My Spare Tire Mount

[Jerry Bleeg]

I thought I would share a success story of how I mounted my spare underneath my Tear. I used this Harbor Freight spare tire mount and bolted it through the floor of my trailer just behind the axle. I built on a HF frame with 1/2" baltic birch plywood floor (no 2 x 2 floor framing). I simply bolted this part through a 5/8" plywood scrap and my 1/2" floor using 4 Carriage bolts. The spare (not shown) is attached to the mount with the provided lug bolts and nuts. It really was not much trouble to get the tire up into position using my knee and one hand while the other finger tightened the lug nuts. It's rock solid and out of the way. This mounts works for HF's 4 lug and 5 lugs tire, which means it would probably fit many none HF tears out there provided you use a 12" tire as your spare (for those with larger tires sizes, think Emergency donut tires you see on today's cars - they get you to a tire store for repair)
I have 10" of ground clearance under my spare, which is the clearance of my axle.

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=haul+master+spare+tire+mount

[Kharn]

I would use anti-seize on the threads and contact area between the rim and plate. I would consider break-away/hollow bolts so if you do hit something, the bolts will shear and allow the assembly to fall away rather than tear through your floor.

[Woodbutcher]

I am just at this point now. I'm going to check this out. There is room between the frame rails to tuck the tire up tight to the trailer floor. Thanks for posting this.

[Woodbutcher]

I am just at this point now. I'm going to check this out. There is room between the frame rails to tuck the tire up tight to the trailer floor. Thanks for posting this.

[bdosborn]

I did the same thing on the teardrop only I bolted the tire right to the floor.



It tucks up into the frame rail so there's less chance of knocking it off.


Bruce

[Woodbutcher]

Bruce, what did you use to bolt it to the floor?

[bdosborn]

I think I used a 3/8" bolt, with a recess in the floor so the bolt didn't stick up. I did not use carriage bolts ( I don't use them, they always turn when I tighten them ). I reinforced the floor like Jerry did so the recess didn't weaken the floor. Double nuts on the bolt to make sure the bolt doesn't come loose. Then I used wing nuts to bolt the tire on. I was a little nervous that the wing nuts might come loose so I used a nylon tie through the wheel spokes to make sure they couldn't turn.

Bruce

[bdosborn]

You should always have 3-4 threads coming through nylocs when they are tightened otherwise they can come loose. The bolts on the right are good, the bolts on the left are too short.

FWIW,

Bruce

[CarlLaFong]

Somebody always has to be the naysayer, so here goes.
The mount is a bit redundant. It would be better to bolt the spare, as BD did, without a separate mount. It tucks up higher. Also, the long mount is going to allow the spare to bobble around while traveling and, possibly, crack the wood.

[crttaz]

Why I plan a drop box between the frame rails to store a spare and other misc items.

Lay in mud once under a pickup to drop a spare tire down and you'll see why.

[CarlLaFong]

You can also do as I did on my Stude pickup, that I built a few years ago. Go to the Pick A Part and get the spare tire mount off of a Datsun/Nissan pickup. Other small trucks probably have them also. It is a small gearbox with a chain hanging from it that goes through the center hole of the wheel. The gearbox mounts to the frame. Stick the jack crank handle in the fitting on the box and the spare cranks up or down, pretty as you please. I think I paid 5 bucks for mine.

[Kharn]

Great idea, don't forget to lower/raise it every few months at home so the mechanism doesn't freeze up.

[Breytie]

Please forget the breakaway bolt idea. I had a trailer spare tire come at me in the past. Not fun and very dangerous.