Yes it's one of the options I'm considering (only my spare tire mount is not the SMA and doesn't have the A-frame, just a vertical pillar).
I'm primarily concerned with whether the hi-lift can go "nude" all year or if this will just rust it out very quickly.
Since I want to have it on hand all the time, if nude-external-carry will ruin it, I'll need to explore mounting solutions where I can use one of the hard cases like a
Jack Guard which would make things trickier since I don't have a roof rack yet.