DIY Rear Bar and twin wheel carrier

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I wanted a twin wheel carrier rear bar but felt that the commercial ones were just too expensive for me to be able to justify buying one. Someone posted a link to the Rijidij wheel carrier kit website and having seen that I could get the stub axle etc. I decided to have a go at making my own rear bar.

I decided to base the bar around a 125 x 75 RHS main section and was torn between 3mm and 4mm wall thickness. 3mm seemed as though it would be OK but in the end the decision was taken out of my hands - the only RHS I could get locally this size (and 1.7 m long) was 4mm.

I didn’t want a bar that was straight across the back so first up I cut two slots to give the bar a 5 degree forward bend either side. I made the centre section the same width as the rego plate (380mm). I then tack welded a 75 x 200 x 5 plate to the front edge. Two 13mm holes allowed this to be bolted to the OEM tow ball mounting point.



I bolted the bar up as shown below:

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Next was to attach the chassis mounting brackets. These are 100 x 165 x 5 plate. These utilise the existing hole in the chassis plus I drilled two extra holes:





Using a straight edge I marked up the rear bar ends to line up with the side panels, I then fully welded everything up and refitted the bar:

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I tack welded wire to the bolt heads and fed them through the rear cross-member. You can just see the ends of the wires sticking out in the next photo’s:





Next I temporarily fitted some LED trailer lights to judge where everything was going to go. It was a bit of a juggling act to leave room for the stub axles and get the lights on as near to the ends of the bar as possible.

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I got myself a 40mm Holesaw for the stub axles – I was surprised at how easily it cut through the 4mm Steel.



Next the top plates were cut to size and the stub axles were tacked in place:



This was followed by 32mm flat bar to make up the light surrounds:

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The main bar was then removed to get the stub axles fully welded – this was too big a job for my welder so I got this done by my local steel supplier and switched over to working on the arms.

For the horizontal bars I got some 75 x 50 x 3 twice the required length and cut it in half using a 70mm hole saw. This gave me the correct curvature to fit the hubs:



After making sure they were square I tacked these in place on the hubs:



As the hubs are substantial and take all the weight of the spare I again got the local steel supplier to weld this join. I then cut some 3mm plate, welded this on the ends of the arms and tacked the vertical bars in place:



I cut the vertical bars leaning back at a 5 degree angle to keep them from fouling the back of the car.

I then fitted braces made from 50 x 25 at 45 degrees to strengthen it all up:



The arms are now ready to have the bearings pressed in.

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I got the main bar back from having the stub axles welded in:





I didn’t ask them to but they also welded up all the parts I had tacked in place ready for welding up later. They only charged me $80 for the lot so very happy with that.

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In with the bearings and it’s starting to look like a proper bar now:



A couple of pieces of 100 x 100 x 6 angle saw the locking handles fitted:

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I temporarily fitted the latch plates to see where the final position of the arms will be and fitted the top brackets:



It was a bit of a challenge getting the top brackets to sit square so that the spare wheels will be in line and parallel to the rear of the car but I got there in the end. The angle is required to compensate for the fact the bar is angled forward on both sides by 5 degrees.

The wheel mounting bracket now sits in place:



I used HT bolts rather than wheel studs as they need to be tacked in place so no benefit from using studs plus bolts are a lot cheaper:



Final job for the day (aside from clearing up the garage) was to fit the latch plates:

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Next was to fit the HiLift points and mark up the side plates then refit to the Prado. I got it on and fitted the right arm with spare:





I then moved the Rego plate and fitted the Rego plate light (LED). Having moved the Rego plate I was able to fit the left arm and mount the HiLift bracket.

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Next I turned my attention to the rear work light and rear mount UHF antenna. For these I made up a bracket from the top of the right arm.



I then made up the 3 mm plates to cover the ends of the bar and match in to the sides of the car. This was tricky as they had to go over the HiLift points at an angle. I cut these by drilling corner holes then cutting with the angle grinder. I also had to put a crease in the plate so that they would match the curve of the sides. Finally got them cut and tacked in place:

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I managed to get a genuine alloy spare and had to put it on to see how it looks:



Definitely need the lights on the bar with the spares fitted though.

The second spare came with a Grandcrap fitted with reasonable tread left:



One slight problem with it though



I got some alloy style wheel nuts for the spare – only $3.50 each on eBay but look like the OEM ones.

I wanted to get another D694 to match the other five tyres, the plan being to put the existing (unused) spare plus the new one on the front and having the two from the front as the spares. This is where I ran into problems as the D694 has been replaced with the D697 - luckily my local BJs managed to find one in Victoria and arranged to ship it over for me.

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Back to the actual build – I picked up some Spring Bolts from eBay, tacked them in place on the arms and drilled the location hole in the bar for locking it open. I also tacked an end stop in place to stop the arms swinging round too far.

Arm closed:



Arm locked open:



This means that the bar is finished as far as I can go on the car. Next is to remove it for final welding, tidying up, sand blasting and powder coating.

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I finished welding the Spring Bolts on the arms plus made up a strengthening plate for the light/antenna bracket as I noticed it vibrated a bit when I went out over the weekend.

Back to the bar - I got the end plates all welded up and added some 32 x 3 flat bar around the edge for strengthening. I also added a cross brace between the side and top:



Welded all around the HiLift points for added strength and to look better:



I also welded the nuts for the Latch Plates in place so that I can fit and adjust them once the bar is on. I did the same for the Rego Plate mounting nuts as well:



Did the final welding of the arm end-stops:



I was going to weld nuts in place for the Rego Plate Light but felt they were too small to weld without also accidentally welding the screws so I cut some flat bar and tapped holes in it. I then welded this plate in place inside the bar – with hindsight I probably should have simply tapped holes in the bar for the Rego Plate and Rego Plate light.

Did the final welding and tidying up of the bar and cut some 40mm holes in the bottom to let water out when needed. I also sourced some reversing lights that fit with a 10mm hole so drilled the bar to fit these.

Then, at long last, took everything off for sand blasting and powder coating – I asked for it to be colour matched to the ARB Bullbar. Apparently this is ‘Precious Steel Pearl’ – I guess someone gets paid to come up with names like that.

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Got everything back from the powder coaters – they did a great job, so very pleased with how it turned out. Only complaint I would have is that they didn’t mask the stub axles so I had to remove the paint afterwards – not really a big problem though.

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I re-fitted all the lights then put the bar back on the car. I picked up some smart 10W LED reverse lights from eBay:



Bar all fitted, arms on and wired up temporarily: