Forum Discussion

Sentinelist's avatar
Sentinelist
Explorer
Apr 09, 2014

Recommend a tow hitch receiver spare tire mount?

I'm planning to relocate the spare under my truck to free up space for a secondary fuel tank. The only decent place I've got is mounted on the rear a-la EarthRoamer. But on some big bracket mount off the tow hitch receiver. Ideally it would fold down like a Thule bike rack so I could gain access to the camper door, but I suppose that's optional. I'd rather not mount it up front. Any thoughts?
  • Instead of fold down, get a weld shop to make a swing away.
  • OOO!, i like the looks of the Hitch Gate. There are a few unintended consequences.
    If your TC sticks out the back farther than the end of the truck bed you must use an extension as you would with a trailer. This reduces the amount of 'tongue weight' for the tire carrier the farther out you go with that lever back there.
    If your TC is a centered rear door type, how will you close the swing away once you are inside the camper? A side door TC would be the ticket if you were going this route.
    Even with the one bolt slop tightener, like bike racks use, in the receiver you are going to get wobble. The way to fix that would be with chain and turnbuckle outriggers like this rack only on steroids:

    Since i must carry two spare tires, I have thought long and hard about the good the bad the ugly about a homemade, HD swing away tire rack. The Hitch Gate, even with the consequences has some merit.
    Someone needs to try one of these and give a report back on its effectiveness on a TC.
    regards, as always, jefe
  • Argh, the TireGate is perfect! Thanks! But way too expensive. I'm not planning to spend several hundred bucks for that solution, but getting a hi lift jack and jerry cans into the picture is a dream come true. I'm bookmarking that one at least for now... a loaded offset model would work well I think.
  • Get an Aerotank, it will replace your existing tank, no need to move the spare, I have 55 gallons
  • 805gregg wrote:
    Get an Aerotank, it will replace your existing tank, no need to move the spare, I have 55 gallons


    Titan makes a similar tank. (Stock tank replacement with larger capacity)
  • Interesting! Researching...

    Edit: nothing available from Aerotank or Titan on the GMT400, one of the most prolific platforms still in existence.

    Part of the attraction to modding an old truck is that it's cheap! A Titan tank even if available is 1/4 the value of my truck. Not that *I'm* cheap per-se... it's that my Audi and Jag get all the top dollar stuff already.