How do you handle your high-mounted spare?

[Trail Talk]

Thanks for the great discussion and inspiring photos. I set up the hitch-mounted hoist yesterday and it worked perfectly, an easy one person operation to dismount and remount the spare wheel. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures ?. As a bonus it can also be used for the jerry cans! That’s the good new.

Downside is weight, 49lbs, and size. Even when broken down, it won’t fit in the exterior storage box. Back seat area of the supercab is its temporary home but not ideal.

This experiment did establish a couple of things. First, a hand winch is perfectly adequate for the weights I’m dealing with.

Second, the key to easily dismounting our spare is having a pivoting boom with the hoist pulley ahead/forward of the tire, rather than behind like our current set-up. The weight of the tire then pulls itself clear of the mounting studs instead of having to fight against it with one hand while working the hoist with the other. And it was super simple to line up the studs to get it back on.

Out of curiosity I approached a couple of local metal fabricators for a quote on an identical hitch hoist in aluminum. After a couple of weeks they came back at $1300 and $1500.

Since we will be back at OEV soon to have our Radflo shocks installed, I’m hoping to discuss other options with them. Simplest would be to extend the existing pulley bracket to position the eye ahead of the wheel. Would be nice if it folded too.

Another thought is to have a removable ladder-mounted pivot bracket fabricated to accommodate the top sections of the gambrel hoist, minus the heavy hitch mount. Alternatively the pivot bracket could be hard-mounted to the rear somewhere.

Still a work in progress.

 

[Korey H]

I modified a truck bed hoist. Eventually I’ll custom build an aluminum gantry : hoist instead to save weight. Also a reversing strap winch (meaning you can crank both directions without flipping the switch.
I used mine a lot during our recent drive to Guatemala when our wheels began to fail.

you can see our build thread if you search family mobile command here. Also we’re @wehartstravel. Happy to share anything we learned. Our spares live in our roof. With your mount could be much shorter : easier and could simply stay mounted.

 

[Trail Talk]

Finally, our solution! A very simple swivel boom in aluminum by OEV.

 

[billiebob]

As age has taken its toll on my body over the past 67 years, I have tuned back the requirments on my body. As my experience with mechanical failure has grown, so has my desire to engineer around the need for mechanical systems. And as technology continues to fail when one really needs it so has my will to learn to live with systems which 60 years ago required zero technology.

So I now overland in a TJ and I run the smallest/lightest tires ever installed on a Rubicon..... 7.50R16s which translatews to 185/100R16s. and they weigh 44# installed on 16x6.5 rims. The TJR spare is at the PERFECT height to off load by hand. SERIOUSLY this was a major factor in picking the TJR as my overlander choice. Changing the tire my wife can do easily.

No engineering required. No lifts, cranes required. I find it easier to tone down my expectations than to engineer systems which exceed my needs. My next overlander will be smaller, lighter, simpler with even fewer AI, IT, electronic needs.....

I was once bigger is better.... today I much like less is more.