This guide will show how to modify readily available Jeep XJ rear tire carrier bumpers for use with the Delica L300. XJ jeeps have an almost identical rear trunk layout, width, gate placement and tail lamp placement are almost in the exact same location as the Delica. These older Jeeps have no shortage of aftermarket off-road parts. Oh ya, and those jeep parts are cheap!
We choose the EAG Bumper. This was mostly for weight, but price and function was also considered. Weight is probably the most important factor as the tire carrier sits past the rear axle (listed weights below exclude the weight of the spare). Too much load back there and you will have some serious sag on the stock suspension. We also don’t need a crazy heavy duty bumper for out application/use-case. The ability to adjust the placement of the spare tire is nice, as to not obscure visibility and the 3rd brake light too much.
The total cost of the Bumper, Shipping, Tax, and hardware was under $1,000.
Some Other Tire Carriers For The XJ
- EAG Steel Rear Bumper-171 lbs (this is what we are using)
- Smittybilt 76851 XRC- 250 lbs (holy crap that is heavy)
- Hooke Road- 158 lbs (thinner steel, looks more challenging to mount)
- Vijay Rear Bumper- 127 lbs (tire position is not adjustable)
- There are probably many more, This list limited to a <$1000 price.
1. The EAG Bumper can actually be run right out of the box with no cutting. However, we chose to trim ours to bring the bumper closer to the body and make it cleaner ascetically.
2. We trimmed the bumper to bring it 1.5″ closer to the body of the van. This looked nice, but was a bit too much. This made bracketing (discussed later on) more difficult. If you to plan on trimming, around 0.75-1″ would be better
A piece of 1.5″ bar stock was used to offset trace the contour of the van to ensure a perfect cut. Masking tape was put down as a marking surface.
3. Make the cuts on the main bumper and end portions. I needed to use both an angle grinder and reciprocating saw to complete the trimming. Paint bare metal once complete.
4. The bumper will need mounting brackets to mate to the Delica chassis. We used the original bumper bar mounting locations, step plate holes, plus the two large holes in the frame rails. 1/4″ plate was used for all bracketing/mounting. This should be more than sufficient for racks and towing a small trailer.
The supplied mounting brackets were chopped up to re-use the bumper-side mounts. These come with slotted holes and allow for fine tuning of placement both horizontally and vertically!
5. Mounts to the stock bumper bar were made using 1/4″ plate and the supplied brackets from Step 4. These had to be cut to exclude one of the four mounting holes since the bumper was trimmed 1.5″. This shouldn’t be necessary if only trimming 1″ per Step 2.
If you want to tow or use the bumper as a recovery point, the brackets should be tied into the frame rails (discussed later).
6. Next the 5 holes used to mount the original step are drilled into the bumper. Carefully measure and mark the location of the middle hole. Then use the step as a template and match-drill the rest of the holes.
The braces on the step had to be cut off to use it as a template. The holes are generous clearance holes to maintain adjust-ability.
7. Get some long m8 bolts and spacers to mount the upper portion. The spacers were taped together for easier install. They were then snuck in through the gap on top prior to final install.
8. Cut the welds off of the original mounting bolts on the tire carrier mount and hammer the bolts off. Then re-drill for the Delica bolt pattern. The carrier has enough room for 4 holes. I used studs to mount my spare, since they are $2 ea from the autoparts store (1992 Montero studs), the same size/thread bolts are $$$. Bar stock was then welded to each pair of studs to make a “stud-plate” for easy install.
9. The corner plastics were then trimmed to accommodate the bumper.
10. A license plate bracket was fabricated to clamp on with U-bolts. Wires are run from the tail light, across the swing-out to the license plate lamp.
10. To use this bumper as a recovery point of for towing, brackets that tie into the chassis frame rail are needed. Our van has a 17 gallon auxiliary fuel tank and wider revolver G-shackles which made bracketing more challenging and intricate.
One of the easiest points to piggy back for mounting is the rear sway bar bushing mounts. Slip your brackets between the bushing and frame, then get longer grade 10.9 hardware. Unfortunately, our auxiliary tank location does not permit use of these bolts.
We will be tying into the two through holes in the frame located above the sway bar. If you choose to tie into the sway bar mounting location, at least one of these frame holes should also be used.
Our brackets needed to be two pieces in order to install them without dropping the auxiliary fuel tank.
