Back story:
Went I bought my tires, I bought 5 33x12.5R15 BFG A/T KO's and mounted them on 15x10 3.75" backspaced wheels. I originally thought the spare wouldn't fit underneath the truck in the stock location.
So I tossed the spare with a bike lock in the bed. It consumed all of my bed space, and I grew tired of tossing it around to carrier stuff in the bed.
Sure enough, once I tried, the spare fit in the stock location.
My chain winch for the spare is terrible, it's rusted and jams constantly. I even broke the crank handle trying to free it up.
Plus the massive tire underneath looked terrible, my truck looked like it had a fat caboose. After wheeling it like that for a bit. I hit the spare a couple tires dropping off some ledges. Also, the last thing I ever wanted to do is to have to drop the spare to change a tire in a mud hole or have to move the truck with a blown tire so I can get the spare down.

While browsing my local pick and pull one day, I took a look at the 4Runner swing out spare tire carrier. I know the corner lights are the same as the pickup's, so I checked out the bracing behind the sheet metal on the 4Runner. Nice little bracket. I ASSUMED the pickup rear corner inner construction would be the same as the body lines are very similar. I thought it would be one banana job (on the shade-tree mechanic scale).

Tech section:
A local guy was scrapping a 4Runner, so I tossed him some cash and he cut me out the rear corner of the 4Runner including the inner bracket and the tailgate/hatch bracket. The inner bracket is held in by a couple of spot welds.
The bracket is two C-shaped channel steel that conform to the shape of the body, connected by a thin hollow steel rod.
The inner bracing in the corner of the pickup is completely different and much smaller open space than the 4Runner.
I had to cut the brackets way down. Ditching a bolt hole on the top and bottom brackets.
Have a friend hold the spare tire carrier in place, a strap helps support the weight. Mark the holes, drill. Install the carrier.
The tailgate latch needs to be modified to install in onto the truck tailgate as the body lines are very different.
I cut the bracket into pieces, welded the support hook to a plate, relocated the rubber mount. Working inside the tailgate is tricky. I ended taping my flat washer, lock washer and nut together to get the bottom bolts.
I cut the license plate holder to clear my tube bumper. Re-wired my old license plate lights to the swing-out lights with a bit of wire. The license plate is held on by hose clamps so it'll rotate up if I catch it on a rock.

Anyways, the pictures probably speak better than I do. Total process with a lot of fiddling and cussing, took me a saturday.

Pics:













Full truck:








Interesting mod, if you're stuck in the mud and you don't want to wade up to tits in mud. I got steps!

 

I like it.

 

hey that looks good i have the same problem and i been thinking about that too
how hard was the set up? and do you think it will work on a t100 body?
i got 31 tires and the stock tire carrier was shot to hell rusted up bad
nice and i like the foot step also

 

Cool!

 

The T100 is wider. I don't know if the tire carrier would hug the body lines as well. It's worth a shot. Pick up the carrier at pick and pull, test fit it to your truck in the parking lot, if it works, go grab the brackets, if not bring it back.
There's only a couple bolts holding it on, gotta take the little square plastic covers off to take the hinge covers off.

 

I want one on my 84, bad. Nice job dude!

 

humm sounds good will try that i think a buddy has one that i can take off his 4 runner he lives about 3 hours from me so geuss its a road trip now

 

That's awesome. How much did it change your departure/approach angle if any?

 

I'd have to check but I believe my bumper is still the limiting factor to the departure angle.

PS: approach angle is on the front.

 

That bumper does look like a rock anchor. Not as bad as the tow hitch on my Runner though. I guess more than "approach angle" I meant how does it do when you have to back up on an obstacle so maybe "rear approach angle" or "reverse departure angle" would work better. Wording aside, thats a nice addition to the bed. I've dealt with those under bed tire carriers at the worst of times and wasn't pleased myself.

 

The tube bumper is better than the stock one. I've never been hung up on it. It's definitely not a rock anchor. It's round tube, anything that hits, just rolls underneath.
My stock transfer case crossmember is the rock anchor! I need a flat plate crossmember!

 

How well has it been offroad? have you notices any stress cracks on the corner of the bed yet?,,very cool mod I will one would fit on my first gen!

 

I have decided to tackle the same project. My only problem is there are not too many runners around me so I cannot acquire that specific bracket. Instead I have decided to fab up some out of 3/16" steel. My plan is to build the brackets piece by piece inside the tail light and then weld a couple of gusses across which should be stout enough. I do want it to be load bearing because I plan to attach a Jerry can on the carrier later down the road. I'll keep y'all updated. If you have any pointers it would be much appreciated.

 

Finally finished my spare tire care. Couldn't be more pleased with the outcome

 

Any chance of a pic of the internal bracing? Im debating tieing into the body ther to support tube fender.
Apreciate anything
Casey(inu)

 

Sure

 

I have more you can look in my pictures to see em all I used 3/16" steel and Simpson strong ties then counter sunk them it is strong as ˟˟˟˟ but the downside is all the counter sunk ties had to go into the interior of the bed

 

Do you have any pics of your roof rack set up combat vet?

 

Recently sourced, customized, painted, and installed my own 2nd gen 4Runner Swing-Out onto my Series 2 (3? lol) 94' 22RE 4x4 Pickup Truck.

HAPPY TO SEND PICTURES / ADVICE / INSTRUCTIONS to anyone who's looking to do this retrofit.

Hands-down, one of the best sub-100$ mods I've ever done.

 

There's some local to me who's been trying for several months to sell his 91 4Runner swing-out (with mounting hardwear) for $100. Think I'll have to pay him a visit now.

Been thinking about this mod for some time, but wasn't sure how easy/worthwhile it would be.

Thanks for the great write up, Stuwy!