The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Spare tire winch

I’ve searched and searched on here and found some posts on using a cable winch for the spare tire on AD truck but no pictures or specific model used. I’ve seen some for later trucks but has anyone done it for their AD truck and have the exact winch used and a pic or two? Thank you

You need to search for spare tire hoist...
https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/1313943/spare-tire-hoist.html

I did see that thread but the subject moved to TF trucks. I didn’t see information for AD trucks. Hmmm.

Does not matter if AD or TF or 60-66. It's the idea. I wrote that article. FIRST: Mock up your spare tire under the bed to see if it will fit. Then source a winder as described, or whatever one you think is better. The one's I chose, and used on several trucks, is easy to bolt on and has a long guide tube to reach toward rear. Those are the criteria to look for. I built a crank that fit the tube "socket".... be creative......
Bolt hoist to a crossmember if there is one at center of spare or add a crossmember and so on.
The article has beed shortened and reprinted several times by Mag's. Reduced to only two pics.
I probably have the original other pics.

The easy bolt style with tube runs way up into the 90's

Thank you. Any idea what this is for? Can I remove it or is it structural?

That's the original spare tire carrier.

See if you can rustle up the rest of the parts and you won't have to waste effort making a new one fit.

I suspected that is what it was but was not sure. Otto Has explained. So no, it's not structural. He also has a point about just using it.
Anyway, assuming you do want a wind up spare carrier, take that original one off and keep it on a shelf for now. Leave any brackets that don't interfere with the new hoisted tire.

The view below shows you the crossmembers. They are usually riveted and are structural (beefy'ish). They can be used to support a spare winch. or You can add a piece across the frame rails like a "new" crossmember and bolt it to the rails. or You can add a piece running parallel to frame rails, in the middle, to suppoprt the winch. Just study how they suppoted the origional hanger to see what was acceptable size metal, bolt sizes, support and general strength. You can ask here what we think of your proposed structural idea if you wish. You don't need to go overboard with structure.

Obviously a tire fits under there. I should have said that. But you still need to see where it will 'nest" best. Find a spot you like so tire gets cranked up tight and level and see where that nesting locates the winch. The "tight" comment is to point out a possible difference in design approach with the original vs hoist methods.

The ones I've done made life a lot easier and are not hard to do. You really don't have to lay down, kneel down or get dirty if you don't want to or can't.... to retrieve or load a spare.

Great. Thank you. I see it now, that piece is like a track for the original unit. It was so odd looking, I just couldn't understand how it was related to the spare tire. Thank you, I think I have an idea of how I'll do it. I'll snap a pic when its in. I think I may try to find a smaller spare though. The 235/75/15 really hangs down pretty low. Darn, I have three spare tires sitting around (all 235/75/15). The other posts I've read on here do not speak highly of that original unit. A lot of people on here have said its more work than its worth and I didn't see any immediately pop up on ebay so I'd have to do some searching. Thanks again

That 47-50 spare tire mount is like hens teeth, especially the part you're missing. And if they can be found they're EXPENSIVE $$$. An option would be to go with a 51 and later style, which is a single bar run diagonally and hung from long bolts. They're more readily available and should bolt right in to your truck. I found one at a wrecking yard for my '51. An illustration is on Section 10, Sheet 2.00 of the Factory Assembly manual. For the very few times you might need a spare tire, they're not that unreasonable to use.

Not a real good idea to run different diameter tires on an axle, especially on rear. Ok for short distance. Don't think it will be too low if it touches the cross members. Tire won't hang lower than stock would. Don't know what size was stock.
Your tire is 9 1/4" wide.

May have to redo your duals and hangers. Are you stopping the pipes where they are shown?

Mount the winch up inside that big crossmember.

Ok. I was thinking the same about putting it inside the crossmember. I tried a dodge winch but it didn’t roll up far enough. Luckily you can buy them from Amazon prime so I’ll return a few until I find the right one. The pipes seem ok where they are but if they seem to be heating up the tire I will extend them a bit no big deal.

So you don't want the one/era/style in the article? A used one from ebay or salvage yard? Why not?... and you know like, it has to be a Chevy hoist.
Can you let us know the year and make of vehicle on the ones that don't work as well as the one you find that does. So we can search them on the internet? It will help this post with info and options in the future. thanks

Sure. I tried 52058707 for 94-2002 dodge ram. It looked very compact with easy mounting᠁. But it was much larger in real life and doesn’t roll up enough. I’ll try the one you suggested, it doesn’t look like it would fit in the crossmember but will give it a shot.

OK here is what I would advise anyone wanting to do this. The new ones you see (Amazon, etc) are replacements. The access to the winder crankshaft is already on their truck. The purchaser already has the rods and crank tools. Whatever they look like. So you have to buy all that. You have to mount that spool so as to have access to it's crankshaft from the back of your truck.

I have done this at least three times on old trucks. I have perfected a method.. of course there may be other methods.. just pointing out what I went thru, and found, that works pretty good. You can use it to build your own idea.
The +/-1999 Tahoe/Chevy Truck winder has two thru mounting holes. Cable hangs straight down out the bottom. I never had an issue of tire not being hoisted as far up as needed. These hoists have a tube shaft with a swage formed 3/4 internal hex on one end. The other end clips onto the hoist driveshaft and therefore an extension of the driveshaft. The extension shaft extends back to somewhere over, under or thru the rear bumper or rear area. You should locate your spare so that tube ends up in a good spot for access into tube without having to look under or lay down. The article shows a 1957 Chevy Dairy Queen panel truck. I mounted an old school metal chrome trailer connector, with flip open lid, on the sheet metal rear valance. I took out the guts and drilled out the center to create a hiden pass thru for a home made hand crank. Which was a surplus trailer tongue crank with a 3/4 hex coupler welded to the end. Did much the same on a 1956 GMC 4x4 suburban and a 1960 GMC 4x4 truck. Drilled a hole in the aftermarket bumper on that one. see pic, above license plate.

Many of the winches for various vehicles use the driveshaft extension in different ways, so be sure you get all the parts and tools necessary. The Dodge does look like it would work to me. https://www.dormanproducts.com/p-98652-924-541.aspx

50Shep I'm sure glad you posted that picture. I have a pile of brackets that are for the spare tire carrier but didn't know how they attached to the truck. This image you provided explains a lot my friend!

Thank you. I got it mounted. I had to spot weld some angle iron on the crossmember to get the tire to really cinch down. Not exactly sure why. Since I never could find a pic of someone doing this on an AD truck I’ll post mine. I’m sure someone will improve upon it but it may be useful as a reference. I think ideally mounting a few inches forward would help make the tire less conspicuous.

50shep I see that I'm missing what appears to be an angle iron cross brace that the primary bracket bolts to with three bolts. I can fabricobble one up. I do like the idea of the winch but since I appear to have all of the original brackets I'll get mine back to stock installation. All I need now is an actual spare tire/rim. I don't have a fifth original rim so a searching I will go...

Yeah, if you can find all the pieces its probably not a bad way to go. I found this pic and was going to try and find the pieces but for me I think it would have been more work than its worth.

50shep that's fantastic!!! I have all of the pieces and now I see how they assemble together. Awesome.