Specter off road FJ62 interior spare tire carrier install (1 Viewer)

[heywood]

Hi,
I have a Specter FJ62 interior spare tire carrier I'm trying to install. Has anyone successfully installed one of these? There aren't any instructions and I haven't been able to find any good install info or pics. Included are a couple pics of my installation, but the top of the tire is resting on the side window. Is that the intended installation way?

I also tried to offset the tire a bit with a piece of metal and a nut on the other side of the wheel, but it allowed the tire to rotate on the mount's pivot.

Any advice you can give is welcome.

Thanks,
Marc

 

[OSS]

I had one of those for 28 years in my 60. Yes you've got it installed correctly. I would place padding of some sort between the top of the tire and the rear glass. If you've got tint the tire will chafe through it. It's doesn't hold the tire secure in a way that NASCAR would approve, but I took mine on thousands of miles of dirt roads and it held the wheel secure.

 

[heywood]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. I was hoping there was a way to keep it off the window, but some padding will do the trick, especially if you've had yours for so long.
Thanks!

 

[Skniper]

Looks like there’s a couple inches to spare on the threaded rod where you could put a spacer behind the wheel to move it away from the window.

 

[Gretsch]

What if you took some of those non-skid rubber floor strips and put some of those between the tire and where it meets the wall?

Something like this:

Amazon product ASIN B00004Y622
Looks like the way this works the tire being against the side of the truck (and the fact that its a rubber tire) is what keeps it from moving around. As you crank down on the center wing nut it brings the tire closer to the wall applying friction to keep it from moving. If you put a spacer on the carrier itself it would move the tire out from the side of the truck and would allow it to not be secured. The non slip pads would move the tire out some to maybe get if off the window but still allow the tire to touch the wall thus securing it and keep it from moving around. Photo of what I was thinking:

So the ovals would be where rubber pads would go between the tire and the wall of the truck. Might have to build these up together to get enough thickness to get it off the window. Or if the thickness needs to be considerably more, you could find some rubber blocks to stick in between. Something like this:

Amazon product ASIN B07RZQLW9G

Not having one of these myself I am not sure how exactly it works or if this would be feasible. Could just move back down to 31's. Thoughts?

 

[2mbb]

I had some idea that if you could figure out the orientation of the treaded rod, you could cross drill the sleeve and the stand pipe and pin the sleeve in one orientation. That could stop the tire from flopping around, but I really think the stability comes from holding the tire tight against the inner quarter panel. Mounting some stand-off material to the inner quarter is probably the best approach.

Here are some pictures of internal tire carries I build-one from wood and one from metal (after I got a welder).

There will be some vertical struts behind the upholstry panel--I bolted my wood version to these struts, but this is on the other side of the truck (drivers side) and I'm not sure where they are on the passenger side. There is sheet metal running just below the window, so you could mount the stand off horizontally there, and maybe again at the bottom. You might also want to have it stand off enough to keep the tire from touching your speakers (I moved my rear speakers to the rear passenger doors). You can see on my second version I have enough standoff to slide a 2F air filter between the upholstry panel and the tire carrier. Good luck.

 

[heywood]

Hi,
Thanks for the replies. I did try a spacer to move the tire off the window, but that allowed the tire to rotate around the mounting post, so it made it very annoying. The mount is a post with a sleeve (with the rod) sitting on it. It pivots around a lot. I thought about drilling a hole all the way through and bolting it so it wouldn't pivot, but we'll see if I try that.

I contacted Specter and one of the tech guys said he put wood blocks on the interior of the truck where the sides of the tire contacts (or gets close to) the interior. This is similar to the rubber block fix mentioned above.

I do like the taller mounts in the pics above. This allows the tire to fit flush against 2 pieces of metal and not against the inside of the truck.

 

[FJ Silver]

I have one in my FJ62 and have used my own spacers, woodblocks and foam etc. It takes some tweaking to get it right where it doesn't make noise or move around when offroading.
I replaced the spare tire opening with a 40 gal. aux gas tank

 

[2mbb]

Here is another idea. Use a ratchet strap secured to your floor (you'll have to mount something there) to keep your tire in place. the SOR device just has to hold it upright. A bonus is that you will have a ratchet strap with you if you need it

 

[El Pequeno]

I am also looking for some ideas to mount .y spare tire.

 

[buoytech]

I've got one in my 60. When I got this latest FJ60 8 years ago, the PO had installed a 36 gallon gas tank (which I love having) and the spare was on a crappy swing arm. I didn't have the length in garage to be able to have the tire on the outside, so I mounted the same Spector tire carrier you have. I mounted it on the drivers side so wouldn't lose sight lines when backing. You have yours mounted exactly like I do. I did get a R/V tire cover to keep the tire from rubbing on the window. The ones I got are NLA but they are like these: Amazon product ASIN B01NBC4VO2