For those of you that don't follow them on facebook...
"Here's a sneak peek at an upcoming new product: the JK Spare Tire Carrier. As it is body-mounted, it can be used with the stock bumper, or any of ours or other aftermarket bumpers that don't have an integrated tire carrier. From afar it may look kind of similar to other products that are on the market, but when you get a chance to see it up close there are some pretty cool and unique engineered features to it, both at the hinge and latch side. We'll talk more about it soon, but you can check it out in person on the CA4WDC Sweepstakes Jeep, which will be in our booth at the Off-Road Expo."
"What a great response and a lot of questions asked about the JK Spare Tire Carrier we posted a sneak peak of this morning. Many of you wanted to see the latch side, so here's a look at it. Note the body-side of the latch is contoured to fit the curvature of the JK's body or the Crusher Corners. The carrier-side of the latch closes against a pair of CNC machined steel alignment pins to support the load of the tire, while the single latch only has to keep it shut tight to the body-side piece. To answer a few more of the questions that have been asked: It is designed to fit up to a 40" tire. The tire shown in the photos is a 37". We hope to have it in production and available for purchase in about a month, however as with any of our new product releases, that guesstimate isn't written in stone. Yes we are working on Rotopax mounts for it, although they may not be ready when the product launches. Target price is in the ~$850 range, without options such as Rotopax mounts. At this point there are no plans to produce a version of this for the TJ. Any other questions, feel free to post 'em!"
"Here's another shot of the forthcoming JK Spare Tire Carrier, plus answers to a few more questions that have been asked about it:
1. No, it does not require Crusher Corners. In fact it is designed to work either with or without them. If you DO use our Crusher Corners, you will need to trim away some material around the hinge cut-outs on the passenger side Crusher Corner, to clearance for the tire carrier hinges.
2. Yes you will have to drill holes in the body, on the driver's side, to bolt the latch housing on.
3. You should be able to trim and re-install the stock plastic hinge covers--we haven't done that yet but will try to do it soon and get a pic.
4. There are no plans for an aluminum version, nor do we have plans to add a stinger hoop to the top of it.
5. The price is simply a reflection of the costs involved plus a standard markup. We never strive to be the "cheap" alternative in any product category. It may look simple to some, but there is a lot of engineering and specialized parts that go into this, at both the hinge and latch sides.
6. Our lack of a TJ version does not signify our "forgetting about the TJ" or lack of love for it. Check out our New Products page and you'll see that 7 of the last ten new products we've introduced were for the TJ.
Any more questions, keep them coming! If you're seeing this post for the first time and have a question about this that you don't see answered here, please check our previous posts about this item over the last couple of days. Lots of Q & A's in both the captions and comments there"
"Here's a closer look at the hinge assembly on the JK Tire Carrier we will be releasing soon. Note the offset "cam" mechanism on the hinge bolt. This allows fine-adjustment of the tire carrier alignment so that its both easy to install and easy to adjust for any size/weight of tire. This style of tire carrier from other manufacturers has been notoriously difficult to install and get aligned properly. Typically, once you have them installed, the weight of the tire may sag the carrier enough to throw everything back out of alignment. With these upper and lower adjustable hinges, fine-tuning the carrier's latch alignment--regardless of the weight of the tire--is as simple as turning the cams until its perfect, then tightening them down. Also notice the stop-block to keep carrier from swinging all the way around once its fully open. In case you missed it, see our previous photos posted yesterday and today for more info about this product!"