I think I actually have some of those laying around that my dad got from somewhere. I'll have to give that a shot, if nothing else they may be able to assist the shocks.

By the time I'm done with this, I might have to get a 1" lift shackle or shacks relocation brackets to get my slight rear rake back lol

 

Since I am deadset on making this, I'm going to go ahead and buy some "close assist" shocks that will hopefully be positioned like in my drawings and will pull the tire carrier up. I hope this will simplify the geometry of it a bit.

Thanks again for all of your input and ideas!!!

 

Well... how about a roll up garage door spring.. basicly it would work same way it does on door...but have the rack welded to the tube that has the spring inside.. .. could maybe mount it all.. then turn the INSIDE tube from the outside edge and tighten up till it acually starts to pull the tire up.. Lock it down.. and done..
Might work.. pretty sure it would acually..

 

these.. im thinking a tube over the spring..with the frame to tire carrier welded to it..
follow me ?

 

Thats actually a pretty cool idea.

 

I'll try that first, since I already have one of those springs, and the shocks are like $50 a piece. If the spring doesn't work, then close assist shocks ought to do it.

 

So out of curiosity, how will the garage door spring work? i dont quite see how it would "pull" it up?

 

u know what would work to hold it up? is like the clicking mechanism kind of like whats on those reclinable chairs at the beach to adjust how much they are angled. you would still have to lift it up but this would hold it once up. similar to whats on the back of these

 

The garage door spring will have a lot of spinning tension. It may or may not work, but I'll have to try it and find out.

 

im gona bet it will.. if you do it right... them garage doors can be very very heavy...

 

Not to mention the amount of tension you can get on those springs. The only issue I can see with it is the zero amount of leverage it would have, so it would really be lifting the entire 100lbs or whatever.

 

well if you do things right i see it helping lift tire greatly with minimal effort. and the shocks just hold it in place. When our garage door spring snapped, that door was bloody heavy. we weighed it and it was 200+lbs and after it was only about 30-45lbs once the spring was tensiond down.

 

I do think my idea of the garage door type spring set up would be the way to go. Minimal size depending on the spring size of course, and could be concealed into the roof rack with a little engineering. Or there are these spring assist trailer things that help you lift a ramp or gate on a trailer. Would mount on the left and right side of the roof rack...check those out.

 

Only one issue i can think of with my garage door spring idea, when you take the tire off, you would end up with an instant catapult...could be some interesting uses though, make a retractor and release and you could chunk stuff up and over your xj...haha

 

ok why don'tyoutake a look at a shock lift ladder rack for a van i've seen them that youset the ladder on them and give a little push and the just move right into position on top of the van. try looking at service vans. that might give you a better idea too of how to place everything.