Front bumper spare tire mount

Finally bit the bullet and replaced the much maligned front bumper on the Duramax with a local company's steel bumper with built in brush guard and receiver. Neighbor that's super welder is fabing up the mount for the spare. Removed all our rear stored stuff, genny, water, gas and cargo tray/steps to get the tire out from under the truck. What a hassle as crank didn't want to ket tire down, then it did only to find A TOTALLY different cable retainer than the book in the truck or the paper on the jack handle said to expect and one like I'd never seen before. Some kind of bell shaped hunk of metal with the cable coming up thru the hub hole attached with a spring and brass latch release that doesn't...release. Tried WD40, nothing. Called dealership and answer was yea,those things freeze up over time, just cut the cable with something. Bolt cutters will work for me. Sure glad I tackled this project of removal prior to a flat in the rain or dessert or at night along an interstate. Needless to say the entire spare crank, tube and cable are being permanently removed in favor of ease of access. Man, I really need a shower and a stiff drink before I feed DH his super. Naturally, none of my men are around when these adventures begun, they just get to see the end and ask "What were you thinking".......thenI tell them.

Those last pictures remind me of my youth. Two neighbors on the road were brothers that did Civil War reenactments. Both had TCs like that on trucks like that with the spares mounted on the front like that. They towed cannons on trailers behind the trucks.

I just had my tire stem valve blow out on me over the weekend, I had to use the spare that is located under the truck, you know it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be to get it down from the holder with the camper on the truck, ended up using the reico jacks to help jack up the truck to change the tire. I guess what I am getting at is do you need a front mounted spare?

I have been using the this professionally made hitch mounted tire carrier since 2003... hidden hitch, etc have them. They use the existing holes in your trucks frame for mounting.



This is my homemade hitch that I put on this homemade truck camper that I built in 1969/1970... We used it for 30 years... I took this picture of the camper in 2002. It is a hunting camp now.





I have never had any over heating problems with either of them. I'm not worried about looks... I worry about function.

Looking like a "Custom by Cobble Craft" is just a matter of personal likes or dislikes. While they could be practical, I think they all look like "Custom by Cobble Craft". My preference is to have good tires and use the existing spare tire mount. I have needed my spare one time in the past 25 years. I have used the front hitch several times for different things.

This will give you some mount ideas, you will have to decide if they are "Custom by Cobble Craft".

https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome-psyapi2&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8&q=pickup%20front%20spare%20mount&oq=pickup%20front%20spare%20mount&aqs=chrome..69i57.25168j0j7

Wayne

Install a commercially available front receiver and get one of the many commercially available receiver mount spare tire carriers.