339K&Counting

My 1992 project to be a DD does not have a spare tire holder. Looked online - no luck. Went to a few yards - no luck. No time to build. I've searched the forum and saw Wannadiesel pics and very stout holder Sortie had made.
Has anyone used a 2nd gen hanger? If so any pics? I looked at 2nd gen in yard and the hanger is attached to cross member that looks to welded in or pressed or ?? No bolts.
So looking for source of 1st gen holder or how to use 2nd gen
Thanks

bobva

Datsun & toyotas used under frame mount winches that you raised and lower your spare on a chain though a slot in the bumper. Very easy to put on most any truck.

Crossy's son

I have a GM truck winch I need to put on my truck. Haven't got around to it though.

The stock spare tire carrier is noisy and a pain to use, and a class 5 hitch interfers with it. then you can't tighten it all the way and it rattles

339K&Counting

Thanks guys
Bobva, which toyota or datsun models? My 80 ish toyota van have a cradle that is cranked up / down using a bolt that goes through the floor near the tailgate. That cradle is prob too light for truck tire
Cheers

bobva

toyota I cant say for sure and to tell you the truth it could have been a mazda Im not a toyota fan.

datsun nissan 1980 till today. It started with the 720s.

I like Crossys son idea of the chevy it might be a longer chain.

Crossy's son

It uses a cable thing and has a little piece of metal on the end that fits to the hole in the center of the rim. Ithink you'll have to drill a hole in your bumper though next to the license plate, in order to get at the crank.

93-12Smoke

My 91 and 01 Toyota trucks had the same cranks. Held my 33" mud tires just fine.

jimbo486

What does the factory spare tire mount look like? I think I may have one from my '91.5.

339K&Counting

Thanks for the info
Crossy's son,
What year GM truck should I look for in the yard? It sounds like the system on my never to be forgotten 96!
And 93-12Smoke, thanks. I'll look for toyota trucks around those years.
On the 92 I;m working on, it looks like you would need to weld in a cross member so you can attach the winch.
And I sold my welding gear - thought I'd wouldn't need it!
Cheers

93-12Smoke

The Toyota ones use 3 or 4 bolts to a cross member. May have a couple in my bone pile as I ultimately removed them from my trucks.

Boatnik

I made one out of a small boat trailer winch and a small pulley. I mounted the winch on a peice of stout angle and bolted it to the frame just ahead of the rear bumber. I hung the pulley from the cross member under the bed. A couple bolts hold the steel plate and eyebolt in the center of the rim. I did have to substitute the hand crank with a couple nuts because of clearance issues but it goes up and down easy with a 7/8 inch socket on a breaker bar. It's been under there for about three years now and hasn't fallen off once.

Crossy's son

on a GM truck you wanna look at any 88-98 style fullsize truck or suburban, or even a tahoe.

BILTIT

I have one i just pulled out of my 91.5 but too far to ship i would think. I can try and get a pic of it tomorrow though.

Jim Lane

Here is how the spare tire is mounted under my truck.

First you need to know that this is on a Dually and the rims are both offset and heavier than for a SRW counterpart so the although the rim mounts the same way on the carrier the topside may well contact the tire instead of the rim.



This J-bolt would normally be turned around but because I have my Class-VI hitch mounted to the frame rails for now it needs to be this way for the end of the bracket to fit.



Not the safest way but this is the only way it will fit.

Since I have never had to use my spare tire since I have had my truck the only time I had to look at it was when I had the spare tire swapped when I bought new tires and then it took the tire monkeys an hour to try and get it back under the truck.



I am going to take the holder down and cut off the end with my sawzall at the same angle as the frame rail so I can use it back in the factory position, I will also MIG weld a large thick flat washer to the end where the bolt hangs through for reinforcement.

At least it does not have the suicide slot like all of my Chevy trucks had that drops the spare tire on your head when you are under it trying to tighten it with a screwdriver.



This shows the pivot on the drivers side, this needs to be adjusted to compensate for the size of your spare tire.

All of the holes should be already drilled on your frame rails



This shows how much interference the addition of a frame mounted hitch causes.

I know that I am not the only one that has this problem because this truck would not be worth much to most people if they couldn't tow with it.



Here the back side of the DRW rim is against the cross member, an SRW rim the tire would extend past the rim.

If you wanted to secure your spare tire you could easily weld a bracket that would lock over the cross member and lock through a lug hole using a good 1/2" shank padlock



Here is how you adjust for the thickness of the tire/rim, then you tighten up the jam nut.



In operation you are supposed to unfasten the bolt and loosen the tire in the carrier, soon you can drop the loose end onto the ground and slide the spare tire off and out from under the truck.

When you reload the tire under the truck you will have fun muscling the dirty tire back into place on the carrier and then lying under the truck you need to lift the tire getting it close enough to pass the end of the hanging threaded J-bolt through a small hole in the carrier so you can thread on the nut, all while dropping dirt in your eyes from the bottom of the truck, then you can crank up the nut and secure the tire/rim into the chassis.

Or you can do what most people do and throw it into the back of your bed and have the tire shop try and get it right.



Some important things:

Be careful if you ever air up your tire while it is restrained in the carrier, inflating the tire expands it and could create enough explosive force to do great bodily harm or death if any parts of the carrier should suddenly fail and you were under it.

Periodically you need to check the condition of the tire and carrier and make sure it is still tight, even if you just kick the tire and watch if it moves, I have seen many trucks especially Chevy's driving around with the spare tire loose wobbling around under the truck, also on several occasions I have watched the tire come loose, both times it became lodged between the back bumper and the pavement and vaulted the back of the truck up into the air, both resulted in multiple accidents as other motorist tried to avoid the bouncing spare tire.

With some modifications a carrier from a late model full size Chevy or GMC truck should be adaptable, I think Ford's had one that extended to make unloading the tire easier.

Back in the early 60's my grandfather a machinist designed a spare tire winch that lifted and secured the tire under the truck and was operated using a 1/2" square drive socket wrench inside the bed.

He applied for a poor mans patient and he showed it to many people at dealerships while he traveled across the US and Canada. Some said it was a good idea but most of them said why, the truck already has a carrier.

We had this on both our 1960 and 1962 C-20 and crossed the country many times and never lost the spare tire.

On the subject of cable winches, I have watched the guys at my local tire shop probably a half dozen times have to take a pair of cutters or a torch to the cable because the winding mechanism had jammed or the gear had stripped and not allow the tire to wind down.

I would be afraid to have my $400.00 seventy-plus pound tire held up by a piece of Chinese wire cable and pot metal gears.

So be careful.

Hope this gives you some idea of what's under your truck.

Jim

ofcmarc

I've always used the jack to hold the spare in place while setting the bolt to keep it up.