A place for the spare

[Fiddy B2C]

I'm trying to decide where to put the spare tire? Right now it's in the bed, but I have seen some photos of it mounted on the side of the bed.  Any suggestions?  If on the bed, which side?  

[Radarsonwheels]

What about under the bed, tucked into the frame behind the rear? Mine has a fuel cell there or else there'd be plenty of room

[Jj1981]

My 50 had a spare holder under the bed in the rear 

[pflaming]

The spare I nice under the bed til you must use the filthy thing. I will mount mine on the passenger side bed to off set the weight of the fuel in the tank. And then when needed, nice and clean and easy to get. Jmho

 

[Reg Evans]

There is also the weight of the solo driver and the battery to off set.  That's why I moved mine to the passenger side.

 

[Fiddy B2C]

11 hours ago, Reg Evans said:

There is also the weight of the solo driver and the battery to off set.  That's why I moved mine to the passenger side.

 

Dang, now that there is a sharp looking truck!  I'm thinking passenger side as well.

[Reg Evans]

Hey thanks Fiddy !  I'll relay the message to Old Yeller.

Edited May 24, 2017 by Reg Evans
CAUSE I COULD

[59bisquik]

In my opinion, I like them hidden under the truck and out of sight. They look funky hanging off the side, especially with the fender cutout. But again, just my opinion.

[Desotodav]

9 minutes ago, 59bisquik said:

In my opinion, I like them hidden under the truck and out of sight. They look funky hanging off the side, especially with the fender cutout. But again, just my opinion.

I prefer the spare tire hidden underneath as well.

I would have thought that the side-mounted spare tire fittings would be on your passenger side in USA for traffic-related safety reasons.

Our 'mono-style' truck body's here in Oz don't really allow us that mounting choice... although, I did see panel truck here a few years back where it appears that the owner modified his spare tire mounting to his individual preference...

[Eneto-55]

17 hours ago, pflaming said:

The spare I nice under the bed til you must use the filthy thing. I will mount mine on the passenger side bed to off set the weight of the fuel in the tank. And then when needed, nice and clean and easy to get. Jmho

 

Not only that, but those cables either get frozen in place, or they rust in two, although I don't imagine that would happen on a historical vehicle, because it's not going to be exposed to road salt like a daily driver is (at least here in the "salt belt").  I had an S-10 PU, and when i was going to sell it, I looked underneath to see what the spare looked like, and it was gone!  The cable had broken at some point, and the spare dropped away onto the road, and who ever was driving it at the time never noticed.

[Young Ed]

45 minutes ago, Eneto-55 said:

Not only that, but those cables either get frozen in place, or they rust in two, although I don't imagine that would happen on a historical vehicle, because it's not going to be exposed to road salt like a daily driver is (at least here in the "salt belt").  I had an S-10 PU, and when i was going to sell it, I looked underneath to see what the spare looked like, and it was gone!  The cable had broken at some point, and the spare dropped away onto the road, and who ever was driving it at the time never noticed.

If you use the OEM setup there are no cables for these old trucks. 

[ggdad1951]

16 hours ago, Young Ed said:

If you use the OEM setup there are no cables for these old trucks. 

cables, we don't need no stinkin' cables....

[Fernando Mendes]

These are the original places pic I have since many years.Spare tire.bmp

[Eneto-55]

22 hours ago, Young Ed said:

If you use the OEM setup there are no cables for these old trucks. 

I was thinking you all were talking about retro-fitting a 'modern' set up onto your PU.  I thought the stock setup was always on the driver's side, just ahead of the rear wheel. (Remembering my Dad's 53.)

[rcb]

On 5/24/2017 at 6:00 PM, Desotodav said:

I prefer the spare tire hidden underneath as well.

I would have thought that the side-mounted spare tire fittings would be on your passenger side in USA for traffic-related safety reasons.

Our 'mono-style' truck body's here in Oz don't really allow us that mounting choice... although, I did see panel truck here a few years back where it appears that the owner modified his spare tire mounting to his individual preference...

This is like the WC54 spare mounting.

[Fernando Mendes]

On 24/05/2017 at 7:00 PM, Desotodav said:

I prefer the spare tire hidden underneath as well.

