Hey all, gonna start building a set of bumpers soon and was wondering why nobody offers the tire rack to be mounted on the drivers side vs the passengers... I would really like the ford logo on the tailgate to show. Anybody see any reason as to not mount a swing out tire holder on drivers side? Thanks

Maybe because of vehicle lean with the driver on that side. Been wondering that myself. I'm going to center mine. Who needs to see out back

Ya good point... The lean part not the part about not being able to see... But doesn't the whole drivetrain sit slightly to the passenger side? And also generally the battery

My guess is the whole line of sight argument. I do agree that it would be nice to be able to see the FORD decal in the back though!

Eck I really like your square tube bumpers, what did you do to make the hinge for your tire carrier?

The icon or most of the icons i have seen have a driver side swing out. Makes sense as its out of your view.. but a stocker tire doesn't really block the window too much.

Ya so far I don't see any negatives as to mounting it on the drivers side

On a stock Bronco the license plate mounts on the driver side.

To move it adds complication to mounting the bumper.

To block it from view is illegal.

Ah ya, forgot about that nugget.. you could mount it somehow to the center of the tire i guess..

which brings up another question. why does the license plate holder flip up? My guess was if you had to drive with teh tailgate down you could flip up the license plate and have it showing when the gate was down.

That's a good theory, I bet your right. I decided to take mine off and weld in all the holes when I painted my bronco so I'm not really worried about where to mount the license plate

Thanks! That should be just what I need. What size square tubing did you use on yours?

Ok cool thanks man

Ruff stuff has another good option:

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/STIRES.html

It's what I used when mine got done. It's essentially the same thing without the tire plate if you can make that yourself. There is a BRONCO discount code for 10% off as well.

I just ran across what could possibly be a cheap alternative to building a hinge if you can find the tube cheap in someones scrap pile.

It's 2" and 1.5" x .25 DOM sleeved together:


Then capped with a huge bolt and nylon washer:


I think the critical thing when building these is to keep them from bouncing. Metal fatigue causes the shank to shear off and now you'd got 100+lbs of tire and steel bouncing down the highway...

I used Delrin plastic to carry the weight when it's closed.

Sorry for the double hijack. I have removed my tire carrier as it was using a spindle and bent about to fail. Changing it to double sheer, rebuilding the mount and adding derlin rests to help with the bounce and weight.

Depending on where you live I would check local fabricators they usually have the parts precut and save you on shipping.

Thanks for all the great info guys!

Mine is on the drivers side. Justin and Kirk did the fab and paint, I did the design and cheering:)



You can see the section of 2 inch receiver hitch that is added to the plate for the tire. My plan is to build a license plate bracket and integrate a mount for a LED light for a backup, rear flood light. Right now, I have the plate zip tied to the rim of the spare tire. The license plate can move from the bumper receiver to the receiver in the tire carrier as needed.





Brett

Bnco4. That looks bada**. Thanks for the pictures! What size tubing is that?

That looks sweet!

The 2x5 is 1/4". I don't remember what the 2x2 is.

I thought the 2x5 was 3/16, I'm too old to remember. I think i matched the thickness what ever it was.

It's 1/4. I've got a chunk of it out in the garage.