Rear Tire Carrier - Any Regrets in Daily Life?

So I’m *THIS CLOSE* to buying a rear tire carrier. I’ve seen so many posts, I’ve done my research and I just have I’ve just one more thought.

In the day to day, how cumbersome are these to actually live with when it comes to accessing the trunk? I’m looking specifically at the terrafirma one, but I use the rear load space a lot, at least daily if not multiple times daily so I’ll need to regularly be unlatching the carrier and swinging it out of the way to access that area.

Is that going to be bothersome? I feel like “no but maybe”?

I don't understand the value of the rear tire carrier unless you are repurposing the space below for say fuel or water storage. Maybe I haven't thought about it from the right perspective...

For me it’s that my slightly upsized tire is an absolute PITA to get in place under the vehicle and getting it out from underneath is equally troublesome. I will be doing 5 tire rotations too so it won’t just sit underneath forever.

Additionally when off roading my truck it’s “fine” with the tire underneath and I haven’t needed to change a flat on the trail yet but in theory I would prefer it to be easier to change if needed.

Lastly.. I love the look and hey aesthetics matter to me

It's a PITA, I'll tell you. In fact, I find it such a pain that's it's easier for me to keep the carrier removed for daily life and only re-install it when "adventuring" beyond the mall. The note is that this is my daily commuter and family battle wagon in town. I then add two Traild tanks in the spare location on the winch when camping etc. IF it's not your daily, you're fine. Also, YMMV. Yeah it looks cool!

Ah my fellow Firenze. Ok so that’s exactly the kind of feedback I’m looking for and your use case mirrors my own. I use this thing every day and I’ve got one kid in a car seat with another on the way and I love the utility of it all.

I don’t think the Terrafirma one is removable so perhaps I’ll consider a roof mount option for intentional off roading trips.

Separately. I like seeing your LR3 style wheel arches, I was wanting to do that myself rather than the painted ones so that’s nice to see.

Get a flat with a full load of gear and you'll love having the tire carrier. Within my first week of ownership I was less than a quarter mile to my destination and the tpms light came on. Parked and heard a tire hissing, wheeled the floor jack under and went about swapping the old spare in. Pain in the backside to have to empty the back of the vehicle to get to the tire winch. I had the pleasure of doing this on a sunny day on a concrete driveway. I would hate to have to do that in the rain on the side of the road.

I've got the Terra Firma. I'm not blown away by the quality. It is only a year and a half old and show's a decent amount of rust. I've also had lot's of problems with the backup sensors. The tire was triggering the sensors and I eventually just hit some kind of error limit and it just doesn't work at all anymore. I welded a plate onto the carrier to store the tire a couple inches higher to try and fix it, but by the time I got around to that the system had already given up. I also added a zero fitting to the pivot point.

I got a Jerry can carrier from eTrailer that is meant for Heeps. This was all part of my plan because I have a piece of equipment that uses diesel and that stuff stinks.

If I were to do it again I'd probably just go to the steel bumper kind of setup.

Abram said:

Ah my fellow Firenze. Ok so that’s exactly the kind of feedback I’m looking for and your use case mirrors my own. I use this thing every day and I’ve got one kid in a car seat with another on the way and I love the utility of it all.

I don’t think the Terrafirma one is removable so perhaps I’ll consider a roof mount option for intentional off roading trips.

Separately. I like seeing your LR3 style wheel arches, I was wanting to do that myself rather than the painted ones so that’s nice to see.

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Yeah not sure about terra firma. My setup is a custom fab deal welded into the Tactical 4x4 bumper. I believe we used 4xInnovations mount which is super stout. It allows me to just unbolt the one large bolt holding the hinge in place and pull it all off. If we're the same, schlepping our kids' crap in and out of the back, spending time in parking lots and soccer, then I do think you'll find it annoying. But, what about one of those fancy hitch-mounted carriers I see now? That's not a bad option either.

The Lr3 arches are great. People are split on it being a downgrade, but I think they hold up better overall.
If we're ever in each other's territory, Firenze MEET! LOL

Terra firma is removable, there's one bolt in the bottom that holds it down. If you do go with the tire carrier, don't forget a wheel lock.

Yes please do! I’m down in Orange County.

I’ve seen the hitch mount ones and I did think it was interesting but I was worried it would hang too low off the rear end kind of ruining the departure angle. I already came REAL close to scraping that back end just this weekend lol.

scapistron said:

Terra firma is removable, there's one bolt in the bottom that holds it down. If you do go with the tire carrier, don't forget a wheel lock.

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Oh! That’s great to know I wasn’t aware of that.