New TeraFlex Tire Carrier Accessories Holder

[Timmy]

Finally got my new Teraflex accessory mount put on the my tire carrier. I also ordered the Rotopax universal mount so I could carry two rotopax on it. I'll probably only carry both of these when I'm out on the trail. Around town I may only put the gas can on. I'm also planning on installing some cube lights on the Rotopax mount so I can have a work light behind the Jeep. This Teraflex carrier can also hold a hi lift jack, but as can be seen in my other post, I decided to mount my hi lift up at the front.

I'm thinking of trying to install a little water spigot for the white water can so that you can just come up and turn the spigot on to fill up a water bottle, wash off your feet, etc. I was trying to figure out how to do this and then I came up with the most brilliant idea. I'll have to show some pictures of it when I'm done. For now, here's some pics with both Rotopax on it.

I know I've said it before but it's worth mentioning again. One of the reason I use the Teraflex tire carrier is because it allows me to keep the spare tire incredibly close to the back tailgate and also keep it as low as possible. The tire carriers I've seen that come off the bumper and stick way out sure look cool, but man, that can add like another 1 foot on to the back of your Jeep and reduce rear visibility just that much more. The ability to add their accessory mount on just makes it that much more valuable for me.

[Timmy]

I added on a spigot to my water can and also some rear backup lights.

I kicked around a lot of ideas for the spigot. Most everyone that has tried this has tried to put the spigot directly out the current fill/pour hole. When I bought some spigot stuff to test out this idea, it was DUMB. I had this big ugly looking thing protruding out the back that stuck out further than anything else on my tire and just looked like something waiting to be torn off, broken off or whatever else. I ended up settling on a design where I drilled a hole in the Rotopack and then installed it on the side between my 2 gallon water tank and my spare tire. Because it's black you can hardly see it and it's tucked in so well that it would take a pretty unique hit from me backing into a tree or something to even touch it. I wouldn't be surprised if most people walking by wouldn't even notice it.

Spigot attached to tank


On the spigot, I kept looking all around the hardware store as there were tons of options. I ended up settling on using sprinkler system gear as it allowed me to add in a little stopper that I can use to plug the bottom of the outlet of the spigot so that dust and stuff doesn't get up in there. Also, it acts as a backup to prevent water from coming out if the spigot handle is accidentally turned for any reason. The other nice thing about the sprinkler system parts is that it's all black, so it helped hide it really well.

Showing the little screw-in stopper to plug the end of the drain when not in use.


Showing the spigot turned on and water coming out.


Then, I added a stopper plug to the top of the Rotopax so that you could actually USE the spigot without it getting stuck due to lack of air inlet. Also, this provides a very convenient spot to fill up the can without having to remove it and turn it over to fill it up via the factor fill/pour hole. Now I can just fill it up while it's mounted to the Jeep.

[Timmy]

Next up I added some work lights. Already had some older cube lights that I had painted with the same paint as I used on my rims, so they were just in the cabinet ready to go! I didn't really get a chance to position them yet and they aren't wired in just yet. I still need to figure out a good control solution for these. I'm thinking of installing an switch-pros sp8100 to control my exterior lights plus any other fun toys I might want to add.






All told, it was good fun to put this together. I'm not sure my spigot gasket is going to hold water real well. As I was selecting parts I grabbed a little bit of everything. When I got home I found only a certain size part would fit through the existing fill/pour hole of the Rotopax, and for unknown reasons other than I probably drank too much wine, I drilled a 1" hole in the Rotopax instead of a 3/4" or 13/16" hole. So... that meant I had to cover up the hole with a big gasket just to get the hole covered completely and locked in. As such, I expect this one is going to leak at some point and I'll need to buy another Rotopax water can and redo this project. Sucks, but hey, I didn't see anyone else with a solution like this so I was in un-charted waters. It's bound to happen that you'll botch an install when you're wingin' it (and drinking.)

One other thing I noticed is that the Rotopax can hardly be seen from the rearview mirror. I can see just a tiny part of the top of the red Rotopax and that's it. I'm very glad about this because I am very protective of what little rearview visibility I have (which I will argue I probably have more visibility than just about any other person running 37" spares.) I haven't had a chance to drive now that the cube lights are on. I'm sure I will be able to see those and they will impact rearview viewing but I just don't know how much yet.

DOPE!!! I get to go update my signature with new stuff... Bahaha, that's like the best part!

Hope you guys found this useful.