D.I.Y Wheel Carrier

[BrettM Member Find all posts View Profile Close BrettM]

Well since i am a boilermaker-welder and seeing Trekriders thread on making a wheel carrier i figured why not make my own as well, plus it would be a lot cheaper then buying one. All the steel i got from work for free so it ended up being very cheap to make. I wont go into too much detail as it is almost the same design as trekriders only things i did different was flush mounting the indicators and didn't use the rear bumper i cut some 1.6mm steel plate and welded it up to cover up where the rear bumper was. The handles for locking the wheel i got from work as well, we use the on our pipe rotators so not sure how much they cost. So the build was very cheap as the only things i had to buy were the sub axles, reverse lights, indicators and pay for the powder coating. I plan to modify it a bit don the track by putting gas struts on the arms for the wheels and doing away with the locking pins that hold the arms open as i find them to be a pain. So here are some pics of the build. Never posted pics before so hope it works.

[BrettM Member Find all posts View Profile Close BrettM]

[BrettM Member Find all posts View Profile Close BrettM]

[BrettM Member Find all posts View Profile Close BrettM]

I made the drawers and the roof console also, next project is to remove the toyota side steps and make my own out of pipe and carry them on up to the bullbar

[Hazza Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hazza]

Brett,

Looks like a top job. Should make them for sale on PP.

Hazza

[Heath74 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Heath74]

Brett, that is one very nice bit of fabrication. How many hours work would you estimate?

[BrettM Member Find all posts View Profile Close BrettM]

I mounted the bar to the car by welding some 12mm nuts to some 3mm thick washers then feeding them inside the rear chassis and lining them up with the holes in the chassis screwing a bolt in to hold it while i welded the washer to the chassis, i didn't get any photos of that but when i take the bar off next time i will take some photos.I am going to add 2 more bolts to stiffen it up a bit at the moment there is only 4 12mm bolts holding it in place 2 on top of chassis and 2 under neither the chassis, i want to add one into the side of the chassis on each side. I plan on getting a price from work for all the steel and if its cheap enough i might remove my bar and make a jig to suit then make a few to sell, i will make a few changes as i since i finished it i can see some easier ways of doing thing which will make it cheaper and use less material.

[Johno Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Johno]

Brett,

Great job.

Johno

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Brett,

Looks like a top job. Should make them for sale on PP.

Hazza

I know a bloke who planning on doing that once he has the GTG out of the way

Nice job Brett!

Cheers Andrew

[BrettM Member Find all posts View Profile Close BrettM]

Cheers guys, not sure on how many hours it took i only worked on it over the weekends and not wanting upset the people around me i did not start making noise until after 12 on the weekends, and i am thinking about making some more just depends on the cost of steel. Making a jig means i can build them faster i also made templates of all the bits as i went along so that will make it easier as well.

[norrs Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close norrs]

Awesome work

[Trekrider Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Trekrider]

Very nice job there Brett, I'm glad I inspired someone else to make one

[Madkore Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Madkore]

Great work Brett - and thanks for contributing a great posting to the forum.

[caffeine Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close caffeine]

That's a great job. Nice fit and function.
Well done.