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Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.24] on Friday, June 22, 2012 at 09:54:13 :
In Reply to: Spare tire...flatbed? posted by Severe Duty [99.14.92.150] on Friday, June 22, 2012 at 02:37:36 :
Looking at all the ways spare tires have been mounted on M-series trucks, I think the conclusion is there's no really good place. M37s put them in the bed, which takes up bed room. M43s put them on the driver's side door on a separate bracket you need to open separately before you can open the door. Nobody leaves them there unless they're trying to look "correct". One of the service bodies (contact maintenance?) put it in a slot between the cab and the service body. M35s and M135s put them under frame just behind the cab with a winch to hoist it up. As typical with the M35/M135 differences, the M135 winch was fancier, but the M35 version works just fine. If you want to mount it under the bed with a winch, you might look at an M35 spare tire winch for an idea of how to fab your own, or even just get that winch off an M35 being parted out. Wreckers mount them behind the cab, and I guess they must have used the wrecker boom to load it there because there's no way to man-handle a mounted 11.00-20 tire up there. I've also seen spare tires mounted on the hood and on top of a cab or service body.
Obviously the easiest thing to do is just strap it onto the bed, but of course then it's in the way. The only places that aren't in the way are places where it's a hassle to get it out. My least favorite of all is my '67 Chevy pickup -- it's under the bed, with no winch, held in place with a bar you have to put across it. The mounting procedure is to lay under the truck, try to get the tire on top of you (not much clearance), hold it overhead with your leg and/or one arm, put the bar across underneath it, hold that in place somehow, thread the nut onto the rod that sticks through the hold in the bar, and then tighten it down without losing the whole contraption. Thankfully it's only a 7.50X15 tire, but I'm not a small guy and it's still a workout to get it in place. Oh, and the dirt is falling in your eyes while you're trying to do this. The other bad thing about this arrangement is its easy for the bar to get mangled on rocks, and it's easy for the tire to work its way out even if you don't hit a rock. Over the time I've owned the truck, I've lost two mounted tires over the side of mountains just due to bouncing around on rough roads. So, whatever you do, if you mount it under the bed, I recommend some sort of winch to get it up there, and a secure attachment so it doesn't fall off.
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