Tire Mounting

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DirtyMoto

Member
I was wondering if anyone has mounted the spare tire to the rear left door, can it handle the weight if the spare tire. I had seen this past weekend a sprinter van with this set up directly mounted to the door. Took a look and it seems that there are some good structural mounting point on the door but can the hinges handle it?

I know Sprinter store sells a version that has a separate swing out mount but I would like to keep it simpler than this?
 
S

sailsailor

Traveler
I've had my spare mounted on the left door for 35,000 miles with no problems other than losing the tire cover in Montreal. Which was my fault as I left it sitting on top of the tire after hooking up at the camp and driving to town. :bash: I purchased it from the Sprinter Store. Great service and instructions. Simple to do, and well mounted. :rad:
 
D

DirtyMoto

Member
Does anyone have photos. The mount I have seen at the sprinter store mounts to a bumper. I'm trying to find out about on that attaches to the door and if it will support the weight with out damaging the door hinges?
 
david klair

david klair

New member
DirtyMoto said:
Does anyone have photos. The mount I have seen at the sprinter store mounts to a bumper. I'm trying to find out about on that attaches to the door and if it will support the weight with out damaging the door hinges?
Click to expand...

I mounted the spare on the door last summer before going on a 4000mi trip. There is no issue with the hinges as they are very strong. I have learned to close this door gently though. If you let it slam it feels like something might give. The sheetmetal flexes I think.




I put 2" wide strips of rubber between the flatbars and the door skin






I fabbed my own tire carrier out of aluminum.







These are the backing plates for the upper fasteners. Four 5/16 x 1-1/2" long stainless bolts and nuts w/washers to mount the carrier.







This was the best I could do for the lower fasteners but it has proved to be adequate. I made sure I went through a double thickness of sheetmetal for all the fasteners.







The carrier is a very simple assembly. 2 - 8" pcs of angle 4 x 2 x 1/4 , 2 - 15" pcs of flatbar 2 x 1/4 x 14, 2 - pcs 7" flatbar 2 x 1/4, 3 pcs - 5/8" x 3" long bolts







The angles were put together to form a channel 8" x 2" x 8" long, The short flatbars were used on the backside for strength. I did not trust one bead to join the channels so doubling up with flatbars gave me plenty to weld to. I also threaded the holes for the bolts and set them with lock-tite
 
S

scubanw3

Member
Take a closer look at our tire carriers. Two of the three we offer mount on the drivers door. Both are excellent products and perform as described. Here is the link; http://sprinterstore.com/rear_tire_carrier.htm We hope this information helps. If you have additional questions, give us a call at 503-692-0846. Mark or Foster will be happy to help you.

Thank you, John
Sprinter Store
http://sprinterstore.com/
A division of Upscale Automotive, Inc.
19460 SW 89th Ave.
Tualatin, OR 97062
503-692-0846
 
Shortiez

Shortiez

Two High Roof 118s
degzie said:
i have mine mounted on rear door, i used a spare wheel carrier off a landrover discovery 2.:smirk:
Click to expand...
:thumbup:
That's a great idea, and parts yards near me are flush with Discos.

I'm guessing you cut off the Land Rover lugs and put in new.

I looked it up and at least the US Discoveries have these bolt patterns:
Discovery Pre-1999 have 6.5" or 165mm 5 lug pattern
Disco IIs have 5 x 120mm

Sprinters have:
-T1N's have 5 Lug, 130mm Bolt Pattern (same pattern for the 118 with 15" wheels & the longer WB models with their 16" rims)
-in 2007 they switched to 6 lug at the same 130mm bolt pattern
 
Grozer

Grozer

ConversionSprinterVans.com
david klair said:

I mounted the spare on the door last summer before going on a 4000mi trip. There is no issue with the hinges as they are very strong. I have learned to close this door gently though. If you let it slam it feels like something might give. The sheetmetal flexes I think.




I put 2" wide strips of rubber between the flatbars and the door skin






I fabbed my own tire carrier out of aluminum.







These are the backing plates for the upper fasteners. Four 5/16 x 1-1/2" long stainless bolts and nuts w/washers to mount the carrier.







This was the best I could do for the lower fasteners but it has proved to be adequate. I made sure I went through a double thickness of sheetmetal for all the fasteners.







The carrier is a very simple assembly. 2 - 8" pcs of angle 4 x 2 x 1/4 , 2 - 15" pcs of flatbar 2 x 1/4 x 14, 2 - pcs 7" flatbar 2 x 1/4, 3 pcs - 5/8" x 3" long bolts







The angles were put together to form a channel 8" x 2" x 8" long, The short flatbars were used on the backside for strength. I did not trust one bead to join the channels so doubling up with flatbars gave me plenty to weld to. I also threaded the holes for the bolts and set them with lock-tite
Click to expand...
Exactly what I am looking for. Everything I find has hinge attachments and then won't work with the 270 hinges. Pricing is way off base.
 
Lojack72

Lojack72

'02 DIY adventure van, 300K miles (210K by me)
I installed an aftermarket Jeep Wrangler spare tire mount on my back door last summer: Spare Tire Mount
IMG_0964.jpg
I had some leftover L-track from doing the inside, so thru bolted a pair of rails to the back door (with some angle iron on the inside to spread the load). It also hides a trailer vent I put in the door since none of my windows open.
Has been on for a year and at least 40K miles of travel, no damage to sheet metal or the rear window.
 
M

mike roudabush

New member
Lojack72 said:
I installed an aftermarket Jeep Wrangler spare tire mount on my back door last summer: Spare Tire Mount
View attachment 181531
I had some leftover L-track from doing the inside, so thru bolted a pair of rails to the back door (with some angle iron on the inside to spread the load). It also hides a trailer vent I put in the door since none of my windows open.
Has been on for a year and at least 40K miles of travel, no damage to sheet metal or the rear window.
Click to expand...
I've been eying jeep carriers also. I'm sure sandwiched the door with steel? I'm not familiar with bolt pattern; is it the or did you have change out the bolts.
TIA
Mike
 
Lojack72

Lojack72

'02 DIY adventure van, 300K miles (210K by me)
Correct, top L-track mount sandwiched with steel bar on the inside. For the lower I just used some fender washers on the inside. I used L-track fittings to attach after opening up the mounting holes a bit, the 90 degree upper brackets are Unistrut brackets you can find at Lowe's or Home Depot.
The carrier I bought came with all the mounting hardware, including lug nuts. I didn't have to drill any additional holes, but easy to do as the lug studs were just bolts threaded through the thick steel.
IMG_6713.jpg
 
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