Same here, it's all refinished but it's just sitting in my attic at home, which is 550 miles away lol. Once school is out though, that's one of my first summer projects for sure.

 

550 miles is an acceptable excuse. Be sure to post pics, and wear rubber gloves if you use black silicone

 

Will do!

 

alright, ive got some questions for the guys who have already installed the tire rack. what size spare do you have on the back and did you do any reenforcments to the quarter panel? i have a 02 blazer ls and im looking to instal the tire rack with the weight of a 31, possibly 33. i dont really want to die of a heart attack one day because my panels warped. thanks for the help

 

Just curious, I havent put mine on yet. I was wondering why nobody reused the factory bolts? Is there a problem with them?

 

i didnt reuse them because the hardware i used i put thru the inner and outer sheet metal...so they were way to short.

also i used new grade 5 hardware and honestly its easier then trying to match up and refinish to reuse those stock bolts.

 

Look back on the previous page, at post #92 of this thread. That's what it would take to reuse the factory bolts on the carrier itself. You would also have to do quite a bit of cutting on the endgate to reuse the bolts that hold that part on.

Speaking of which...what did you use to cut that out, Matt? It looks brutal. I cut myself just looking at it.

 

You could use them. I matched the drill bit to the holes in the brackets on the carrier and the 1/2" bit fit perfectly. Plus, another guy on here said he had used 1/2" so I used that and drilled the holes before realizing that the stock bolts were narrower.

Also, they may be too short depending on how you decide to bolt it down.

I have a 31" tire on it and no problems yet. I've only had it on for about a week though so I don't really have any long-term info yet. The only reinforcement I have are several giant washers.

Some metal snip/shears. They weren't ideal but they worked. I tried a dremel first but the cheap battery powered one I have didn't have enough force to cut much. The ones I have are too large to work in close quarters so I ended up having to make tons of smaller cuts which led to all those sharp points

 

looks like im joining the club!!!!

 

congrats man, looks like a good install to me.
hope you enjoy this mod as much as i do.