Swing Away Tire Carrier, Round II

I wasn't happy with my old tire carrier for a couple reasons.  1) It hung only on the body.  2) The tire was too far from the body.  This effected the way the Jeep climbed.  The weight was too far back.  Since I like to carry a full size spare, a 38.5" x 14.5" x 15" Super Swamper TSL/SX tire mounted on a 15" x 10" Champion Baja Beadlock wheel weighs in at a whopping 130 lbs.  This added to the 70 lbs of liquids I carry (5 gallons of fuel, 5 gallons of water) added up to 200 lbs without counting the carrier itself.  Now I now my new design won't be any lighter, but it just makes sense to put the heavy weight closer to the vehicle and the lighter weight (if it's even being carried), beyond that.
Click the pictures to see the full size versions in another window:

10/02/02 Update:
The weight of the tire and the gas cans was just too much for the Baja style running I was doing at the RCAA event in Johnson Valley.  This was the first real test I had running in the whoops with a full load of fuel and water back there (plus the tire).  It became clear that I needed more support up top.  Today I removed the hinges for the tailgate, attached the tailgate to the tire carrier, and added another bar with another hinge to the body of the Jeep.  This puts most of the weight of the carrier on the bumper, as it was before, but adds rigidity and leverage to keep the tire and liquids from bouncing up and down (err back and forth).
Click the pictures to see the full size versions in another window:

Also, here's a video of the swing away /w tailgate being opened and closed

10/02/02 1.9 MB 21 seconds