Thule bike rack for KJ

MikeJ06 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 6:37 pm

Hello all,

I'm having trouble locating a decent spare-tire bike rack. I was looking into the Thule Spare-me rack but apparently they do not make it for an '06 Liberty

Any suggestions guys? I'd really like something that bolts onto the spare tire carrier like the Spare-me.

WoodysKJ · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 7:27 pm

Do they make it for other years of the KJ?

If they do then they just haven't updated their catalogue yet.

There is NO structural difference between an 06 and say an 04, 03 or 02 If one fits an 05-02 then it will fit the 06.

EDIT: The Thule Spare Me 963 WILL fit the KJ of any year. Only issue is the loss of the center cap to the spare tire.

Remove the spare, apply the mounting plate per the instructions and the bolt pattern of the KJ spare tire mount and reinstall the spare, tighten.

The install the rack it'self per the Thule instructions.

MikeJ06 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:27 pm

WoodysKJ wrote:

Do they make it for other years of the KJ?

If they do then they just haven't updated their catalogue yet.

There is NO structural difference between an 06 and say an 04, 03 or 02 If one fits an 05-02 then it will fit the 06.

EDIT: The Thule Spare Me 963 WILL fit the KJ of any year. Only issue is the loss of the center cap to the spare tire.

Remove the spare, apply the mounting plate per the instructions and the bolt pattern of the KJ spare tire mount and reinstall the spare, tighten.

The install the rack it'self per the Thule instructions.

Thanks a lot man. I'm not sure how I missed that but it helps a great deal!

MikeJ06 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:27 pm

WoodysKJ wrote:

Do they make it for other years of the KJ?

If they do then they just haven't updated their catalogue yet.

There is NO structural difference between an 06 and say an 04, 03 or 02 If one fits an 05-02 then it will fit the 06.

EDIT: The Thule Spare Me 963 WILL fit the KJ of any year. Only issue is the loss of the center cap to the spare tire.

Remove the spare, apply the mounting plate per the instructions and the bolt pattern of the KJ spare tire mount and reinstall the spare, tighten.

The install the rack it'self per the Thule instructions.

Thanks a lot man. I'm not sure how I missed that but it helps a great deal!

MikeJ06 · **Posted:** Sat Jan 19, 2008 8:12 pm

I went down to Halter's Cycles in Mommouth Junction today and bought the Thule Spare-me 2-bike rack for the spare tire. Installation went smooth and without problems.

If anyone knows the exact torque setting for the spare-tire bolts please let me know.

jeepmedic · **Posted:** Sat Jan 19, 2008 8:27 pm

I would recommend getting a hitch rack instead. It will cost slighty more, but will hold more bikes, more securely, and will take less weight off of the tail gate. The spare tire is heavy enough already.

Just my .02...

MikeJ06 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:37 pm

No hitch

The rack and bike combined weight less than 50 pounds or just at the 50 pound mark.

scoobysnax · **Posted:** Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:37 am

Keep in mind that the spare tire mount has a 50lbs max Including the spare tire, not in addition to it. The tock spare tire & wheel is already close to that max. I'm looking into a buying a hitch and then getting a hitch mounted bike rack for that very reason. Unless you got a slick road bike you have to figure you're adding over 20lbs with just one bike and the add the rack itslef (I would gues the rack is alomst 10lbs?) 2 bikes and you're probably over 40lbs. So with 2 bikes, the bike rack and the tire/wheel you could be over 80lbs? (I'm not certain what the tire and wheel weight but I think the tire alone is about 32lbs.)

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:24 am

I've used the Mopar piece for a solid year now and haven't noticed any problems with it or my tailgate. Besides if we weren't ment to hang bikes off of the tail gate [spare tire] than why does Mopar sell a bike rack that mounts right to the spare tire carrier to begin with? Not that I'm trying to be confrontational - I'm just stating my views on the matter.

Another opinion of mine about hitch mount....
Hitch mounted solutions are nice, but from my experience they get in the way. You can't open the gate unless you buy the fancy swing away designs which cost way too much. Plus you loose the use of your hitch so towing a camper / trailer / or boat becomes really tricky.

scoobysnax · **Posted:** Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:01 pm

I hear ya Sleeve, it doesn't make any sense to me either. But I just have this feeling that if I put a bike rack on the tire and then I had an issue with the tailgate they would not cover it if they knew I had a bike rack. But then I guess the obvious answer to that is don't tell them.

Does anyone have that Mopar rack he was talking about? Is there any fine print that says only suitable for a 5lb big wheel or a little kids bike? I'd love to know the answer to that one.

