The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Where did all the spare tires go?!

OK . . . this may sound weird, but I got to thinking about the big bolts today. I'm restoring a 1950 Fire Engine, so it's on my mind most of the time.

Question #1: Were ALL trucks sold from the factory with a spare tire included? From half-tons all the way up to 6400s? Or were they an option on some lines?

Question #2: If the answer to #1 is yes, what about Cab-and-Chassis sales, where the maker's body wouldn't allow a spare-tire? For example: my fire truck body has a rear compartment, with a sub-frame that prevents a spare tire being carried under the frame, as from the factory. I would guess a lot of other bodies were the same: Trash trucks, cement mixers, etc.

Did the truck makers just end up with a lot of extra spare tires sitting around?! Or maybe they delivered them to the buyers with the truck?

There you go: water cooler trivia topic!!!

-Michael

I think it depends on the year/series - look in the FAM, the 5-9 manual shows where the spares were placed on cab/chassis and other "unbodied" models, and some models got just a spare wheel sans tire .... I'd imagine the aftermarket body makers [like fire bodies] would pass on the spare wheel/tire if they didn't have a specific place to mount it, and the user would chuck it in the corner ..... where you might still find yours

Bill

My 1960 P-20 Step Van, the Spare Tire was mounted under the rear behind the Rear Axel Housing.

I have left that empty...I would hate to have to get a Spare Tire in our out of that Holder/bracket affair.

#1: What year?
1951: not all series had a spare tire, depending on the size

#2: 1951: cab and chassis, etc, came with spare (or not), depending on the size.

My 2 cents: #1: I don't know about GM for sure, but when my Dad bought an Econoline PU in 61 or 62, he said he had to buy spare rim separate. (Glove box door too!) #2: Fire Trucks, Dumps etc. would use the same size tire and if you were thinking when you spec'ed the chassis, the same wheel (Budd or Dayton). Hence there was no need for a spare for each truck. Plus, in a pinch you could borrow from the Road Dept. or they could borrow from the Fire Dept. The only engine we had a spare for was the 45 Dodge 2 Ton. The one flat we had in the 32 years I was on the Fire Dept was handled by a local tire shop. The Road guys did the same thing. Tires on the Fire Units were replaced every 7 years if IRC and went to the dumps. John