Geo Tracker Jerry Can & Farm Jack Adapter

I fabbed Blue Bomb's jerry can carrier where the spare tire was, using 16" x 14" x 3/16" A36 steel, and zero new holes drilled in the Tracker. This is the story of what I did.

Geo Tracker Jerry Can & Farm Jack Adapter Steps

No holes were drilled in the minitruck so that it can easily be restored to its original state. Not wanting to bolt a steel plate directly touching the painted metal of the tailgate, I acquired a couple of Unistrut P1047-EG "U" Shaped Connector Brackets off of eBay to hold the plate out 1-5/8" from the top bolt holes of the tire carrier on the door. The door curves inward at the top, so I had to have less of an outward spacer in the bottom two bolt holes. For that space, I got 3/8" nylon spacers from Home Depot and added them until the steel plate was fairly level. The two bolts I purchased to fit the existing tire carrier bolt holes were a bit long so I used 5 of the spacers to prevent the threads from bottoming out in the holes. The plate has a slight inward slant as a result, but that's no problemo for now. I may change the nylon spacers if they don't stand up tot hte shakedown test. I'm hoping they don't crush each other under shaking weight. Bahahaaa!

Spare tire delete: I relocated my oversized spare (235x75rx15) up to my new roof basket, fastened down by three J hook bolts through the lug holes. The spare tire holding bracket was also removed from the tailgate, but I re-used the top two bolts when I fastened my new brackets. The top two existing bolts were re-used to fasten two Unistrut U brackets that stick out about 1-5/8". This idea came to me because I needed to keep the steel plate away from the paint on the tailgate door. I used all of the four existing threaded holes in the tailgate door from the spare tire holder.

New Bracket Template: After attaching the Unistrut U brackets to the top two bolt holes, I cut out a rectangular A36 steel plate (16"x14") and rounded its corners. That steel plate was traced onto a 16"x14" cardboard to make my template. For the template I measured and poked the four holes where the spare tire bracket bolts would pass through and thread into the pre-existing holes in the tailgate door.

After the holes were poked in the cardboard, I placed the jerry can holder onto the cardboard while I marked the four holes of the jerry can braces.

The cardboard template was taped onto the steel, and I drilled where the 8 holes were marked.

I bolted the jerrycan rack to the metal plate, and then bolted the plate into the 4 spare tire rack holes.

There was space on the steel plate for future attachments, and I thought I might cut some MOLLE grid into it. What I actually ended up doing, is disassembling it all and relocating the jerry can holes over to the left edge of the steel plate where the gas can holder would not interfere with the steel plate's big bolts. That provided just enough space to add a farm jack rack on the right of the jerry can. Originally I relocated the jerry can over to the right, but when I held the jack rack up, I noticed it has a swinging right arm that opens to enable the jack to be placed in between it and the stationary left arm. This has to swing out to the right, so the jerry can has to be on the left. See description of Farm Jack Rack hinge in this image:

The 1-1/2" space between the steel plate bracket and the tailgate door is too slim to get my fist in with a wrench to tighten the nuts and bolts that hold the items onto the steel plate, so I disassembled it all and inserted rivnuts in the holes that are to be used by the jerry can holder. Now I can adjust the placement of the jerry can as needed in different carrying configurations: left aligned, centered, or right aligned.

All in all it was a simple and fun project, but I didn't factor in the weight of the jerry can full of 5 gallons of gas.

The original spare tires that came with these Suzuki Sidekicks and Geo Trackers weigh about 45-50 pounds including the tire carrier bracket, and I don't suppose the Suzuki engineers counted on much more weight than that hanging there. I have seen stories on the Interwebs about these minitruck tailgate door metal ripping and cracking with heavy mud tires hung on them. For that reason, many off-road adventurists store their muddies on the roof or on a aftermarket bumper what has a swing out tire carrier on it.

Geo Tracker Jerry Can & Farm Jack Adapter Weight

The overall weight of my jerry can & farm jack rack is 82 - 86 pounds wet.

• U brackets 1 lb
• steel plate 5 lbs
• hardware 1 lb
• jerry can older 2 lbs
• jack rack 5 lbs
• jerry can full of gas 33 lbs
• 48" farm jack 34 lbs
• locks 1 lb

I hadn't accounted for the extra 30 pounds of gas in the gas can. I've over-shot the assumed weight capacity of that tailgate by almost 2x. Since I already have the holes drilled for other placement of the jerry can, I think that when the can is full of gas, I should set it back into the middle and place the farm jack up in the roof rack. It'll be fine as is until I fill that gas can for the first time. I don't want to hit any bumps with all that weight hanging on the tailgate.

Blue Bomb can be restored to original at anytime.

3/16" steel plate
rounded corners
pre drilled holes
rivnuts installed behind all attachment holes
fits tin tops with spare tire deleted
powder coated
5 gal jerry can rack
farm jack rack

all bolts included

Prototype Cost $280

Parts (steel, jack rack, jerry can holder, shipping, tax) $175 + $75 hardware + $30 Powdercoat

2 @ Unistrut P1047-EG "U" Shaped Connector Brackets 1-5/8" bolted into two top tire carrier holes using original Geo bolts

2 @ 1-1/2" bolts + lock washers + nuts to attach steel plate to above brackets

2 @ 2-1/2" bolts + lock washers to thread through steel plate into bottom tire carrier holes

10 @ 3/8" nylon spacers for above two bolts

16" x 14" x 3/16" A36 steel plate

Smittybilt jerry can holder

4 bolts to thread into nutserts that are stuck on the back of the steel plate for above

Tailgate jack rack bracket for Jeep Wrangler JK came with bolts too long to thread into nutserts on back of steel plate

Photo Gallery - Prototype Jerry Can & Farm Jack Adapter

In the photo gallery below, you can see how I initially mocked up the plate adapter with cardboard to make the prototype of my Geo Tracker Jerry Can & Farm Jack Adapter. I previously deleted the tailgate tire carrier because the spare mud tire (235/75r/15) is too heavy to hang on the Suzuki thin sheet metal. I held the steel plate away from the paint of the tailgate door to prevent scratching during shaking and vibrating. The jerry can holder was first installed int he center of the steel plate, but that did not leave adequate space for the farm jack rack beside it. The second iteration