ME TOO -- Aluminess Rear Tire Carrier Installation Issues! - Page 2

shenrie · 11-17-2015, 09:45 AM

np mtbroamer! glad to be of assistance

as of now, i dont see me getting to this real quick. lots of other coals in the fire unfortunately. however like i said, i will either cut a small hole in bumper to countersink that bolt head, or get get a proper countersunk bolt and give it a countersink on the swingout so it sits directly on the bumper like it should.

i also plan on getting a different bolt to go through the hinge. a domed allen head bolt i can paint white to hopefully match what the original cap on the hinge looked like. not sure what im going to do with the nylock jamb nut though. previous owner said that would back off on its own over time and that i needed to keep an eye on it. i might just tighten that nylock nut into another regular nut and possibly give it a spot weld so i dont have to worry about it. i always seem to forget about little things like that till im somewhere where there isnt any available hardware for in the field fixes...

BrianW · 11-17-2015, 10:26 AM

From my experience, there are three-bolt and two-bolt (per side) step bumpers out there. I originally replaced my two-bolt "flat" rear bumper with a step bumper from a 90's junkyard van, which had three bolts. That bumper was pretty rough, so I replaced it with a newer step bumper from a 90s van, which has two bolts. Weird. The newer bumper is also noticeably thinner metal. I'm not 100% sure it's an OEM Ford, but I think it is.

So, here's what I had:

1998 OEM "flat" bumper = two bolts per side
90s OEM step bumper = three bolts per side
2000s OEM (?) step bumper = two bolts per side

chaos · 11-17-2015, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MountainBikeRoamer

(I've now realized that this protruding locknut, alone, is responsible for *most* of the mounting alignment issues.....)

***** I've been pondering the issue a bit more since you guys have replied, and I'm thinking a solid (and discreet) solution might be to drill a 1" hole in the top of the step bumper (through both the step pad and actual bumper metal) to allow the lower, protruding locknut on the tire carrier's underside to "poke through" --- and thus a) allow the full underside of the tire carrier to rest square on the top surface of the step bumper and b) drop the entire tire carrier lower by 1/2" to better align its support strap (at top) with the hinge-pin.

that is basically what I did to solve the issue, but only needed to create a cavity for the locknut in the step pad.
the alignment is good enough for me as I'm looking to buy the full Aluminess rear bumper/tire carrier sometime.

MountainBikeRoamer · 11-18-2015, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaos

that is basically what I did to solve the issue, but only needed to create a cavity for the locknut in the step pad.
the alignment is good enough for me as I'm looking to buy the full Aluminess rear bumper/tire carrier sometime.

Chaos thanks --- I just looked over my bumper/tire carrier again, and that lower protruding nut indeed only sticks out about 1/4", not 1/2" like I had originally thought. So in my case (like yours), drilling out a pocket in the plastic step-pad alone would be enough to get the tire carrier to drop down square against the bumper.

I still need to find another 3/8"-1/2" of "drop" in my tire carrier to get the upper support strap to line up right with the door hinge bracket....

I suppose I could still:
1) remove the step pad entirely (and drill a hole in the bumper as well for the locknut) - that would get me close. Cover the top of the step bumper with grip tape or something.
Or
2) fab up a custom support strap for the top of the tire carrier (that incorporates the necessary drop to meet the door hinge height.)

Hmmmmm.

TheLetterJ · 11-18-2015, 09:48 AM

Why not use a spacer on top of the hinge along with a correspondingly longer hinge pin/ bolt?

MountainBikeRoamer · 11-18-2015, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheLetterJ

Why not use a spacer on top of the hinge along with a correspondingly longer hinge pin/ bolt?

TheLetterJ -- thanks, that's good (and logical) thinking.
I did consider that (and now that you mention it, I think I still am), but it seemed intuitively like that would give that hinge-pin bolt a longer "lever arm" sticking up and out of the hinge bracket....and that might bend or torque that bolt (or worse, the hinge brackets) --- that's assuming the tire carrier puts a lot of lateral pull or weight on it when loaded (or swung open.)

But that's still a solid idea. Having not installed one of these before with a 70-pound tire/wheel combo attached to it, I really don't know how much torque is exerted on that upper hinge pin bolt, when the carrier is in the "swung out" position.

BrianBlair · 11-18-2015, 12:43 PM

My carrier also had two bolt holes and my bumper had 3. To further the odd-ness.....the holes in my carrier were drilled diagonally opposite of how the bolts on my bumper were oriented(hope that makes sense). Soo....I removed 1 of the bolts from the bumper and redrilled two holes on the carrier plate. When I redrilled them I intentionally placed them to where the carrier would sit right on the top of the bumper.

I had to bend the support strap a tad as the top of the upright was a little higher than the top of the hinge. It was likely about 1/4 if memory serves. I feel like most of them that I have seen have also required a little bit of a bend here. I didn't actually bend the strap....just set both bolts through and let them pull it into place as I tightened it all up.

I didn't drill a recess in my plastic bumper top....but I plan to. As it is now the bolt head cause the bases to sit just a little off of level. It never really cause any issues and isn't noticeable to the eye when viewing it from behind....but knowing that it's there makes me want to change it!

Hope that helps!

hogasm · 08-27-2016, 10:30 AM

Can someone tell me the distance between holes in the support strap

thanks

MountainBikeRoamer · 08-28-2016, 12:50 PM

Hogasm -- I just measured my Aluminess support strap.

The original (Aluminess-supplied) support strap with mine measures out at exactly 4 inches, hole-center-to-hole-center.

(I ended up making another support strap (nothing fancy) out of similar flat stock, and kept the 4" measurement....but bent the strap in a slight "z" pattern (in side view) so that it could make up for the serious height difference (on my van anyway) between the top of the tire carrier and the top of the rear door-hinge-pin mount.

Will try to post some pictures.
Hope this helps!

MountainBikeRoamer · 08-28-2016, 01:03 PM

Aluminess-supplied support strap:

Home-brew support strap (with z-bend, to create / make up the difference in height between the carrier and the door hinge-pin) :

Note that the home-brew strap is still exactly 4" (hole-center-to-hole-center) when viewed in top view.

By the way --- as others have mentioned before....
BE SURE TO USE THREAD-LOCK ---
---on the bolt that threads down into the top of the tire carrier!!! Somehow that one ends up rattling loose FAST if it isn't tightened with a good-quality thread-lock.
I used the red stuff, whatever that means.

Cheers