REAL SWINGER

Oversized tires and heavy wheels can wreak havoc on stock tire carriers.

- Christian Sturtz

The additional weight can break the carrier itself or ruin the tailgate. Thankfully, KD Fabworks makes full replacement heavy-duty rear bumpers with swing-out tire mounts for Jeep TJ/LJ applications. Standard features on the bumper include D-ring mounts, a 2 receiver, a tapered roller bearing pivot, frame tie-in brackets, a grade 8 hardware kit with optional high lift mount, and a third brake light license plate holder. (Figure 1)

In a normal install, you would start by removing the original rear bumper and tire carrier. Removal is pretty straight forward- the bumper has two nuts on each side and two bolts that come up from the bottom. Four bolts hold on the tire carrier, but you have to remove the third brake light housing to get to some of them. You also have to cut and cap off, or wrap-up, the third brake light wires. This Jeep had no bumper, so none of this was necessary for our application.