bduke23
New Member
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2010
- Messages
- 369
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Saskatoon, Sk
- Vehicle Year
- 1993
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 3.0
- Transmission
- Manual
Having my spare tire in my bed has really started to annoy me. I like how easy it is to get at, but I have only needed it once in the last year and some, and always having to move it around or take it out whenever I want to put anything of any size in my bed is a real annoyance. So, I have decided to put it back in its stock position under the bed.
What stopped me from doing this in the past was the fact that the bolt on the tire carrier to lower it was frozen with rust, and not even a breaker bar would make it give in. Annoyance finally outweighing the effort, i broke out the air impact and got it loose. I cleaned all the rust of the threads and ran it in and out until it tightens and loosens by hand relatively easily, and then covered absolutely every mm in anti seize. However, I have run into the problem of how to secure the tire on the carrier.
I see that there is a nut attached to the side of the peg that sticks through the center of the tire, but my truck is missing the bolt that would go into it, and this nut is essentially 100% rust. I figure I've got three options:
1) Clean out the threads in that nut, and find the correct bolt to hold my spare down. I anticipate a lot of difficulty in finding the right bolt, unless someone has one just laying around.
2) Knocking out the nut altogether, and just putting a long stud(with washer on end) through hole in spare, through hole where nut was, with another large washer and nut to hold it in place. The center hole of the spare though is barely catching on the peg from the carrier, so it slides around/comes off with enough of a bump. Will just one bolt be sufficient? Which leads me to
3) Same as two, but with a matching assembly through another hole in tire on opposite side, going through a hole drilled farther up on the carrier. This gives two bolts holding it down, and should stop if from moving around at all.
Whaddya think?
What stopped me from doing this in the past was the fact that the bolt on the tire carrier to lower it was frozen with rust, and not even a breaker bar would make it give in. Annoyance finally outweighing the effort, i broke out the air impact and got it loose. I cleaned all the rust of the threads and ran it in and out until it tightens and loosens by hand relatively easily, and then covered absolutely every mm in anti seize. However, I have run into the problem of how to secure the tire on the carrier.
I see that there is a nut attached to the side of the peg that sticks through the center of the tire, but my truck is missing the bolt that would go into it, and this nut is essentially 100% rust. I figure I've got three options:
1) Clean out the threads in that nut, and find the correct bolt to hold my spare down. I anticipate a lot of difficulty in finding the right bolt, unless someone has one just laying around.
2) Knocking out the nut altogether, and just putting a long stud(with washer on end) through hole in spare, through hole where nut was, with another large washer and nut to hold it in place. The center hole of the spare though is barely catching on the peg from the carrier, so it slides around/comes off with enough of a bump. Will just one bolt be sufficient? Which leads me to
3) Same as two, but with a matching assembly through another hole in tire on opposite side, going through a hole drilled farther up on the carrier. This gives two bolts holding it down, and should stop if from moving around at all.
Whaddya think?