Spare Tire in Bed

[dhood]

Has anyone ever tried mounting a spare tire to the inside of the truck bed? I thought about making it similar to an M37 set up. Wondering if the M37 mount will fit and how much modifications will be needed?

[Calpyro]

It sound like it would work. I have a M37 and the bracket and spinner are pretty simple. To get it to fit would not be that hard with basic fabrication skills.
I have been fabricating up the stock spare tire bracket to fit a larger tire this afternoon and come to the conclusion that the 1100R16 tire on the stock mount is heavy. I think that putting it in the bed would be easier.

[wrecker]

It really takes up a lot of room in mine and I don't like it. The mount was simple to make though. The bed isn't that deep compared to the height of the tire so the tire sticks up a whole lot. That's with stock sized tires also.

[rpgdeity]

I think its a matter of personal preferance as to where you want to mount your spare. For me, at least, the best place to put it was in the bed. I'm going to be putting other things under the bed in the space of the spare tire, and I'm running the 38" XL's so it would be hard to get it under there in the first place.

In the grand scheme of things, I purposely bough the truck box short so I could fit the tire where it is now, and I made sure that it would also work with the headache rack I built. You can't see it, but on the other side of the tire I have a hook that goes from one of the rim holes down to a mount to help hold it down. This is what I came up with, and I like it.

[Gwen]

I mounted mine in the bed. I used a trailer spare tire mount and a length of steel 2x4 that I had lying around from another project. I also still have the stock spare under the bed. I'd hate to be in a situatation where I need 2 spares, but... I've got 'em. Some people say that I've lost some vision in the rear but I've never noticed the tire while trying to see behind me. Plus, cause it takes up space, I get asked less to help friends move or haul anything.

[gimpyrobb]

I like the bumperette sticker!

[dhood]

It sound like it would work. I have a M37 and the bracket and spinner are pretty simple. To get it to fit would not be that hard with basic fabrication skills.
I have been fabricating up the stock spare tire bracket to fit a larger tire this afternoon and come to the conclusion that the 1100R16 tire on the stock mount is heavy. I think that putting it in the bed would be easier.

For me it would be. It's easier on my back to lift the tire on the bed than hunch over, place the tire on the mount, then heave it under the truck while bending over. I hate having slipped discs, but there it is.

[Calpyro]

I am going to put the spare under the bed, but I got to say that I need to get some mechanical help to get the 1100R16 hoisted up. The dam thing is heavy, plain and simple. I would hate to be on the side of the road and forced to get the thing down, let alone back up.
I have been toying with getting one of these from Snap-Off-Tools: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=92860
My concern is that the thing won't work a couple of years down the road. I would prefer a pure manual mechanical winch, but so far I have had poor luck finding one. Any thoughts?

[gimpyrobb]

Get a deuce spare winch.

[fisherman]

Just get a chevy spare tire cable hoist and mount it under the bed. Lift, lowering is very easy. I will be modifying the stock spare tire bracket to fit the new xl's after I get them mounted I will finish this Mod. I used a new cable spare tire hoist from a new chevy 1 ton. New was $80.00. About an hour and I had it all fabbed up. Nice easy mod to do and will be well worth the effort if I need my spare. Also I lobbed off the factory spare tire stops and shortened them. My spare will tuck nicely to the bottom of bed now. Extra clearance for my xl spare tire.