Also, to be honest, I doubt there would be any issues unless you used the bike rack a LOT and not just a few trips here and there. I go back and fort with this all the time and I need to make up my mind in the next few weeks before my first snowboard trip in March.

Do you need to remove the spare tire cover in order to use the spare tire rack?

jeepmedic · **Posted:** Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:10 pm

In my opinion, the spare tire rack would be fine for occasional use. Folks like myself, who use my racks daily, are better off using a roof or hitch rack. This would only be for REPEATED and frequent use of the spare tire tack. Then there are some people who have a bike alone that weights 50-60 Lbs, that may cause problems with FREQUENT use only...

just my .02.

Piker · **Posted:** Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:10 pm

I would never get a spare or hitch mounted rack. Getting to some trails requires gravels roads, which quickly coat my bike in a fine powdery dust and get into all the shifting cables and such. Get a roof rack.

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:37 pm

scoobysnax wrote:

Does anyone have that Mopar rack he was talking about? Is there any fine print that says only suitable for a 5lb big wheel or a little kids bike? I'd love to know the answer to that one.

Scooby, here's a link to the bike rack over at jparts: Liberty Spare tire carrier

There are 3 pieces to the unit. The mount secures itself between the tire carrier itself and the spare tire. Protruding through the center cap, where the main part of the carrier attaches and is stabilized against the spare tire. I can try to find some pictures of mine and post them up, but it won't be until late tonight.

Your point about usage is valid too. I think the longest I've had a bike on the back was a 4 hour trip up to the northern area of Michigan.

MikeJ06 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 22, 2008 11:01 pm

jeepmedic wrote:

In my opinion, the spare tire rack would be fine for occasional use. Folks like myself, who use my racks daily, are better off using a roof or hitch rack. This would only be for REPEATED and frequent use of the spare tire tack. Then there are some people who have a bike alone that weights 50-60 Lbs, that may cause problems with FREQUENT use only...

just my .02.

50-60 lbs? Yikes. What bike? My all mountain is 40 lbs and my "singletrack" hardtail is like ~30.

The Thule spare-me rack attaches to the carrier as well, and protrudes through the spare.

jeepmedic · **Posted:** Tue Jan 22, 2008 11:57 pm

There are some Walmart type bikes that are really heavy, and I have built "downhill/free ride" bike that are 50+lbs....The problem arises when the whole family places the "heavier" type bike all on the spare rack @ once. With 3 bikes you could end up anywheres from 60-120 lbs easily.

Just FYI based on 12 years working in bike shop..

dog_party · **Posted:** Wed Jan 23, 2008 3:19 pm

I use my Thule SpareMe all the time. I've had it on there during a 2-week vacation and had 2 bikes on it every day. No problems. I don't open the gate a lot when the rack is loaded though. It probably helps that I have a cargo shelf, so I can just flip the glass and have access to most stuff in the back without opening the gate. I don't think the loaded weight of the spare-mount rack is a concern when the gate is closed.

With a hitch-mount rack, you can't open the swing-gate unless you unload the rack (and maybe even remove it). So forcing yourself to keep the gate closed with a spare-mount rack is a push if listing positives and negatives of each system.

The only reasons I can think to use a hitch-mount rack instead of a spare-mount rack would be if you wanted to carry more than two bikes, or you had enough money to foot the bill for the uber-expensive swing-away hitch-mount carrier. Oh...and you didn't care about losing more departure angle.

As far as the Thule SpareMe rack goes, the mounting bracket simply slides in behind the spare and protrudes through the center of the rim. The rack attaches to this protruding bar. It's nice because it's short enough that, when the rack isn't on, I can put the spare tire cover on and you can't even see it. You only have to remove the spare the first time. After the mounting bracket is installed, you do not have to remove the spare tire to attach the rack.

I have no experience with roof-mount bike racks...that's where my kayak rack is.

MikeJ06 · **Posted:** Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:46 pm

jeepmedic wrote:

There are some Walmart type bikes that are really heavy, and I have built "downhill/free ride" bike that are 50+lbs....The problem arises when the whole family places the "heavier" type bike all on the spare rack @ once. With 3 bikes you could end up anywheres from 60-120 lbs easily.

Just FYI based on 12 years working in bike shop..

So how many customers would you say you've seen in the past 12 years with depressed (let's call it depressed) gate hinges, due to overloading the carrier? Just out of curiousity.

jeepmedic · **Posted:** Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:09 pm

None. I have heard of hinge problems over many years of CONTINOUS use only.

I was just offering advise, and everyone has made excellent points. We all know how all of us Jeepers like to over do things and purchase nice "toys."

Thule bike rack for KJ

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