Rear spare wheel carrier

hhouston6

Forum Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2017
Messages
16
Location
Australia
Car Year
2017
Car Model
Outback 2.5i
Transmission
CVT
While doing research on my 3 month road trip, I discovered this guy in Perth who makes a strut assisted hitch mount spare tyre carrier for a reasonable price. Check out Mirack Products www.mirack.com.au or find them on Facebook and they are really nice to talk to, and will help you out.

Looks like an awesome product for about $500, and I know a lot of Subie owners are looking for something like this.
 
Thanks for the info [MENTION=15578]hhouston6[/MENTION] - looks like an easy way to add a carrier.
 
Subaxtreme have just started making a similar bolt on towbar replacement product for the newer Foresters & Outbacks, instead of their traditional bumper replacement rear bar (due to all the sensors and stuff complicating things in the newer models)
 
I put this together from a Rhino T Loader (that I use for a boat) and a $30 ebay bracket. No drilling, cutting or welding. Seems to work OK.









 
I’ve actually ditched my rear carrier arms - main reason being that I ended up cracking my rear bar mounts quite badly on the spare wheel side in the back of my L series. I realise this is a different model but the following principles are the same:

- since carrying my spare and jerry can on the roof I’m actually getting better fuel economy. This is no joke. My theory is that the roof racks with spare and jerry can disrupt the airflow off the back of my lift vehicle less than the spare wheel and jerry can when mounted on the back of the vehicle. I put this down to more disrupted air off the sides and from under the vehicle catching on the spare wheel and the jerry can, even though they were mounted very close to the back of the vehicle.

Which brings me to the next issue and the ultimate demise of my rear mounts - weight, especially the counterweight the bar, arms, spare and full jerry can created. This compressed my rear springs nicely when I was cruising around town, but compressed them too much once I was loaded with food, water and clothing for a trip out bush. By moving my spare and jerry can forward the weight is now shared by the front suspension and everything seems happier all round from better weight distribution front/rear.

I’m not knocking your setup or the one in the link, they both look great and serve a purpose. These are just my findings. I’m also enjoying not needing to open the arms to get into the boot of the wagon. Having a spare centre mounted and folding backwards for rear access wouldn’t be for everyone either. But a good solution for a second spare if travelling remote.

Cheers

Bennie
 
We have just returned from crossing the Simpson desert from west to east and one of the people on the trip had one of these on her Outback and it lasted the distance. It seemed easy to operate and when the tyre was down the access to the rear was good.
 
El_Freddo said:
I’ve actually ditched my rear carrier arms - main reason being that I ended up cracking my rear bar mounts quite badly on the spare wheel side in the back of my L series.

. . .

Which brings me to the next issue and the ultimate demise of my rear mounts - weight, especially the counterweight the bar, arms, spare and full jerry can created. This compressed my rear springs nicely when I was cruising around town, but compressed them too much once I was loaded with food, water and clothing for a trip out bush. By moving my spare and jerry can forward the weight is now shared by the front suspension and everything seems happier all round from better weight distribution front/rear.
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I remember posting that these things would be a result of having too much weight levering behind the back wheel centre line many years ago, but those ideas were strongly disagreed with by some members.

The leverage applied by these not inconsiderable weights (over 40 Kg, plus carrier mass) is almost certainly excessive, unless the vehicle is designed for it.

The vehicle has to be designed around this excessive weight carried behind the rear axles. Some are: Hondas, Suzukis and Toyotas spring to mind.
 
Don't Australian Subarus come with full size spares?
 
^ yes, with the exception of the very first Outbacks. Subaru Australia copped a lot of flak about that, from me and heaps of others.
 
So why then the complicated carrying arrangements?



I suppose a mildly oversize tire will fit, even if deflated as needed. And even if it does not, is it the hassle of carrying a tire outside worth it for a 0.5" lift?


If it is for a second spare, I would personally run two sets of tires, a street set and an outback set of heavy-duty tires with one proper spare and a tire repair kit.
 
MAS, I think that you still fail to grasp the isolated death trap that inland Australia is!

One reason for my camper trailer was that it gave me 4 spares in an emergency situation. One in the car, three on the trailer. In an emergency, take all food, fuel and water, wheels, then just ditch the trailer. Doing otherwise could very easily cost one's life.

Many people carry more than one spare in the bush - it's really mostly desert.
 
Ratbag said:
One reason for my camper trailer was that it gave me 4 spares in an emergency situation. One in the car, three on the trailer. In an emergency, take all food, fuel and water, wheels, then just ditch the trailer. Doing otherwise could very easily cost one's life.
Click to expand...

This is exactly the reason why I changed my trailer hubs. So I could get more spares for remote touring.
It's a bit hard to repair a ripped open tyre.
 
Wow, that got interesting pretty quickly from what I could make out!

Ratbag said:
I remember posting that these things would be a result of having too much weight levering behind the back wheel centre line many years ago, but those ideas were strongly disagreed with by some members.

The leverage applied by these not inconsiderable weights (over 40 Kg, plus carrier mass) is almost certainly excessive, unless the vehicle is designed for it.

The vehicle has to be designed around this excessive weight carried behind the rear axles. Some are: Hondas, Suzukis and Toyotas spring to mind.
Click to expand...

Yeah true, but it’s had it’s fair share of knocks, bumps and has probably seen more off-roading than many modern day kitted out 4wds. And it’s an L series, so it was bound to be an issue at some point, only I didn’t address it when I should have - and in a strange twist that’s worked out better for me.

The rear end of Liberty’s/Foresters/Outback’s are much sturdier and I wouldn’t have an issue with that weight hanging out the back there - my issue would be the aerodynamics off the back of the vehicle and how this effects fuel economy.

Rear bars look awesome, and are associated with a typical 4wd setup.

Cheers

Bennie
 
Bennie, I reckon that having 45-55 kgs hanging way back behind the rear axle line can't but put enormous strain on the rear suspension components, regardless of better design/strength. Geometry dictates that the vector forces are greatly amplified.
 
I understand the concern here -- but if the towbar is rated for that load (I think mine is something like 70-90kg tongue load?) , then surely you're ok.


You certainly don't have 500+kg pulling and pushing it on top of the tongue load like with a trailer.


EDIT: Just looked up the hayman reese HD towbar for my gen3 outback - its rated at 140kg tongue weight. Light duty version is 90kg.


There are three models for Foresters - 75 to 180kg.
 
but that weight in rear part is not that good for car balance and handling maybe is it ?
 
... and... break!

Ratbag said:
Bennie, I reckon that having 45-55 kgs hanging way back behind the rear axle line can't but put enormous strain on the rear suspension components, regardless of better design/strength. Geometry dictates that the vector forces are greatly amplified.
Click to expand...

If someone puts a rear bar with carrier arms etc on the back of their vehicle and they don’t do any supporting suspension mods then yes, I agree, they’ll be in trouble.

Any modification must be carefully considered and looked at with an eye towards what other supporting mods are needed to make the originally desired mod work.

Engine builds are a great example - and WRX modifiers are the classic example in that they go hell for leather in the engine mods, do zip to the gearbox then wonder why they completely strip 2nd, 3rd and even 4th when going hard. Hence why subaru gearboxes are now known as glassboxes...

Ok, continue on the outback saga. I’m with the local on this one... but I’ve alrwady stopped reading since the debate stopped on the last page.

Cheers

Bennie
 
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