First I found a tire carrier at a junk. Next I found that an internal support was placed inside the body at the factory on 4Runners that have the rear tire carrier. I ordered the support from toyota ($63). Once I got it, I looked inside the fender and noticed that I would need to do some cutting. So off I go to the local welder to have the inside fender cut out with a torch. Then I installed the carrier support and drilled the 8 holes through the body that hold it to the fender. Then I took it back to the welder to replace the parts he cut out to get the support in. I also added a 12V power outlet as long as I had the rear all torn apart. This was a larger project that I thought it took about 25 hours to complete. I was able to use the original tail gate from my truck. 
After dragging the spare tire a few times on the trail decided it needed to be moved up a bit. I cut off the rear plate that holds the spare tire and moved it up 1 3/4". Then I rewelded it into place. The bottom was clearance with some grinding to clean up the bottom enough to allow a tire to be mounted again. I also now run the trail with no pressure in the spare. Now if I drag the tire on the ground it won't bend the carrier.
A set of bolts welded onto the carrier hold a spare Warn hub. The original back up lights were covered by the spare tire so I added a set of 50W lights. I used the license plate holder that came with tire carrier but relocated it about 3" higher by drilling new holes and cutting the bottom off. |
| 
|
 |
Off-Road.com Newsletter Join our Weekly Newsletter to get the latest off-road news, reviews, events, and alerts! |
Follow @Off-Road
Your Privacy Choices