Do not neglect your spare tire carrier!

I did, well sort of, last year I lubed what I could, but could not get the bolts to unscrew completely so left it at that....Today it was time to get it right, as I was working in the area and needed space....(that differential drain is a beast..p.s. heat does help, but you need a good MAP torch at least). Anyhoo, the carrier bolts would not unscrew, I kept back and forth ing until the right one’s nut broke out of its hook assembly. It was very difficult to grab the nut and it was low on the the threads, but I managed to get some vice grips tight enough to work it out (if the nut had broke free higher up the threads I’m not sure there would be anyway to grab it). The nuts are just tacked to the hook in a couple of spots, so a failure is quite easy.
1st pic is hook mechanism with nut busted loose, next is both nuts more securely welded in, and tarted up for reinstall.
GREASE THEM BOLTS! That took way to long to sort out.

Excellent PSA.
I grease mine when I swap over to winter tires, and I check the air in the spare at the same time.
If your bolt is stuck you can spray the nut with penetrating oil from above and below.

-dave

Nautamaran said:

Excellent PSA.
I grease mine when I swap over to winter tires, and I check the air in the spare at the same time.
If your bolt is stuck you can spray the nut with penetrating oil from above and below.

-dave

Click to expand...

I sprayed it and prayed it, did other stuff, came back and sprayed it again, all with my No.1 rust buster. From the looks of the threads, the bolt had never been unscrewed all the way since 2005. In fact when I last used the hanger, the bolt stopped so clearly I though it was supposed to be a captive bolt in the assembly, it was hard to wrestle a wheel in but I managed. OI learnt here that the bolt could unscrew all the way. It is cheap the way the nut is just tacked in, both of them were the same, little bbs of weld. I do like the way that the end of the bolt acts as a catch closing the hook when screwed all the way down though.

One of the hinges on the forward driver’s side broke on mine while going down a bumpy dirt road. Since I’m traveling in Central America I found that a stainless steel hose clamp worked fine to put it back together. Luckily I didn’t drag or lose the tire


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah... the Quebec climate and highways have a special talent for reducing exposed steel into rust.
And that orange sand used in winter! Yuck... gets into everything.

I may go through a lot of hand moisturizer living here, but metal sure seems to have an easier time...

-dave

Or, if you buy a 13yo van that has lived near the ocean and never had any attention paid to them, you will have to drill out the heads to replace them.....

Since my bolts were almost shot in the threads and I was picking up stuff anyway, I bought some SS allthread and nuts and made up some rough but hopefully less corrosion prone SS BOLTS. My guy did not hav long enoug bolts in SS.
Not pretty, but fast.

Those look great!
(A bit of nickel-bearing anti-seize will keep the threads from galling. Stainless on stainless can be terrible...)

-dave

Patrick of M said:

Since my bolts were almost shot in the threads and I was picking up stuff anyway, I bought some SS allthread and nuts and made up some rough but hopefully less corrosion prone SS BOLTS. My guy did not hav long enoug bolts in SS.
Not pretty, but fast.

Click to expand...

Brilliant!

Now you just need the tube, hook and nut arrangement making is stainless!

Keith.