Voyager Offroad - LR4 Tire Carrier

[Surfrider77]

Just curious if anyone has gone with this item? Ideally, I would love a Kaymar bar and carrier, but between the cost and the fact I dont like that it completely covers one of the tail lights, I am searching for alternatives.

This Voyager Offroad LR4 Rear Tire carrier looks to mount to the stock rear bumper with modification. My question is how much work is involved and how do people like the overall product. I have emailed the company for an instruction sheet to have a look myself, but 3rd party first hand experience would be nice to have.

Tire carrier in question:

http://www.voyagerracks.com/LR3_tire_carrier.html

Thoughts?

 

[Finlayforprez]

I spoke to someone who has the Voyager tire carrier and he likes it; however, he gave me a few words of caution:

1) His back-up sensors go off - despite his efforts (and he is very handy) to move them, etc., it still goes off. I think that will likely be the issue with any tire carrier.

2) This one was actually the deal breaker for me, he said he had to rebuild the latch and create a better spindle system. He said the hardware they sent was just not strong enough and he actually had the carrier swing open on the road. At that point, he fabricated a new spindle and latch system.

Overall, he liked the system, but said it was not strong enough for bigger, beefy tires like some of us have.

As for me, a friend of mine has a very nice (and extremely rugged) swing-away tire design that is awesome. He is currently putting one on another friend's LR3 and then I will take photos. He is building a dual swing away carrier, but may be open to other options. I am going with a steel bumper, but will likely have Tactical 4x4 fit their LR3 bumper to my LR4. They said they would do it if I drove down to Southern CA.

I almost bought the Voyager tire carrier, but did not want to have to rebuild any of the latching/spindle system. I have seen it in person on an LR3 and it's nice, but I can see that it could be a bit more rugged. I know my friend provided feedback to them, so not sure if they updated their design at all?

-David

 

[danrhiggins]

So why do you guys do these swing-out tire carries? As David knows I am not yet an LR offroader. Is it a problem to have the tire on the bottom? Is that due to size or does it drag when going off road? I have seen people with tires on their roof rack/basket. Wouldn't that work? I like the ability to be able to fold down and work from the tailgate. In fact, the primary reason I did not consider a couple of other vehicles was due to the "barn door". But some seem to like having the tire on the back. Maybe I'll be needing to change a lot more tires once I go off road? (I haven't had to change a tire in at least 10 years!)

 

[Finlayforprez]

So why do you guys do these swing-out tire carries? As David knows I am not yet an LR offroader. Is it a problem to have the tire on the bottom? Is that due to size or does it drag when going off road? I have seen people with tires on their roof rack/basket. Wouldn't that work? I like the ability to be able to fold down and work from the tailgate. In fact, the primary reason I did not consider a couple of other vehicles was due to the "barn door". But some seem to like having the tire on the back. Maybe I'll be needing to change a lot more tires once I go off road? (I haven't had to change a tire in at least 10 years!)

Hello Dan,

I am getting to your PM right after my meeting. The tire stowed on the bottom is fine for everyday driving, but it can become very difficult lowering the tire in an off-road situation. In addition, if the tire is a certain size/type, you have to air it down in order to fit. I would not want to have to lower it in certain situations/terrains - just not practical or safe. Plus, it definitely decreases clearance.

You can put the tire on the roof of the rack, that works fine, but they can be really heavy to get up there and then back off when needed. Sure, it works, but it is not ideal and a bit of a pain.

The swing-out tire carrier allows for much easier removal and storage, doesn't affect ground clearance, or increase the already terrible center of gravity when you have a lot of stuff on the roof.

I hope that helps!

Regards, David

 

[NASdiesel]

You can have any fab shop cut and re-weld the Kaymar tire carrier so that it does not block the light. I did this to mine.

 

[Finlayforprez]

You can have any fab shop cut and re-weld the Kaymar tire carrier so that it does not block the light. I did this to mine.

That is exactly what I would do!

I am still thinking I will go with the Tactical 4x4 rear bumper, since they expressed an interest in fitting the LR3 bumper to my LR4 at their shop. I will have them cut out rectangles for the lights - like on the Kaymar. I plan to have my buddy do my tire/jerry can swing away. I don't want it to block the lights.

 

[Finlayforprez]

You can have any fab shop cut and re-weld the Kaymar tire carrier so that it does not block the light. I did this to mine.

I probably asked this before, but does your spare tire trigger your back-up sensors?

 

[NASdiesel]

It does trigger them. I have not adjusted the aluminum reflector yet that the Kaymar comes with to prevent this. I'm waiting for my swing away to come back from sandblasting and powder and will try it out. The bumper by itself does not cause the sensors to go off, just the latch mechanism when mounted. At least that is what I noticed on mine.

 

[Surfrider77]

The voyager carrier does say they offer a high and low mount options to avoid sensor issues. However, it is worrying what you report about the lack of beefy latching / spindle hardware.

Even if I coughed up the cash for the kaymar, I don't have fab options (that I trust anyway) here in the Middle East.

Ugh.. Such a pain.

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[Surfrider77]

@Dan, all of these carriers still allow you to use the tailgate. The carrier will swing away and you can still open both halves of the gate unimpeded.

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