New rear tire carrier Westcott designs

mep1811

Gentleman Adventurer
I picked up a Westcott designs hitch mounted tire carrier for my 2013 200 Series Land Cruiser.

Jeff Westcott personally supervised the fitting of the carrier and explained how it worked.

The carrier is strong and rattle free. The D/S tray can be removed and a second spare tire can be fitted . There are mounting points for three Rotopax.

There is a built in fold down table that will be very handy while camping. The tray can fit four jerry cans or a large cooler or anything you can mount to it.

Since I have a 40 gallon aux fuel tank I don't need to carry extra fuel anymore but the tray will come in handy for carrying water.

I also looked at the Wlico Off Road tire carrier. The Wico has everything on one swing out arm. The cargo rack is mounted over the tire. That requires anything to be lifted over your head to get up there. Not very easy with a heavy cooler or cargo box. Also hard t get into without a step ladder.
The gas/water cans are also mounted high up.
The rear window is also blocked.

The Wescott carrier has a cradle the tire fits into. Due to the low height, it is easy to get the tire in the cradle. One method is to roll the tire over one of the support arms into the cradle.

I'll be giving it a real world test the beginning of Feb on the Camino del Diablo.

 

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mep1811

Gentleman Adventurer
The carrier weighs 105lbs , the tire 100lb. I don't know the weight of the empty water cans but doubt they weigh 200lbs.
 

DonkeeBoy

New member
5 gal jugs? With water in them you'll be that heavy. A lot of weight to have that far back. Don't know your rig though so if your comfortable with it go for it.
 

mep1811

Gentleman Adventurer
The empty water cans are there for illustrative purposes only . You can put anything on the rack. The rack is removable and a second spare tire can be fitted if desired.

I would be willing to wager a loaded Slee rear bumper to weigh even more and for a couple thousand $$$ more money.
 

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krick3tt

Adventurer
So, 400 pounds. That was just a guess. thanks for confirmation. empty water cans, why carry empty water cans? Still a lot of weight but it's your vehicle and if you trust it, go for it. I would not hang that much weight off a hitch mount.
 

robert

Expedition Leader
I used to carry my DRZ-400 (a bit over 300#s) on the back of my Tacoma using a steel carrier (heavy, not sure what it weighed). I've got OME Dakars on the back without the overload helpers and never had a problem. The Cruiser is considered medium duty as compared to the light duty Tacoma so it ought to handle the weight just fine if it's got decent springs in the rear.

Looks like it's a quality product- I like the grill they make for them as well. LOL
 

mep1811

Gentleman Adventurer
So, 400 pounds. That was just a guess. thanks for confirmation. empty water cans, why carry empty water cans? Still a lot of weight but it's your vehicle and if you trust it, go for it. I would not hang that much weight off a hitch mount.
The empty water cans are there for illustrative purposes only .

You can put anything on the rack. The rack is removable and a second spare tire can be fitted if desired
 

F350joe

Well-known member
I like that, looks functional and sits nice and close to the rig. You can take it off for daily duty too which you cant do with a more expensive bumper. So you basically have the Wilco or https://www.rigdsupply.com/ for around $1k+, the Westcott for $1500k+, or a bumper for $2.5+.

I thought I was going to have to go this route when I went to 33” tire but was able to squeeze it in to the factory spot. My plan for the tire was to use a hard cover like from hummer or Jeep, mount the lic. Plate, back up camera, and reverse lights to that, and plug it into the trailer harness. You could always ad air bags but seems like adding over the tongue weight rating is where bottoming out becomes a concern. The farther you stick out the less weight you can add basically, because physics.

Look forward to your review. I have a feeling when fully loaded with fuel and gear you will want to do something with the rear suspension. Maybe not though if it’s just a tire and a jerrycan. Sure is nice to have a place outside to keep things that should be outside.
 

krick3tt

Adventurer
From the pictures he posted it looks like the stop signal will be visible, especially at night.
I have a tire carried on my bumper and I also wonder if my right turn signal is visible to those behind me as a driver back there is on the left side of the tire and may not see my right signal all that well. Was thinking of getting lights to put on the back of my roof rack that are visible higher up for turn indicators. The stop light is OK as it is also on the upper part of my rear door.
 

mep1811

Gentleman Adventurer
Looks cool, but are your brake lights and turn signals visible to cars behind you?

I have the optional Rigid chase taillights that are very bright. I also plan on running a tailgate LEP light on the edge of the roof-rack as an additional light.
 

mep1811

Gentleman Adventurer
I like that, looks functional and sits nice and close to the rig. You can take it off for daily duty too which you cant do with a more expensive bumper. So you basically have the Wilco or https://www.rigdsupply.com/ for around $1k+, the Westcott for $1500k+, or a bumper for $2.5+.

I thought I was going to have to go this route when I went to 33” tire but was able to squeeze it in to the factory spot. My plan for the tire was to use a hard cover like from hummer or Jeep, mount the lic. Plate, back up camera, and reverse lights to that, and plug it into the trailer harness. You could always ad air bags but seems like adding over the tongue weight rating is where bottoming out becomes a concern. The farther you stick out the less weight you can add basically, because physics.

Look forward to your review. I have a feeling when fully loaded with fuel and gear you will want to do something with the rear suspension. Maybe not though if it’s just a tire and a jerrycan. Sure is nice to have a place outside to keep things that should be outside.


The Slee bumper is over $4000.00 then the cost of installation. I looked at Wico and Rigdsupply and both did not have the versatility and included options as the @Westcottdesigns .

I have OME heavy 1300lb springs in the rear. Adding the bumper and tire on top of 60 gallons of fuel and the rear did not go down an inch.
 

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