At the moment, I've got my 285 strapped down in the back, but it takes up a bunch of room- not much space for groceries in the back. I'm tempted to ride around without a spare in-town, and only throw the spare in when doing trail rides. I can patch most punctures, so it'd have to be a serious blow-out for me not to be able to repair the tire. Having to move the tire out of the way every time to get in the hatch seems like a real pain....

 

Moving it out of the way would be a real pain, but I rarely put anything back there as I mostly put stuff in the back seat, so I guess it boils down to personal preference and how you use your cargo area most often.

I too was thinking about riding around town without a spare and just throwing it in for trails, but since I don't put anything else back there either, I figured what the heck.

 

That's a great idea and could work well. I'm thinking about a version that would hold two gerry cans and a hi-lift. I'd keep the spare undernearth - my 32" MTR fits fine. Don't some folks fit 33s underneath as well, even with the receiver?

I wonder if it could be designed so the rear hatch could be opened with a dual-gerry/hi-lift mount attached (but empty)?

i hope you don't mind the chop job:

 

I'm working a hinge for it.... The problem so far is... The hinge puts a lot of play in the tire. It will hold a high lift and one water can now I just didn't have them on for the picture. I will work on it this weekend and hopefully figure something out.

 

I was searching for something and came across this. I wanted to see if anything more ever came of this idea.

 

This is what I did awhile back.......I didn't like it for the fact that it was a pain to lift up and down, for someone who rarely lowers there end gate or runs with the top off it would work great, for the price it's definatly a good alternative to a swing away.

http://www.printcraftpress.com/v-web...4runner_corner
http://www.printcraftpress.com/v-web...unner_back_003

 

are you still making them?