Barricade Swing Away Tire Carrier for Ducky
If you want to see which bumper I chose, check it out here!
Ah, the spare tire.
In a world dominated by spare deletes, and completely leaving any kind of backup at the house or on the trailer, it seems that jeepers are quietly moving away from the concept.
Not me.
The latest, and most practical addition as of late to my beloved Ducky (2000 TJ) is the Barricade Swing Away Tire Carrier. It will be my third rear bumper upgrade/change since first driving Ducky off the dealer lot over a decade ago.
One of the things I look for in a product is ease of installation. My prior bumper, a classic styled bumper with recovery points, checked a lot of boxes, but it involved dropping the gas tank to be able to reach 4 bolts. Me being me, I skipped this step all together. One thing that drew me to the Barricade bumper was the ease of installation that was made even easier by the video provided by Extreme Terrain. As I watched the simplicity in the design I thought, “That would be an awesome upgrade and only take a few hours.” Since moving to 35s, my spare has quietly sat in the backyard while I figured out what to do.
Now, one thing that was confusing (when I finally got around to reading the instructions after purchasing the bumper) was seeing that the step I had previously skipped on my prior bumper was indeed a step on this one as well. Doh!
The customer submitted instructions on the site followed more closely to video, only securing the outermost bolts, and one underneath. So, that is all I did as well. Should I go back in the near future and add these 4 bolts for stability? Yes. And I do plan on doing just that. While the bumper and carrier seem secure and unlikely to move/buckle/struggle, I want that extra bit of insurance as I plan on wheeling Ducky again very soon.
The arm swings easily and seems to be no issue holding my Mickey Thompson Deegan 38 MT (35 12.5 15) and the handle feels good and secure. The included D-rings were a nice touch as well. (I painted mine navy blue!) Although, David did have to help me get the spare on the mount.
The only complaints I have are that the handle interferes with my tags. I was planning on getting a relocation bracket to mount it on the spare, but I had not yet gotten to that point. I had to bend the plate and cut the stock bracket. Not a hygge biggie since I am getting brand new tags next month (Thanks Tennessee) but It does mean I’ll need to relocate the tag at that point.
