Poor Man's Spare Tire Mount...

For those of you like me who can't justify $300 for a fancy roof rack, but yet want to get a (heavy) spare tire mounted securely to the roofrack, I present the Poor Man's Spare Tire Mount. Maybe a few other people have already done this but I haven't seen any yet.

What I did was take the stock roof rack crossbar and get horizontal mightmounts for it. I then got 6" bolts of the same thread pitch as the mightmounts, ran them through the mightymounts, and then ran the bolts through two lug-nut holes in the wheel. From there I placed two fender washers over the lug nut holes and cranked wing nuts down.

http://www.4x4lo.com/voy/spare_tire.jpg
(Note the size Schlud...since you didn't believe me at first :D )

This setup is very secure, and an inexpensive way to mount those 100 pound tire/wheel combinations that some of us have more securely than just ratchet tie-downs.

Total project cost: $20.

This is the back profile shot of how the spare sits.
http://www.4x4lo.com/voy/spare_tire2.jpg

Of course most of the people on *this* board don't care, since they too went in on the KMA fiasco (and got burned a lot more than I did), but perhaps this info will help somebody else out.

Oh, and MT takes partial credit, I was brainstorming over the MAXC list one day and he and I worked out the details in a phone call.

Nice idea. Keep an eye on those mightymounts. I saw Carltons sliding around with his roof rack at Moab last year.

100lbs could cause some shifting when offroading.

Damn those tires are big.

So far I've had no problems w/ the spare moving around, but I've only gotten a chance to wheel twice since I moved it up there.

I used a second nut to really crank down on the mighty mounts, but I will check on it. I'm positive it's a more secure (and cleaner) setup than ratchet tie-downs though.

Um, I'm glad you wrestled that badboy up onto the roof! Some of us would end up falling on our backs and having the 100 lb tire land on our face! :(

Otherwise, it looks good and the price is right. :D

That's the kind of idea I've been looking for! Thanks for the info gothamist. I'll be heading to the hardware store tomorrow so I can do the same thing.

Now I've just got to upgrade the spare to match the BFG KO's I've got on the truck so I don't look like such a wuss with that stock spare up there. :D

Originally posted by Schludwiller
Damn those tires are big.

Ditto.

Originally posted by gothamist


Oh, and MT takes partial credit, I was brainstorming over the MAXC list one day and he and I worked out the details in a phone call.


"Partial credit" ??? You've got some nerve, buddy. It was my idea.






:monkeypis

Damn that rig be phat dude! Do you think the crossbar is strong enough to take the pounding that the extra weight will put on it? Just curious.

Clifford dwarfs that CRV next to it! HAHAHA!

Originally posted by Aquamander
Damn that rig be phat dude! Do you think the crossbar is strong enough to take the pounding that the extra weight will put on it? Just curious.

Clifford dwarfs that CRV next to it! HAHAHA!

That is a lot of weight on those plastic crossbraces. that's why FSR went with the U-bolts for his roof rack on the main bars.

Should be interesting. We'll see what happens right?:eek:

It's not ideal, but I have the second crossbar supporting the leading edge of the tire, so under hard breaking most of the load of the tire weight gets transferred to the second crossbar. It's been up on top like that for about 6 weeks, so far so good...

If anything breaks I'll let you know...but as it is I can't think of a better way to mount a tire up there securely (apart from dropping money on a roof basket.)

You could put two crossbars close to each other. Each bar getting one of the bolts for your tire. That way the weight would be distributed a bit more.

Honestly though, I'm not worried. The thing is really quite stable, shaking the tire shakes the truck...


What's kind of funny is that by cranking down hard on those wingnuts, I force the second crossbar to take some of the weight, because the tire bulges enough from the rim that the sidewall never loses contact w/ the second crossbar.

Oh, and BTW...I've gotten it up there twice by myself, and have since vowed never to try w/out a second person helping again. It's pretty hard to hold the wheel above the bolts and line it up properly, so if anyone else tries this w/ a non-stock spare I advise getting help.

Yup. Toejam got some scratches on his truck when the tire fell back down as he tried to get it up there.

Those SSR's aren't light.

Yikes! Those racks aren't cheap! I checked out DPG Offroad $265.00 is a lot to spend on a rack, but I think I will have to go that route. If I load up all my gear ie; caving/climbing gear, or all the supplies I use for cycling like my toolbox and bike repairstand, or even worse, my diving gear... It usually leaves little or no room for my camping equipment. I got too used to packing up my Suburban. Dondi (my wife) and I are in the process of reconfiguring all of our stuff to make it fit in the X. I think if the spare were the only issue I probably would do the same as you did Goth.

As I said, if I had the spare cash I'd love to drop $300 on a cool roof rack, but I don't, so I won't, at least not yet.

Damn this whole paying for rent, food, and other hobbies...:rolleyes:

Originally posted by Aquamander
Yikes! Those racks aren't cheap! I checked out DPG Offroad $265.00 is a lot to spend on a rack

You think that is expensive? Check out the price on a Con-Ferr, Arb, or Wilderness rack!

I spent $235.00 for a Con-Ferr 4' wide by 5' long 4" sides welded porthole rack. I made my own spare tire holder for it. One of the things I am saving for is the floor kit (another $75) and their spare tire holder (again $75) But I got ALL kinds of room to play with now

ChrisC saved some money by building his own floor for the ConFer

yup I saw his, thought about going that route too, but by the time I got the bars, drill bits, millage to get it all, and put a few hours into doing it I would have spent real close to the same amount as just getting the pre-made floor.

Or even worse...Kaymar racks. Damn... about $800 for a rack!

Originally posted by wqbang


You think that is expensive? Check out the price on a Con-Ferr, Arb, or Wilderness rack! :bloated: