JK Overlanding/Spare Carrier Hood?

[jscherb]

Whenever I'm on any kind of expedition, I carry an extra spare. I don't want to have to worry about fixing a flat myself, or disrupting my plans and schedule to find a place to fix it for me. Most of the times I carry the extra spare on the roof...

For many years carrying an extra spare on the hood (er, bonnet) has been an option with the Land Rover Series and Defender vehicles...

Special optional hoods exist for those vehicle that have a recess in the hood for the tire and provisions for securing the wheel/tire to the hood. Here's a Series version and a Defender version:

I'm wondering what people think of the idea of a similar hood for the JK - like the ones above it would have a recess for the tire and mounting provisions. Seems like it might be useful if you want to carry an extra spare when the roof rack is otherwise occupied, like with a roof top tent. It wouldn't be too hard to create a mold for a fiberglass hood that had a recess for the spare, enough structure to support the weight of the spare and provisions for mounting the spare.

Good idea or bad idea for the JK?

 

[Haf-E]

I like the idea - especially since the rear axle often is overloaded and weight up high is best avoided. Mike (from the legendary PNW Earthroamer JKU thread) tried it out even with a smaller cross section tire on a stock hood and thought it blocked the view too much.

Citroen did it with a recessed hood in 1958 on their dual engine Sahara too

How much room is available under the hood on a JKU? I've seen rigs where the tire is mounted on a simple support frame over the engine and then there is a big hole in the hood - this eliminates the hood carrying the weight. That might allow some water in - but you could have a "tray" under the spare with a drain hose I suppose.

 

[jscherb]

There isn't very much room under the JK hood, so most of the tire would be above the level of the hood. With many large/wide spares the spare definitely would get in the way of the view out the front, so it probably wouldn't be a good idea for very large tires.

 

[jscherb]

Back when I was building the CJ Grille Kit for the TJ, I thought about this idea - here's a photo of a spare sitting on the fiberglass hood I made for the CJ Grille Kit. There's a lot more room between the hood and the engine on a TJ than there is on the JK, so on a TJ the bottom of this spare could probably sit several inches below the level of the hood. Obviously there's no recess in this hood for the spare, I was just setting it there to see what it looked like and to test the strength of the fiberglass hood.

 

[AgentOrange76]

I definitely think it's an awesome idea (but then again have you ever had a bad one?); I love old land rovers and the spare on the hood has always set them apart. I think it would look more the part on older Jeeps, the older the better. Also, as some have already mentioned, those land rovers had real skinny tall tires that are much less common these days. Yes you can get skinny tires, but compared to the ag tires of old they're quite wide. This of course could also cut down on some visibility, which would be helped with the recessed mount. And for me, one more thing in the way of the windshield going down haha. That said, it's a super awesome idea and would look really cool and still be very practical. I would seriously love one on my Jeep. I know you said JKs buttttt since you conveniently turned your Jeep into a CJ (most amazing thing ever, 11/10 on jealousy scale) I have a stock TJ front end you could play with too

I've seen the spares on the old land rovers mounted in front of the grille too, and that got me thinking. That would obviously impede air flow, but Jeep has not always mounted the spare on the back. Have you thought of a side mounted spare option before? You could even maybe do the same sort of thing like your frame mounted Jerry can mounts to stay no drill. Just a thought. Definitely looking forward to seeing where this hood project goes!

 

[akpostal]

I like the idea, Ild rather have an extra spare with a lower COG.

With my ZJ I tried the spare on the roof and I did not like the change in driving.

With my JK Ild like to mount the spare inside against the passenger side wheel well/rollbar. A hood mount would save a lot of inside storage if I only needed one spare.

 

[NatersXJ6]

I have a couble of series rovers lying around here, and they both have the hood mounted spare. it is part of their rover DNA, and I love them for it. I don't think I would want the same for my JK. I haven't done any scientific measurement before replying to this, but I feel fairly confident in saying that my jeep tire is much heavier and larger than the tires sitting on the already heavy to open hoods of the rover. The rover hood is light, but very stiff and really heavy when a tire is mounted. It has a really stout prop rod system. You would have to work something out similarly for the JK. maybe even a spring or gas strut assist for the Jeep. The Rover hood also doesn't open very far. I think you would want to be sure the JK tire doesn't hit the windshield when the hood opens. on the plus side, I could see some benefit in opening up the rear to carry more water or fuel instead of a spare.

And, in the random thought department, I seem to remember really crappy Subarus from the '80s having spares under the hood, bolted to the top of engines. That always struck me as the worst possible location.

 

[Dan Grec]

The topic of two spares is a tricky one.

Many people swear by it, others think it's too much weight to justify bringing an entire second spare wheel and tire.

In my experience, every single little dirt shack town has a place that can repair tires, all across the Americas, and now what I've seen of Africa.

So one spare will get you to that town, where they can fix your flat. Having a compressor and a plug kit helps that even more.

Personally, my expedition JK is already too heavy (6000lbs), I can't justify the weight.

Also, I think if you put a tire on the hood of a JK, you'll be severely limiting visibility, especially if the tire is wider than the stock 255.

