Just thought I'd share this little piece I made today. Needed a good way to mount my spare up top without using a crank strap.

I was looking at the factory spare tire holder and noticed that it was a piece of threaded 3/8" steel with a little plastic cup and a big wing nut thing. I do hvac work for a living and we use 3/8" all thread a lot to hang various things. So I raided the truck, found some nuts and washers and a little piece of scrap al thread.

This is what I started with.



So i got out the trusty Milwaukee and got to drilling.






I tightened my bolts down, did a test fit, cut off my excess and here is what I have:









Pretty sturdy for what it is, and super easy to remove/install the tire. Ready for a long weekend of wheeling in the Red River Gorge.

 

I was thinking of doing something like this but where I live proline got sticky fingers and like to walk off with stuff easy to pawn. However you could probably drill a whole through the all thread and put some sort of lock so it can't be take off.

 

Nice work. I want to do something similar. Where did you find that plastic center to fit?

 

The little black cup and wing nut thingy originally held my spare tire in the back. Might try a junk yard or possibly post up a want to buy ad. Jeep dealership may even have something like it too.

 

What part of louisville you from ?

 

I live in crescent hill.

 

Good idea but the bar it is mounted on is insufficient. During an emergency stop, the washer will pull through. If a bigger washer is used, than the bar will likely break.
I suggest using a strap or two in addition to the mount.

 

^^^^^^^what he said. Unless that's steel that the rod and washer are bolted too, anything else will wear through in time especially with bump, potholes and trails. Better off getting a strap down for safety. Don't wanna kill a family of nuns or something

 

Nice job on the mount, but hate to pile on the strength of what its attached to will not hold up. It needs to be steel of some kind to hold that much weight from flopping around when it breaks.


I have a custom made rack with an expanded metal floor in it and when I had my spare in it I had a 6" wide piece of 3/8" flat bar 16" long with a hole in the center for the bolt. It added strength as well as distributed the load across the rack. I didn't have it up there long as it was a real PITA to get it loaded/unloaded, got a swing out rear bumper the only way to go.

 

I will add, there is an actually mount that has the same concept of threaded rod, but its attached to steel. it has a hole in the rod to put a lock on it.

 

I was going to say something about locks, all they do is keep honest people honest. In most cases locks cause more damage than what the item is worth being protected.


A thief's favorite tools are a good screwdriver, bolt cutters, hammer they want fast and quick.

 

I was a little skeptical of the strength of the whole setup myself. It has a big thick washer on the bottom but like you guys have pointed out, it's not attached to steel.

However, Im pretty confident that an emergency stop isn't ripping the wheel off. A rollover maybe, but not a hard stop. I do like the idea of putting some steel down as a reinforcement though.

I have a big thick net that's gonna cover the whole rack once it's filled with firewood too. That may or not give you guys some piece of mind haha.
All in all, I love how over engineered most of you guys run your stuff. This setup will have to do for this weekend though. Thanks for the input and the compliments.

 

I live in a relatively quiet neighborhood and my jeep stays at home a lot so locks really aren't abig priority. Besides, I paid like 25 bucks for my spare tire and wheel. Would probably have to spend more than that on a lock

 

<br /><br />The reason for us speaking up and voicing our concern is because we have tried this and seen what has failed or needs improvement in design. At least run a ratchet strap across the top of it as this will help alleviate extra stress on that bolt. Its not that we're trying to be jerks, its that we don't like accidents to occur. Take it or leave it but be safe.

 

With things like this, I compare it to drilling a new hole to relocate your trac bar. Yea it may be fine at first, but over time, the metal can weaken and the hole may wallow from the stress against the hole. Now you have death wobble. Same concept except now its not even steel. Easier to fatigue. Or even, bob smoked 40 years In his life and never got cancer, until the day he did bwahahhaahahahahha