High mounted spare wheel carrier

[BogMonster]

Quite a while ago I remember seeing somebody selling a modified spare wheel carrier, I think it was for a Discovery Td5, to fit up to 35" tyres on the rear door and still clear the bumper, basically it was like the standard carrier but "swept up" so the actual mounting point was a bit higher.

I think (haven't checked) that the new Defender (02 onwards) carrier is the same bolt mounting pattern as a Discovery, so it seems to me that it might be a solution to carrying a spare wheel on the back door and still being able to use the NATO hitch - as everybody who has one will know, if you have a 32" spare wheel on the back door you can't open a NATO hitch if it is on the crossmember because the tyre touches the top of the jaw, so you have to open the door, open the hitch, put the rope in, close the hitch and then close the door. Not so bad with a rope but with a trailer it is a pain in the butt and "highly finger pinching", taking the spare wheel off every time is just as big a pain. I use the Sankey quite a bit now to cart fuel to the house and rubbish to the tip so I need a better solution.

So does anybody remember who made the carrier I am thinking of (I thought it was Devon 4x4 but can't find it on their site) is it still available and would it fit a new type Defender rear door?

ta

[jules]

Its the sort of thing Discoparts .com would do.

That reminds me I need some air bag spacers for mine

[BogMonster]

Can't see it on discoparts...

[q-rover]

I´m not sure it works for 35" tyres, but can´t you simply turn it upside down

or something similar?

[BogMonster]

I´m not sure it works for 35" tyres, but can´t you simply turn it upside down

or something similar?

I don't think it will make any difference, the one I recall seeing was slanted upwards quite noticeably. To be any use it needs to raise the spare wheel by a couple of inches and then if I put a smaller spare wheel on (I never get punctures so I could carry a 205R16 as a get me home spare) then I ought to be able to hitch up the trailer without opening the #kin door every time.

[darthdicky]

Devon4x4 did them, no idea whether they'd work on a Defender though.

Richard

[muddy]

Cant you just mod your existing one? cut it off and then make some new 'sides' that angle up?

[PaulMc]

Quite a while ago I remember seeing somebody selling a modified spare wheel carrier, I think it was for a Discovery Td5, to fit up to 35" tyres on the rear door and still clear the bumper, basically it was like the standard carrier but "swept up" so the actual mounting point was a bit higher.

BogMonster,

Have a look at this thread (especially the 2nd post )

http://forums.lr4x4.com/index.php?showtopic=6319

Paul.

[BogMonster]

Yeah I didn't think I was going mad (yet)

Guess D4x4 stopped making them then - I thought it was their site I saw it on. Probably a limited market for a wheel carrier to suit 35 inch tyres on a Discovery

[RobotMan]

The holes in the Disco carrier aren't equally spaced so holes wouldn't line up upside down, I have one on the back of my cut down series safari door and nearly got caught out when drilling the mounting holes in the newly welded frame.

Shaun up at North Off Road may well be the man to ask about such a thing, he's always looking for new niches in the fabricated parts market.

[callum]

http://www.rovertym.com/sparetire.htm wasn't one of these was it?

[BogMonster]

http://www.rovertym.com/sparetire.htm wasn't one of these was it?

It wasn't (it was a whole new door bracket) but that is a nice solution... lot of dosh for a bit of alli plate though!!

[landroversforever]

If you can weld or know a mate who can....why dont you modify the original item? chop it (red line) and then weld it. need bracing?

Before:

After:

[BogMonster]

That's another option ... the D44 one looked neat though

[RedLineMike]

AFAIK D44 still do them as i got one for a mate recently

[BogMonster]

Not on the website but I will ping them an email...

cheers