Making a spare tire swing carrier.

XLsior · 12-10-2022, 07:55 AM

I've been trying to upload my DIY spare tire carrier on my van at the Delica club forums, but for some reason there a plethora of technical issues regarding the website....

So maybe someone here might find this interesting and or useful.

I have a 97 Mitsubishi L400 Delica Van 4wd.

Somewhat rare fruit over in the USA...but I am starting to see them get imported over there due to the 25 year rule...

Anyway over here in Australia they've been a JDM grey import.

However My method of design/engineering could be adapted to any vehicle.

So the criteria :

1)Running on 31's so don't fit under slung in the factory spare carrier. Free up space for a water tank in future...

2)Want to carry extra fuel 2x 25l shorty cans.

3)Mounting points for my recovery tracks..

4)Think I found a nook for a 2kg gas/propane tank...

5)And perhaps enough room for a fold down table one day...

I already have an existing towbar with a fixed ball and I am not exactly deep pockets...mostly lint lined. So buying off the shelf wouldn't achieve my goals and getting fabbed would cost to much especially in current economic times.

So putting my 160amp ebay welder to the test and burning through some discs and flappy sanding wheels along the way.

I went to my local Steel supplier and asked about getting tube bent...

He pointed me in the direction of precast bends....

then to make the structure function I needed 2 sections pipe...1 that fits inside the other...

So he helped source such pipe parameters...

40mm O/D was picked mainly as it matched the rest of the vans barwork. Yes i know the larger pipe is Gal...precautions are taken when welding...

I am starting with the lower base (U) shape which will seat on top of the current tow cross bar...

I had to grind down some of the inner support sections to fit inside the Bends for structural/strength support...yes this adds more weight but I don't want this thing to fail...

3 meters of 40mm gal and 1.8m of inner 32mm pipe plus the 2 sweep bends came to about $150aud total at the time.