Well, the generator box is on the back of the TT and I needed to 1) have a place to carry the tire, 2) move weight forward to balance the TT. So doing a quick search on the YouTube University site a fellow had a video on his relocation of the spare to the front and under the TT... Well, I liked his video, but a couple of things I thought I could improve
I cut 2 pieces of 2 1/4x2 1/4x1/8" angle 2 1/4" long and drilled a 1/2" hole centered on one side and a 3/8" hole on the other side, this is my mount to the frame for the 2x2x1/8" angle to put betweeen the frame to hold my hoist.
Trying to buy a 'pickup truck' spare tire hoist was an issue, they were exspensive on Ebay and the salvage yard was only +/-$20. But the salvage yard was closed so I went to U-Pull-It and searched the trucks and larger SUV's that carried the spare under the rear. I 'pulled' one from a small Dodge P/U and one from an Ford Expedition.. costs $12. The Ford one was too big for what I needed and the mounting holes would need extra metal to make the attachment. That left the smaller one which had 2 ways to mount on the 2x2x1/8" angle, and after trying one found it too high and it was against the TT floor.
So, drill a 7/8" hole for the rod and mounted it 'the other way, with the rod to raise and lower towards the front. I used a wrench to raise the tire and it wasn't secure, it needed angle on each side to keep it stable...
About 2-3 weeks before I started this project driving home I saw a bed out by the street for garbage pickup.. Okay I didn't need a bed, but there were 2 bed frames lying there also, and it's good high tensile steel (correct me if I'm wrong about that) that's light-weight but strong enough for my needs. So I made a couple more angle mounts for each piece of frame.
I cut 4 pieces of 2 1/4x2 1/4x1/8" angle 2 1/4" long and drilled a 3/8" hole centered on one side and a 5/16" hole on the other side, this is my mount to the frame for the bed frame angle and put these cross pieces 22" apart (11" on center) which fit the sidewall of the tire.
All is good except I didn't want to lay under the TT and raise or lower the spare with a wrench... so I took a linear actuator from an old C-Band Satelite dish (I used to install those) and wired it with a 3-way switch to raise/lower the spare... Of course Murphy showed up and showed me how complicated I was making things and I changed that plan to simply taking the '3/4" drive screw' drilling a 1/2" hole in the end and brazing a 1/2" bolt for my drill to turn and attaching it to the link I made to connect to the linear actuator..
KISS works every time... Here's some photos..
This one shows the metal for the tire mount and you can see the battery on my drill in place to raise/lower the tire...
Another of the same, different light...
Tire almost in place, shows the metal placement...
Tire is secure and ready to ride...
This is all you can see of the bolt head to use a 3/4" socket to raise/lower the tire, same size as the stabilizer jacks..
A lot of writing... maybe I'll try putting one of these projects on YouTube University...
I cut 2 pieces of 2 1/4x2 1/4x1/8" angle 2 1/4" long and drilled a 1/2" hole centered on one side and a 3/8" hole on the other side, this is my mount to the frame for the 2x2x1/8" angle to put betweeen the frame to hold my hoist.
Trying to buy a 'pickup truck' spare tire hoist was an issue, they were exspensive on Ebay and the salvage yard was only +/-$20. But the salvage yard was closed so I went to U-Pull-It and searched the trucks and larger SUV's that carried the spare under the rear. I 'pulled' one from a small Dodge P/U and one from an Ford Expedition.. costs $12. The Ford one was too big for what I needed and the mounting holes would need extra metal to make the attachment. That left the smaller one which had 2 ways to mount on the 2x2x1/8" angle, and after trying one found it too high and it was against the TT floor.
So, drill a 7/8" hole for the rod and mounted it 'the other way, with the rod to raise and lower towards the front. I used a wrench to raise the tire and it wasn't secure, it needed angle on each side to keep it stable...
About 2-3 weeks before I started this project driving home I saw a bed out by the street for garbage pickup.. Okay I didn't need a bed, but there were 2 bed frames lying there also, and it's good high tensile steel (correct me if I'm wrong about that) that's light-weight but strong enough for my needs. So I made a couple more angle mounts for each piece of frame.
I cut 4 pieces of 2 1/4x2 1/4x1/8" angle 2 1/4" long and drilled a 3/8" hole centered on one side and a 5/16" hole on the other side, this is my mount to the frame for the bed frame angle and put these cross pieces 22" apart (11" on center) which fit the sidewall of the tire.
All is good except I didn't want to lay under the TT and raise or lower the spare with a wrench... so I took a linear actuator from an old C-Band Satelite dish (I used to install those) and wired it with a 3-way switch to raise/lower the spare... Of course Murphy showed up and showed me how complicated I was making things and I changed that plan to simply taking the '3/4" drive screw' drilling a 1/2" hole in the end and brazing a 1/2" bolt for my drill to turn and attaching it to the link I made to connect to the linear actuator..
KISS works every time... Here's some photos..
This one shows the metal for the tire mount and you can see the battery on my drill in place to raise/lower the tire...
Another of the same, different light...
Tire almost in place, shows the metal placement...
Tire is secure and ready to ride...
This is all you can see of the bolt head to use a 3/4" socket to raise/lower the tire, same size as the stabilizer jacks..
A lot of writing... maybe I'll try putting one of these projects on YouTube University...
