Hammer Hangers® by Archive Garage 2005-2023 Tacoma Shackle Hangers

I never dropped my stock hangers on a rock, yet they still bent from rough dirt road driving in Baja with a heavy load — a wedge camper with a full interior build, in my case, which puts me right at GVWR for the rear axle. I’m the second person I know this has happened to without rock contact to the hangers.

 

I’m also in your boat — I’m not wanting to relocate my spare right now, so I’m installing the hangers now, and maybe a crossmember at a later time.

 

Just out of curiosity, what's the reason for not wanting to relocate spare?

Eventually I'll add a rear bumper spare tire swingout, but until I feel like dropping $2k or up I'll probably tether the spare the front of the bed. That said, this option lowers your beds carrying capacity.

 

Mostly the cost. I want some larger tires and -38mm offset wheels to help with clearance with an archive relo kit. I could just put the ugly spare in the bed with a strap like this https://www.macscustomtiedowns.com/...tire-y-strap/2-in-twisted-snap-hook/p/123933/ but I think im going to wait until I buy nice new wheels and tires then relocate it. Also losing a big portion of the bed isnt in my best interest at the moment.

 

Yeah, pretty easily so. If you still have your spare in stock location, I would wait on the crossbar IMO.

 

Yeah that checks out. I also have a truck bed camper top so it will be hidden for me.

 

Does an aftermarket bumper add rigidity to the rear part of the frame where you don't need a crossbrace?

 

No, not any more than the factory hitch/bumper.

 

Great question.

 

100% agree. stock bumper is plenty rigid, I bet some aftermarket reduce rigidity

Having no bumper at all will reduce rigidity

 

Lots of reasons:

First, a tire swingout is heavy, and I’m already at or near GVWR with my camper and interior buildout.

Second, relocating the spare raises your center of gravity, which is not good for offroad driving, and I’m already top-heavy with a camper.

Third, I sometimes urban camp en route to my destinations, e.g. at rest stops, in parking lots, or on quiet side streets, and leaving the swingout open while I am in my camper (so I can exit) is not ideal.

Fourth, I also parallel park in the city on a daily basis, and a swingout increases my vehicle length and requires that I relocate my rear camera if I want it to still be functional.

Fifth, swingouts exacerbate frame flex on the rear of the truck where the frame is weakest. Among other issues this introduces, it forces my (aluminum) camper to flex in ways it wasn’t meant to, in order to keep up with the twisting of the bedrails. I already have enough of a problem with this without a swingout.

Sixth, swingouts are expensive, and I have other upgrades I want for my truck instead that really improve its offroad performance.

Seventh, I am running 33’s and I don’t plan to go larger; I can still fit a 33 under the bed.

 

I got a 34" in between hangars. Minor modifications to fit, maybe 5 minutes with an angle grinder. I also use my bed for work daily and don't want my full size spare stolen out my truck which is way too easy to do locks or not lol.

 

What rear bumper is that and what springs are you running?

My Deavers moved my axle back an inch, and my rear BAMF bumper takes up more real estate under the bed, necessitating that I deflate and ratchet-strap my 33” spare in place so it doesn’t drag the differential during suspension compression.

 

All good reasons - I appreciate your in depth response. One thing I didn't consider is the increase of the trucks center of graphic frame flex. I'm curious if anyone with long-term experience with a swingout has noticed these issues.

 

Someone posted a video awhile back to TW showing how much the bed can twist with high-clearance bumper and swingout. I don’t know if it creates an issue of concern though, if you are not running a camper or a shell.

In my case, the flex broke a weld on my camper. This was without a swingout, but on some extremely uneven terrain that I probably errantly navigated with too much speed.

 

I feel like I should circle back to say: if you relocate your spare tire AND run the crossmember between the Hangers, the bed twist MIGHT be a non-issue. ???

I can only say that relocating the spare tire to a swingout by itself will almost certainly increase the twist.

 

Gotcha. I've got a camper top as well, and I added bed channel "stiffeners" hoping this will prevent flex. https://caliraisedled.com/products/...u0_WX9-A-F8e-0te57KvKl9tq3_p3f5BoC14cQAvD_BwE

So, we'll see.

 

On the first reason, a swing out tire carrier can use up 400-500 lbs of leaf spring capacity. It is so easy to get these trucks to 1,500 lbs added to rear axle weight

 

I use those. They are helpful for their own reasons but they don’t do anything for frame flex. Also, (in hindsight), I’d recommend the Total Chaos ones that reach up higher inside the bed.

 

It's the warfab hc bumper, and dobinsons +2" springs. I swear these dobinsons are ridiculous, they are not my limit my 12" shocks are lol. I only went this way based off Eric's recommendation and it has been sweet. But now I need to get something longer lol