I would have thought that the side-mounted spare tire fittings would be on your passenger side in USA for traffic-related safety reasons.

Our 'mono-style' truck body's here in Oz don't really allow us that mounting choice... although, I did see panel truck here a few years back where it appears that the owner modified his spare tire mounting to his individual preference...

We can not see in this pic where the steering wheel column is.

[Fiddy B2C]

8 hours ago, Fernando Mendes said:

These are the original places pic I have since many years.Spare tire.bmp

Nice pics, thanks.  So if you are unfortunate enough to have a flat, you will be on your back in the rain/mud/snow/gravel or at best pavement loosening the wing nuts to retrieve the spare.  Because you know, flats never happen on a nice day.  I'm not sold on the underneath location, however it is original to the truck. Eh, I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

[Fernando Mendes]

These pics are not mine.They only were in my archive.I decided to put my spare in the passenger side.

[BigDaddyO]

On 5/24/2017 at 6:52 PM, Eneto-55 said:

 I had an S-10 PU, and when i was going to sell it, I looked underneath to see what the spare looked like, and it was gone!  The cable had broken at some point, and the spare dropped away onto the road, and who ever was driving it at the time never noticed.

On my way to work one day on a back road when I came up on a pickup, it may have been an S-10, don't recall. What I DO remember is, as we were traveling along he went over a swell in the road and his spare tire plopped off from underneath and bounced up in the air about 5 feet or so and when it came down (looked like it was all in slow motion up to this point) it hit the pavement in front of me and shot off to the right like it was fired out of a cannon and flew off into the woods! I could not believe the velocity of that tire and shudder to think what would have happened if it came in my direction. I've always believed it would have come right into the windshield of my Omni due to the height it was at when it flew into the woods.

Many years later, my son found a full size Dodge Ram tire off the side of the road in front of our house. This was a BIG tire and the speed limit on this road is 55mph. I cannot imagine the force this tire must have had when it departed. The cable broke.

 

[1949B-1-C]

Not sure if it's factory or not, but mines on the driver's side. I am leaning towards not factory, pretty sure I have parts of and under bed mount still under the bed! Unless they did both back then. I like them mounted on the side, especially with a nice hubcap!

[Desotodav]

7 hours ago, Fernando Mendes said:

We can not see in this pic where the steering wheel column is.

Steering column is on the right as it is a truck here in Australia.

[Desotodav]

7 hours ago, Fiddy B2C said:

Nice pics, thanks.  So if you are unfortunate enough to have a flat, you will be on your back in the rain/mud/snow/gravel or at best pavement loosening the wing nuts to retrieve the spare.  Because you know, flats never happen on a nice day.  I'm not sold on the underneath location, however it is original to the truck. Eh, I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Yep... you gotta get down and dirty to change a flat tire !!!

I took the initial two of those photos from fittings on my blue 52 DeSoto truck. Mark (ggdad1951) had the original bolts and wingnut replicated and they are available for sale from a supplier.

I was down at my shed again today and meant to find my other spare tire mount as I have two different profiles of the mounting bar - one is more flat than the other. I'll be back down there tomorrow so will see if I can get a photo of them both to show a comparison.

[Fernando Mendes]

6 hours ago, 1949B-1-C said:

Not sure if it's factory or not, but mines on the driver's side. I am leaning towards not factory, pretty sure I have parts of and under bed mount still under the bed! Unless they did both back then. I like them mounted on the side, especially with a nice hubcap!

 

[ggdad1951]

11 hours ago, Fiddy B2C said:

Nice pics, thanks.  So if you are unfortunate enough to have a flat, you will be on your back in the rain/mud/snow/gravel or at best pavement loosening the wing nuts to retrieve the spare.  Because you know, flats never happen on a nice day.  I'm not sold on the underneath location, however it is original to the truck. Eh, I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Just like on my modern truck..undermount and you have to kneel and dig around on your back to get the spare off...

[JBNeal]

some folks carry a 1" piece of scrap plywood, 12" x 36", in their tool box along with a trolley jack in a case, to avoid certain roadside problems... the board can be used to keep from rolling around in the mud when retrieving a spare tire from underneath the truck, then can be used as a pad to slide the jack under the axle...some folks might even be able to stow this gear under their removable seat, out of harm's way until needed