Spare Tire Carrier Latch (Top)

[weagle99]

Have any of you guys added a latch to the TOP of the early spare tire carrier? By early I mean the flat, non tube type found on the early cruisers.

Post up pics if you have them. I'm looking for ideas.

Thanks in advance.

 

[weagle99]

Bumpity.

Anyone done this to stop rattling / movement?

 

[JohnnyC]

do you have the two parts that i circled?

the top bumper is adjustable

 

[weagle99]

do you have the two parts that i circled?

the top bumper is adjustable

Yes. I have the top bumper adjusted out but I still notice the tire kind of 'bouncing around' over rough terrain.

 

[71AZFJ]

That rattling drives me crazy.: I would rather go without a spare ( though I wouldn't ) , Then listen to that. I added a piece of thick rubber to the back of the stop, And it made a huge difference.

 

[My71FJ40]

I (mostly) fixed mine with a new rubber bumper on the top, and a shim of...something on the bottom, but sometimes on rougher terrain it still rattles a little I add a bungie to it and grab my jump seat with the other end and that usually stops it....good luck to yah

 

[65swb45]

I would not want to try and mount any CONVENTIONAL type of latch to the top of the carrier, as the only place to put the other end of the latch would be on the back door, which is a poor candidate that would quickly fatigue from the stress.

When I was running the dual rear carriers [both plate style] on Ruftoys, I made a drawbar that pivoted off a plate mounted next to the passenger carrier upper hinge across to the driver's side carrier. I welded two pieces of angle iron [one to the top of each carrier] just far enough back from the tire itself so that the tires [and carriers]had to be pushed just slightly back in order to lower the drawbar thru the pieces of angle iron. It was not a high-tech design or solution, but it worked well.

I think you could just as easily make such a drawbar and make a small bracket on the driver's side of the rig to accept the other end of the drawbar.

Best

Mark A.

 

[73tlcv8]

Mine is just a DD but proper shimming of the lower bumper plus adjustment of the top bumper has arrested the rattle.

 

[JohnnyC]

Mine is just a DD but proper shimming of the lower bumper plus adjustment of the top bumper has arrested the rattle.

x2 spaced mine out a lil so it touches....NYS roads suck...but...it doesnt rattle all that bad

 

[buckskins]

Stopped the the spare from rattling on my '74.. Took the bracket with the rubber stop on it off and over bent it so it was tighter to the tailgate when closed and rattle gone. One rattle gone......50 to go

 

[weagle99]

Thanks for the replies and ideas. Both of the bumpers on my carrier seem to be making good contact with the door, so maybe I need to explore Mark's drawbar idea.

The carrier doesn't rattle, but the top bumper 'bounces' against the door without losing contact (if that makes sense). I can wiggle the top of the tire / carrier with my hand, and can see it move around some when going over bumps.

 

[JohnnyC]

sounds like you have a problem with the hinges on the carrier

 

[weagle99]

sounds like you have a problem with the hinges on the carrier

Possible that they are tired I guess. The carrier swings open with zero resistance. Are the hinges supposed to be somewhat 'stiff' when opening?

When I refurbed the carrier I briefly attemped to completely disassemble the hinges, but quit when I was unable to reasonbly remove the hardware (I thought forcing a disassembly might do more harm than good). The hinges might need some attention after all.