Thread: Spare wheel carrier

Please do.

I'm thinking of relocating my spare to under the tray of my trailer.

Originally Posted by Boringgeoff

Would anyone be interested in a WIP when I fit the SWC to my caravan?

Regards,
Geoff.

Definately! That's what we're all here for.

Hi all,
A few days ago I put the c'van over the pit to work out how to do the job. It's a 2001 single axle Roma on 16" six stud wheels and the suspension, I think, is Sugar Glide.
There are two cross members as part of the suspension, the front one 50 x 100 and the rear 50 x 50. So I reckon the carrier will go over the front one and under the rear one.
Notice the oily looking LH shock absorber I think they'll need replacing while I'm at it.
The first step is to drill the front mounting holes in the bracket, I'll be using 3/8 HT bolts so will bore 10mm holes. there needs to be 1 - 2 mm clearence between the bolts and the cross member so bore them at 65mm centres.
Two saddle clamps (?) need to be fabricated so I'm using 50 x 50 x 3mm angle at 105mm long. Cut 20mm off one side and weld it to the other side to make a channel.
To give the saddle a bit more strength I'll cut a couple of pieces of 25mm flat bar to go inside. Drill these at 65 mm centres to correspond with the holes in the bracket.
Last photo is temporary bolt up to mark position for rear mounting bolt holes.
Whew, a WIP is harder going than the actual job.
Regards,
Geoff.

you have done well,i got one from southern 4x4 wreckers a while ago for 50 buks and it was bent but it was the only one they had,they sell them all to the caravan manufacturers and they are as rare as rocking horse poo

Hi all,
To mark the position of the rear mounting holes I held a hacksaw blade flat against the cross member and dragged it down to score the edge of the mounting in four places. Because the mounting doesn't sit flush with the cross member here, the holes will be further than 65mm centres apart. The holes will be bored in the recess of the mounting rather than on the outer edge, unlike the front mounting, to avoid the bolt heads interfering with the wheel. At this point I measured the angle between the mounting and the cross member.
I drilled the four 10mm holes in the mounting measuring from the hacksaw marks and adding 6mm each end for the hole centres. Of the holes here, the front two are reasonably level where the back two are on an angle, so they will need to be elongated slightly.So that the bolt heads seat squarely on the mounting I drilled a piece of 1/2" flat bar and cut two wedge washers of the correct angle.
I made two more saddle clamps, as previously described, note these are the same as the front two, bored at 65mm centres as they will be on the top of the 50mm cross member.
I cut the excess off the front of the mounting bracket about 15mm in front of the bolt holes.
Next thing to do is make a step to be welded to the mounting to give it a square face where it contacts the cross member. I cut a piece of 40 x 40 angle to the correct shape with the 4" grinder and tacked it to the mounting.
Back under the c'van and bolt up to check the fit. Not visible in the photo, but the wedgewashers are under the back two bolt heads. Everything looks okay so take it out and weld the step.
Regards,
Geoff.

Hi all,
At this stage I made the extension shaft for the winch, it's a piece of 12mm round bar, 400mm long. I flattened one end slightly on the anvil and bored a 6mm hole through it then cut a piece of 6mm rod 28mm long, put it through the hole and welded it in place. The other end I cut a thread and screwed a nut on and welded it. The nut is the same size as a wheel nut so that you can use the wheel spanner to wind it down if needs be.
The next move is to put the mounting back in position and swing a spare wheel off it to measure for a pair of supports to stop crossways seesawing movement. I used a telescoping guage to measure between the top surface of the tyre and the cross member. This cross member is roughly central and part of the suspension, but because it sits flush underneath the floor the supports will have to be attached with screws. I marked the position of the supports on the CM.
The gap is 65mm so I cut two pieces of 70 x 40mm RHS at 64mm, two pieces of 50mm flat at 75mm for caps and two base plates of 50mm flat at 125mm long. I bored two 6mm holes near either end of the base plates for the mounting screws and tacked them up. You will see that I have made the supports 70mm, the theory is that the tyre will compress in contact and make a firm fit.
Using two 12g coarse pitch self drilling screws I put the supports in position and wind the wheel up, a test shake and it feels pretty stable.
Lowering the wheel I now have to measure for a small bracket for the extension shaft to come off the left hand support. I made this from a piece of 25mm angle, bored a 12mm hole in it then sawed the metal out above the hole to make a U shaped recess. After tacking the angle in position on the support it's back under the c'van and check the fit. Wind the wheel up again, works well, and I'm pretty happy. Only thing left to do is pull the whole thing out, finish all the welds, clean up with the grinder and paint it all with cold gal.
Thats the end of the lesson boys and girls,thanks.

Regards,
Geoff.

Question time.

I noted the new winch drive is 400mm long.

If the trailer is 2metres wide then the nut you welded on the drive must be about 400mm inside the edge of the van.

Is there a reason you didn't make the drive long enough to reach the side of the van?

I would have thought it would be easier to access the nut from beside the van rather than laying under it.

Hi Zuffen,
Thanks for your interest, I should have explained this spare wheel is going to be difficult to access, I'm going to have to crawl under the caravan to get it out but it is the second spare. The other one is on a carrier on the back. Now I can carry the second spare for the car on the back of the caravan as well.
The driver can't be any longer than 400mm as the suspension and road wheel are in the way and that length clears the spare and will allow me, lying on my back, to get a 21mm socket on a rachet handle onto it.
We used to have a HJ60 L'cruiser which had the same stud pattern (6) as the caravan but it struggled to tow it some times, so we updated to a 200 series a couple of years ago, the 200 has 5 stud wheels. To purchase a new set of 5 stud rims, tyres and hubs for the caravan would have set us back in excess of $2000.00, so I decided this was the cheapest option.
On the old car we also used to carry two extra spares on a board rack on the roof, on a trip, which gave us a total of 5 spares, but I'm getting older and starting to have difficulty lifting 37kg up there without damaging the paint on the way which would result in me getting into trouble. This way we've got two spares each for the car and caravan, and I'm hoping that will be enough.
Thanks for your input.
Regards,
Geoff.

Would it be worth weldig a 1/2" uni joint from a socket set on your existing drive and extending it to the side of the van with your 21mm nut on the end?

This should clear the suspension and make life easier.

No point in getting under and struggling to get the wheel down when you have to get under and drag the spare out.

You'll be knackered by the time you get the flat tyre back up under the van. Then you've got to get it out to have it repaired!

Originally Posted by danielhobby

you have done well,i got one from southern 4x4 wreckers a while ago for 50 buks and it was bent but it was the only one they had,they sell them all to the caravan manufacturers and they are as rare as rocking horse poo

Hi Dan,

The carton of coronas cost me about $49 so around the $50 mark must be the going rate. What would a new one from Toyota cost I wonder?

Regards,
Geoff.

Zuffen,
the driver doesn't live in there, it comes out and is stored in the tool box until needed. I would use the easy to get at spare first, then swap them over at a convenient time and place.
So the way I see it I crawl under with the tools, insert the driver in the winch and lower it into the U bracket, hook the socket on and lower the wheel. Once landed I crawl out, move the rig foreward clear of the wheel and put it on the rear carrier. Then chuck the cactus wheel on the ground, reverse over it and winch it up. then crawl out again just in time for a nice cup of tea.

Geoff.

Nice work Geoff.
I'm willing to bet, now that you've got it in place, that amount of times you'll need it, you could count on one hand.

Hi geoff
the $50 i paid was for the winch only,not includeing upper frame.I wrote my post before your pics were up and i reckon you have gotten a bargain.Nice work by the way.Murphys law plays a big part in going 4x4/camping--- if you dont have that extra spare,you or someone will need it when in a bastard place,if you have it on you ,it wont be needed.
cheers danny.

Smart thinking on the drive off/reverse back over.

I was thinking of changing the wheel when there was a flat on the trailer.

I should of thought about it more before posting but I think you've got it right.