and he is always working on someone's rig. If your staying at 33" tires you might be able to get away with some heavy duty hinges for the tailgate but do some research on that before you buy. The OR-FAB one is a tub mounted unit that looks like it is just one latch to open, they give you reinforment plates that go on the inside of the tub so you aren't mounting straight to the sheet metal.

[XJ John]

Wranger/CJ Rear Stage 3 Bumper: JcrOffroad, Inc.

Thats where my rear tire carrier/bumper came from and I love it.

[stan98tj]

thanks for the advice guys!

[HuLuD44]

Im not really a fan of rear tire carriers, too If ure not ready to give up that back seat yet check out the TnT carrier. Its big bucks and does not include a rear bumper but the whole system is light weight, adjustable for any size tire, and allows for maximum departure angle when paired with their HC bumper or the rokman bumper which ive been drooling over...

TJ/LJ/YJ Rear Tire Carrier