New Concept for a Spare Tire Rack

Hi Guys,
Im asking your opinin of this concept, its a Spare Tire Rack for the inside of your Explorer. It would get mounted to the floor in the rear cargo area, along the side by the Subwoofer or if you don't have the subwoofer, your storage compartment. I was sick and tired of having my full-time spare(265/75R16 BFG AT ko) laying in the cargo area, so I stood it up and strapped it down to the 2 tie downs in the cargo area. The Tire just cleared the celing (I wouldn't try this with anything larger then a 265/75/r16). This is ok but I wanted something a little more sturdy. What do you guys think? Is it posible to mount it to the floor?

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List of materials:
2" Diameter Black Pipe
2" 90 deg Elbow
2" Mounting Flange
3 1/2" studs (from the auto parts store)
All 1/4" thk Steel plate Welded, and Threaded where is able to be done.


FYI, If anyone wants to make one, let me know and I will get you all the measurements needed. I have drawn this up with the help of some Expensive CAD Software.

 

[CBoug76]

Its All Done!!!

OK, Guys I have Done it!
Yes, I have an interior Spare Tire Rack.
There is only 1 drawback that I have found, you can no longer have your cargo cover shade.(I plan on looking into getting this back by shortening it someday.)

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Installation Instruction
Step 1
Remove carpet. (This can be done one of 2 ways: a) unhook the front edge that covers the jack handel arms, and peel it back, letting it hang over the rear bumper. b) Remove plastic threshold molding at bottom edge of rear opening, and remove the Entire carpet from the truck.)

Step 2
Remove both pasenger side cargo area tie downs.

Step 3
Remove screws that hold down plastic body panel on pasenger side of truck.

Step 4
Locate Spare Tire Rack Assemblyand place under the plastic body panel.

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Step 4
Notch plastic body panel around pipe, so that you can mount this as close to the outside as possible.

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Step 5
Drill holes to mount Spare Tire Rack Assembly.(Becarefull not to drill into Factory Spare Tire)

Step 6
Mount Spare Tire Rack Assembly with hardware, using a sealer on the underside of truck to prevent water from leaking in and rusting out your floor boards.(Silicone, RTV Sealant)

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Step 7
Re-Locate Cargo Area Tie Downs. using a screw driver and a hammer, punch a slot in the floor so that the tab of the tie down goes thru it. Then Drill 2 holes to bolt the tie down to the floor, and also seal with a sealer.

Step 8
Cut carpet to fit around pipe, and cut new holes for the cargo are tie downs to fit thru.

Step 9
Replace carpet.

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Step 10
Mount Spare Tire.

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[ok89]

WOW that looks really nice. How is your visibility when your driving? For the cargo area shade you can cut it where the spare is. For inspiration look at the J**p Ch*rok** cargo area shade.

 

[CBoug76]

Originally posted by ok89
WOW that looks really nice. How is your visibility when your driving? For the cargo area shade you can cut it where the spare is. For inspiration look at the J**p Ch*rok** cargo area shade.

Believe it or not, I can still see out my Rear Side windows. The Spare tire only cut dow visibility in the Rear hatch area. Its not bad at all. If i can, i will get the Digital camer back and take a Photo of what it looks like looking thru the rear view mirror.

The Problem with the cargo area shade, is that I blocked the other side where it mounts into the plastic body panel with the spare tire. so if I cut it shorter, I would have to cut the whole thing shorter. I would have like to have left it and just notched it out for the spare tires, but that wasn't an option.

 

[rockymntnhi]

WOW

Congrats , that came out Super nice ...... Have you thought about sellin' em' ??????? Bet you could . try and post a pic showin ' the visibility through the mirror please ....

 

[CBoug76]

If you can weld, then you should be able to do this for fairly Cheap.

Here is a Final list of parts.
4 - 1/4-20 flat head screws 5/8 long
1 - 1 1/2 Black Pipe "Nipple" 4" long
1 - 1 1/2 Black Pipe 14" long threaded on one end.
1 - 1 1/2 90 deg. Elbow
1 - 1 1/2 Mounting flange
1 - Steel plate, 8" x 20"x1/4" Thick
3 - Lug Nuts (from FORD)
3 - Studs (from FORD to mate with the Lug Nuts)
1 - 7" Round 1/2" Rubber
1 - 7" Round 1/2" Aluminum.

The Things in Bold print are avaiable at your local home store (Home Depot, Lowes)

The 7" Round 1/2" Aluminum is the hardest part to get(unless your in good with a machine shop). But if you happen to have a spare axel laying around, then I would suggest that you use this, that way you can cut the axle and weld the mounting flange right to it. Then Knock out 2 of the 5 studs and your Golden, or you can leave all 5 in there, but it would be over kill for just a spare tire. If you wanted to make this for Larger Tires then you would need to increase the lengths on the 1 1/2 pipes. If anyone wants to make this I can give them a drawing of the 7" Round 1/2" Aluminum plate, and possibly get them the 7" Round 1/2" piece of rubber.

 

[BislamJoe]

Hey PLRBEAR, I thought about mounting the spare on the hood, and came up with the same trouble you did. I've noticed that on the Land Rovers (both the series 1/2/3 and the Defender, I've even seen a Range Rover Classic with the spare on the hood) that the hood is lower than the bottom of the windshield by a little bit, not unlike the J**ps (the range rover windshield goes all the way down though), so the visibility isn't such an issue. A buddy of mine has an old Series 2A with 33's on it (he cut up the fenders something fierce). He's running a 33x12.5x15 BFG MT's, but his spare is a 33x9.5x15 BFG MT so that he can see over it.

 

[CBoug76]

Re: WOW

Originally posted by rockymntnhi
Congrats , that came out Super nice ...... Have you thought about sellin' em' ??????? Bet you could . try and post a pic showin ' the visibility through the mirror please ....

I know some of you are wondering how much of your view does this cut down, well here are some pictures from the drivers seat with and with out the tire. By the way, You can STILL see out the Side Rear Window if you turn your head around while still sitting in the driver seat.

1-a) With Tire

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1-b) With out Tire

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2-a) With Tire

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2-b) With out Tire

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[Randall]

Originally posted by BislamJoe
Hey PLRBEAR, I thought about mounting the spare on the hood, and came up with the same trouble you did. I've noticed that on the Land Rovers (both the series 1/2/3 and the Defender, I've even seen a Range Rover Classic with the spare on the hood) that the hood is lower than the bottom of the windshield by a little bit, not unlike the J**ps (the range rover windshield goes all the way down though), so the visibility isn't such an issue. A buddy of mine has an old Series 2A with 33's on it (he cut up the fenders something fierce). He's running a 33x12.5x15 BFG MT's, but his spare is a 33x9.5x15 BFG MT so that he can see over it.

If you got a two inch body lift, you could make a depression in the hood and gain a couple of inches of visibility that way. You could also move the tire as far to the passenger side as possible to increase visibility. I don't know if it would work for anything larger than 1250 tires though. Maybe I'll throw the spare on the hood and see how much visibiolity it actually sucks up.

 

[BislamJoe]

Wow, Mudd. That's really good. I didn't think of a b/l and dishing the hood. Very cool. Lemme know what you find out. I won't be installing a body lift at all though, but this information could be passed on to everyone who has/will have one.