Spare Tire Storage

[vt_maverick]

The pulley system sounds like a good Idea. Always wanted to do something like that for a cargo box, otherwise, you're right, it ends up staying up there all the time. I once thought that the amount of extra gas that I end up spending, far exceeded the cost of the cargo box. My problem is before building a pulley system, I need to build the garage to attach it to.

+1 - I have a garage but the door opening is too short to allow a roof mounted spare to pass under.

I believe I have Tone's hitch (installed by the PO) and never put any tongue weight on it, but what's the problem? I know I won't break a hitch by stepping on it , but does it bend or break the cladding or the fiberglass skid plate? I'm glad this came up, because I was ready to order the step hitch from e-trailer.

The issue is bending not breaking, and it doesn't affect the cladding or skid plate. The problem with Tone's hitch is that it's attached to the last cross member (or bumper bar I can't remember) and not to the frame rails. Therefore excess weight causes the cross member to twist, as opposed to a normal tow bar which would push down on the frame rails to which it's attached.