Stock Swing away Carrier

[1978Blazerk5]

Well, I heard these things are not to strong for a tire. Well I think I can get my hands on one of these pretty Cheap. Would it be strong enought to hold 1 or 2 5 gallon gas cans, with out banging up the body. I figure I have all the holes in the truck allready and it might look pretty cool.

Thanks

 

[dyeager535]

I don't know what a spare 31" tire weighs, if 5 or 10 gallons of gas is substantially less (I suspect 5 is quite a bit less) then it MIGHT.

Do you wheel the truck? If you do, no matter what you do sort of boxing the frame up solid, the mount is likely to eventually tear it up. Body has too much give, having not installed my external tire holder, I can't comment on whether or not the tire carrier is attached in such a way as to tie the tailgate to the body. If it is a loose fit with lots of give for flex, then it would probably be solely an issue of weight.

 

[dremu]

Well, I heard these things are not to strong for a tire. Well I think I can get my hands on one of these pretty Cheap. Would it be strong enought to hold 1 or 2 5 gallon gas cans, with out banging up the body. I figure I have all the holes in the truck allready and it might look pretty cool.

Thanks

Gas weighs ~8# a gallon, so a 5 gallon jug weighs about 45#. That's more than a 31" on a steel wheel, if I remember right.

What you wanna look for is that the carrier comes with plates (prolly bent) that go INSIDE the fender (you take the taillight out to put them in). If not, if it's just the outside part, run, don't walk. You WILL kill your quarter panel.

Also, on the vertical piece that goes on the tailgate, consider something other than sheet metal screws, as these WILL rip out. Molly bolts or something maybe.

When I took mine off my K5, I put it on the pickup. For the tailgate mount I drilled a hole and stuck a piece of pipe all the way through the tailgate, and welded it on the inside and the out. Two of those, one top and one bottom, and THAT's what the carrier attaches to.

Anyway, for street use and mild froading those carriers aren't bad. It's when you go to 33"s or bigger and start doing crazy stuff that they kill your sheetmetal.

(been there, done that ... can you tell? )

-- A

 

[dremu]

The best ones, btw, were the Vic Hickey "Cadillac", that did not attach to the tailgate, but had TWO swing arms, one from each side, and then attached in the middle. Prolly helped reinforce the body as well.

I was gonna do that, but then when I went topless I figgered I could just replace the tailgate with square tube and call it good.

-- A

 

[smalltowncowboy]

its not so much that they are weak, its more of the strain they put on the body where they mount.

 

[4X4HIGH]

Gas weighs between 5.8 to 6.5 lbs. per gallon depending on temperature when you weigh it.

1 gallon of water equals 8.33 lbs.
1 gallon of gasoline equals 5.8 to 6.5 lbs.
1 gallon of ethanol equals 6.59 lbs

 

[dyeager535]

I guess dremu can answer, so I pose this question: where did yours fail, and why? Body flex, weight, weak attachment points, all three? Fixing the issue?

 

[sandawgk5]

I had one of those external carriers, it also had the plates inside the body to help relieve some of the stresses. I had a 31" spare on a steel wheel and even before I wheeled it the body was cracked and starting to tear out the holes even with the backing plates. All fasteners were tight also so there was not a slop issue.

These exterior tire mounts are plenty strong but as was stated earlier the body will not hold up to the stress. I can try and get pics if I get home before the sun goes down if not it will have to wait until the weekend.

I currently just throw my spare in the back behind the rear seat and strap it down.

Dik

 

[dyeager535]

I'm asking because I have two of these things I bought (with various pieces) as a future project to install on my truck. Of course, with a 33" tire, I knew I would be pushing the limits of the sheetmetal.

I had planned to use a bed corner section cut out of another truck as the "backing plate" so the load was spread over as large an area as possible, but I had been wondering if even that would solve all the problems. If the tailgate isn't supporting any of the load, just holding the arm closed, then no matter what you do, short of some serious bracing inside, I don't know as these are useable with much weight.

 

[dremu]

Gas weighs between 5.8 to 6.5 lbs. per gallon depending on temperature when you weigh it.

1 gallon of water equals 8.33 lbs.
1 gallon of gasoline equals 5.8 to 6.5 lbs.
1 gallon of ethanol equals 6.59 lbs

Well, crap. So much for my memory ... gettin' old. =))

Dorian, the failure on my truck was the center bracket on the tailgate; the back-and-forth motion rips sheet metal screws out and eventually bends the sheet metal. On the pickup tailgate, as mentioned, I was able to tie the back sheetmetal to the front (inside), as there's no glass in there, so that seems to have strengthened it considerably. On a Blazer tailgate the sheetmetal in the center isn't braced by anything so it can flex quite a bit.

I've heard of folks killing their quarters, but in the time I ran the carrier I had no issue -- again, with the inside brackets you're spreading the force out over many square inches instead of one bolt hole -- like using a fender washer, only better

-- A