honobiahunter

Got tired of the OEM spare tire carrier so I opted for a crank-up type holder. A friend gave me the spare tire chain-style hoist from a 1988-1995 Toyota. The cable type worry me because I saw a tire fall out from under a vehicle running 65 mph down the highway and when that tire bounced it caught the back of the vehicle and stood it almost on its nose. Since I have a flatbed on my truck the mounting options were easy. I chose to use a piece of 2"x3" angle iron welded to the flatbed crossmembers. I had to weld a 3"x3" piece of square tubing to the angle iron to get enough drop to access the let-down screw and then I simply bolted the hoist to the tubing. I did have to weld a couple ears on the anchor to accommodate the larger hub hole in our rims. I opted to turn the hoist towards the passenger side so I can let it down while standing safely on the passenger side of the vehicle. No more lying on my back in the mud or in waist high, chigger-infested weeds to take down a spare tire. Very happy with this mod.

woodrat

Nice! I've been thinking about this exact same thing for my truck. Need to go find a wrecked Toyota somewhere.

Jim Lane

That looks good,
Have you thought of a way to lock the rim so it cannot be stolen,

Maybe drop a chain through the center and padlock it.

Do you think it would hold a dually rim?

honobiahunter

Jim, I haven't locked mine in but in my rural area of SE Oklahoma I don't have to worry about that. However, it would be fairly easy to lock it up somehow. Since it is a basically a chain hoist then as you crank the tire up the reeled in, excess chain spools through and then out the other side of the gear housing. On my shallow dished rim there is enough excess chain hanging down inside the spare tire to actually run a padlock through and through the lug stud hole to lock it together. As for it holding a dually rim I would think the chain is heavy enough but I'm not sure. A phone call to a Toyota dealer could probably provide you with the carrying capacity. Another option is the heavy crank that holds the spare tire on military 21/2 tons and semis. I think most of them are cable hoists but not the lightweight cable on most passenger vehicles. You might find a shop that does semi conversions (frame extensions, refer box installs, etc). More than likely they'll have pull-offs laying around that can be picked up for little to nothing. I've seen these hoists used with good results