-Dan

 

[jscherb]

I definitely think it's an awesome idea (but then again have you ever had a bad one?); I love old land rovers and the spare on the hood has always set them apart. I think it would look more the part on older Jeeps, the older the better. Also, as some have already mentioned, those land rovers had real skinny tall tires that are much less common these days. Yes you can get skinny tires, but compared to the ag tires of old they're quite wide. This of course could also cut down on some visibility, which would be helped with the recessed mount. And for me, one more thing in the way of the windshield going down haha. That said, it's a super awesome idea and would look really cool and still be very practical. I would seriously love one on my Jeep. I know you said JKs buttttt since you conveniently turned your Jeep into a CJ (most amazing thing ever, 11/10 on jealousy scale) I have a stock TJ front end you could play with too

Yes, I have plenty of bad ideas, but I usually reject them long before I post something about them. This one's a borderline bad idea so I decided to see what everyone thought of it before I rejected it .

Doing it for a TJ would be a bit easier for me than for the JK (well, I mean actually for the CJ Kit on the TJ) because I've already got the hood mold for the CJ kit here so I could get started with that mold, make a hood and modify it to have a well to put the spare in - there's more room under the hood of a TJ than a JK so the spare on the TJ could be recessed a bit.

I've seen the spares on the old land rovers mounted in front of the grille too, and that got me thinking. That would obviously impede air flow, but Jeep has not always mounted the spare on the back. Have you thought of a side mounted spare option before? You could even maybe do the same sort of thing like your frame mounted Jerry can mounts to stay no drill. Just a thought. Definitely looking forward to seeing where this hood project goes!

I have given some thought to a side mount using the receiver design of my side mount jerry can holder, although both on the LJ/TJ and the JK there really isn't enough room on the side given the placement of the doors and fender flares. Here's a JK sketch to show some side locations - there isn't enough room anywhere on the side except above the rear wheel, and I don't like how that looks and it would be a challenge to mount there without modifying the Jeep or hardtop.

It does look a little better on the hood...

 

[jscherb]

I like the idea, I'd rather have an extra spare with a lower COG.

With my ZJ I tried the spare on the roof and I did not like the change in driving.

I was worried about that when I first started carrying an extra spare on the top of my LJ, the first time I did Easter Jeep Safari with a spare on top I planned an easy trail the first day with the idea that if I didn't like the off-road handling I'd leave the spare in the hotel room for the rest of the week. I ended up doing the whole week with the spare on top and really never felt it up there. Of course I was extra careful in off camber situations but at least on my LJ the weight up top isn't a problem.

(Couldn't find any off-camber photos, I guess in those situations I was more concerned with driving than taking pictures ).

 

[jscherb]

...I haven't done any scientific measurement before replying to this, but I feel fairly confident in saying that my jeep tire is much heavier and larger than the tires sitting on the already heavy to open hoods of the rover. The rover hood is light, but very stiff and really heavy when a tire is mounted. It has a really stout prop rod system. You would have to work something out similarly for the JK. maybe even a spring or gas strut assist for the Jeep. The Rover hood also doesn't open very far.

Some sort of hood assist/prop would have to be part of the plan. As for the hood itself, it's not hard to build a hood in fiberglass that's strong enough to take a spare, this photo shows me lifting the hood of the CJ Kit with a spare on it, notice I'm lifting by one corner of the hood and there's no twist in the hood from the weight of the spare.

 

[jscherb]

The topic of two spares is a tricky one.

Many people swear by it, others think it's too much weight to justify bringing an entire second spare wheel and tire.

In my experience, every single little dirt shack town has a place that can repair tires, all across the Americas, and now what I've seen of Africa.

So one spare will get you to that town, where they can fix your flat. Having a compressor and a plug kit helps that even more.

Personally, my expedition JK is already too heavy (6000lbs), I can't justify the weight.

Also, I think if you put a tire on the hood of a JK, you'll be severely limiting visibility, especially if the tire is wider than the stock 255.

-Dan

I'm one who swears by it, I almost never venture out off the road without a second spare. I also like having one for the long drive from home to wherever my off-road expedition starts - it's more about the schedule than anything else - with a second spare I can get a flat repaired at my convenience, it's not an urgent matter. If I got a flat in Nebraska, for example, I'd wait until Denver to get it fixed because on a typical Colorado trip I usually have a half day in Denver after the long trip across the country and before heading into the mountains.

I agree visibility is the big issue. It might not be such an issue on the road but off-road where visibility of obstacles is key it might be a real problem. I do have the TrailVision camera system to help me with obstacle visibility, so that might make up for it to some degree

For stock spares the visibility might not be too bad, but for the huge tires many people run it would be a non-starter.

 

[SilicaRich]

How far recessed into the hood are you thinking? 1"-2"? This is an awesome idea regardless.

 

[jscherb]

How far recessed into the hood are you thinking? 1"-2"? This is an awesome idea regardless.

On the JK it probably couldn't be more than 1" due to the small clearance between the hood and the engine. On my LJ with the CJ Kit, it would probably be 2". On a stock TJ, it would be maybe 2" at the back of the hood and 1" at the front because the hood slopes. I haven't done precise measurements for either Jeep yet though, still trying to decide if this is a worthwhile idea to pursue.

 

[SilicaRich]

Something also to consider (I'm sure you already have) is the various diameter of tires that people run. You would almost need to make a one-size-fits-all or make hoods designed for specific tire sizes. The visibility issue isn't that bad in my opinion, that's partially because I choose to run skinny tires. That being said I would still have 8"-10" of tire width sticking up. I guess you could sell complimentary seat risers with each hood:sombrero: