fatt

i am trying to take the spare tire off a 92 w250 and it seems to me the only way to get if off is with a couple wrenches. Is there some other way or does a guy have to carry a wrench with him to get it off? seems like there should be something with the jack and other tools under the hood but i dont see anything that would work

Jim Lane

It shouldn’t take much more that a large screwdriver to unscrew the big nut and lower the carrier enough so you can take the weight off the shoulder and pass it through the slot lowering it to the ground.

But be sure to keep all of your body parts clear of anything that might fly off if it suddenly came loose.

I hate this thing, infact mine might not even be on right, the last time that I bought new tires they dropped it to replace my spare and it took 3 guys including the manager over an hour to try and get the tire back under the truck, no matter how they stuck it under there it just didn’t fit, finally I had to get my coveralls on and get under the truck and figure it out, at least it is under there.

After you wrestle with it for a few minuets and try and lift it up by then you are exhausted, so you lay there trying to get your breath with a dirty tire laying across your chest.

It is a really stupid design.

I think Ford had one with the handle that extended so you could slide the tire off.



This is the pivot side.



Jim

BearKiller

They ALL used to hang in like fashion for probably thirty years or more.

I have had more than one to suddenly drop in front of me while following someone; now, that can be exciting.


The set-up was identical on all three, Ford, GM, and Dodge.

There was a "deluxe" option that had sort of a cam-lock handle and the bar that the tire rests upon was a two-part "slider", but in practice, they were no better than the plain ones.


Believe me, I know all about these spare hangers, as, being in the tire business all my life, I have probably took down and re-hung them way in the thousands.

It pays to keep a torch and a hack-saw handy.


Also, many came factory-original with a keyed locking nut gizmo that was threaded onto the hanger-bolt and required a key to release.

The second owner never seemed to get this key, or was too stupid to keep up with it's whereabouts, plus no one ever crawled under there and sprayed any knocker-loose on the lock; so, after hanging under there for ten years, nothing short of a hack-saw was gonna get it off.



We always re-hung them with a floor-jack (out on the road, I use the bottle-jack), resting the carrier with tire atop on the floor-jack pad, then, while holding the carrier steady with one hand, ease it up into position with the jack.


Just about everyone over on the Ford diesel forum has retrofitted one of the winch/hoist mechanisms from a Windstar(van, I think), such that you simply stick a rod into the winch winder-thingie and raise/lower away.


There was a several page thread about doing just that same modification a couple years ago in this 1st Gen. forum.

Here is one old thread, but it isn't the one I was really looking for :

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=128881

Properly hung, the show-side/valve-stem of the wheel faces UP, where you cannot then access the valve to check tire-pressure, without lowering the hanger.

I think this actually was, either intentionally or accidentally, by design, so that a conscientious owner would need lower the hanger to service the tire, thus preventing the threads from siezing from dis-use.( most owners are much less conscientious (LAZY) and never think about the spare until a tire is flat)

Seeing as how a good coating of anti-sieze will keep the threads in fine shape for many years (maybe forever), several ingenious means of maintaining the spare-tires air-pressure have been devised.

I have seen everything, from just an extra-long DRW extension hanging through a lug-hole, to a store-bought braided stainless hose that terminated at a Schraeder-valve permanently affixed into the rear bumper surface.


One guy retrofitted the whole air-pressure monitoring system from a late-model car into his.


My trick is to locate a position on the inside/backside of the wheel that does not interfere with the brake-caliper, drill a 5/8" hole, and install one of those stubby, nearly flush, bolt-in valve-stems, such that I can roll under on a creeper and check/add air.

Even with one of the winch-type hangers re-trofitted, one should bi-annually let it down and back up a couple times and lubricate everything; due to neglect, I have had to resort to the torch on the winch-type many more times than the old style.

Also, seeing as how you know nothing of the previous history of your spare-hanger, it is un-telling what kind of bolts/washers/baling-wire that previous owners may have added to the mix.




Is there anything else anyone wants to know about spare-tire hangers ??; sad enough to admit, I am an expert in the field.

BearKiller

Jim, that J-bolt is supposed to be reversed, as in the long part should hang straight down through the hole, instead of simply being "hooked".




Another trick I have done on a couple trucks is a purpose-built "cheater bar" that is simply a lengthy piece of stout steel pipe that engages a larger diameter length of pipe welded to the bottom of the hanger.

A pivoting bi-pod with "stop" is on the away-from-the-truck end.

To raise the spare/hanger, slip the long cheater into the section of pipe that is welded onto the hanger, using the cheater >= LEVERAGE =<, lift the tire into place, drop the bi-pod to hold it in place, reach under and affix the retaining bolt.

The cheater can serve double-duty as a cheater on the lug-wrench.

When you are done, flatten the bi-pod and turn it top-side, slide your cheater-bar all the way into the pipe that is welded onto the hanger and secure it by pinning through a hole that is drilled through both the cheater and the hanger-pipe.

james1

That was me a few years back in my 1975 Chevy C-10 .

General Motors supplied an OEM nut threaded onto the J-hook that was made of nylon rather than steel . It stripped when I hit a nice bump.

ccab85

Dodge didnt take into account a place for the J bolt when an aftermarket hitch is installed, it takes a little creative fab work to hang it with a hitch. I am with you BK mine fell out as I was going through a intersection, thankfully the tire was in the bed at the time, the retaining nut had loosened up from swinging around with no tire on it, awful noise too.

CONFEDERATESON

all of my stuff was rusted up and luckally my dad never had to change a tire for the 17 years he drove her cause i had to cut that stuff off!!!

rocktoy

I have mine setup with an early model toyota pickup spare tire winch. Works great.

Jim Lane

That is what you would think and would be fine except the class IV hitch is in the way and there is no way that the end of the hanger will line up under the bolt if it dropped straight down without cutting off the edge of the carrier.

I am really not to worried about having a spare tire anyway unless I go somewhere out in the boonies because I could always use one of the duals.

In all of my years of driving I have only had to use my spare tire less that maybe 5 times and I have been driving since 1964, guess my trick is defensive driving, don’t overload them, always buy good tires and keep them properly maintained.
Besides that I have Auto Club.

At my tire shop I have watched then have to torch off the cable on several mini vans after the winch mechanism has stripped and wouldn’t lower the tire.

I have watched many pickups driving down the street with the carrier dragging and sparking behind them wondering where the tire had gone.

Thanks.
Jim