The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Under bed spare tire mount for 1951 GMC

I would like to mount my spare tire on my '51 GMC under the bed, but according to all I can find there is no under bed mounts for 51's. Will I have to make one or will a Chevy mount work? (if I can find one)

You should be able to make a Chevy spare tire mount work. The holes may already be there. The '50 or '51 and later use a single support that runs diagonally across the frame on some long bolts. There are also a couple of u-channel pieces across the frame rails.

Other guys have mounted modern truck spare winches under the bed.

Here is a link to using a hoist, with pic’s if you want to go that direction, pretty simple really

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/1313943/1

Here is what the one out of my 53 looks like if it helps you any.

Thanks everybody for the tech tips!

I used the spare tire hoist from a Nissan hardbody truck. Really nice to have the chain hoist to raise and lower.

Thanks!

Pictures?

Could you be more specific about "Nissan Hardbody"? Year and model so I'd know what to look for at the junk yard.

Still looking for just the right hoist mechanism.

This one might do the job depending on where the crank handle enters the mechanism. I'll PM Bolter "Pipewizard" and see if he has more info.

I have a "perch" designed to weld to the forward most point on my trailer hitch receiver. The fore/aft measurement will be easy to adjust a few inches as would about 6 " of left and right. The best hoist would be arranged like Pipewizard's where the mount part of the mechanism could sit on top of my new plate (shown in red below) with the crank handle pointing to the back of the truck and the cable dropping towards the front of the truck.

I'll point Pipewizard back to this post to see the second attachment (PMs don't allow attachments) below with 3 questions:
1. What vehicle did the hoist in his picture come from?
2. Does the crank handle attach to the shiny square piece that the green arrow points to behind the black hoist mechanism?
3. Is the angle of attachment of of the crank handle about the same as the green arrow shown?

Comments and ideas of what hoist mechanism to use please.

I just installed a spare hoist under my equipment trailer. It worked out perfectly. I went with the same one that's under my F350. Nice and heavy duty. I checked out the a/m offshore cheap ones and they are... The factory Ford one is much more solid.
Here's a few pics of what I did. Nothing fancy. It just works. For the rod to lower it you can either use the factory Ford rod or a 3/8" drive extension.

Hawk:

What year F350?

Does the cable drop through a hole in the crossmember you made or does it hang over the side of the crossmember?

If it goes through the crossmember how did you get the cable through the hole?

How does the device latch the spare in the "up" position?

It's likely the same as my 1999 F250. The spare winch on it uses a worm gear drive, which is self locking. Never had an issue with the spare loosening up on it.

Here’s a pic of spare hoist I used. Out of a 80’s early 90’s Nissan hardbody. I centered this one by the lifting chain. Put blocks on either side to give it something to tighten against. One block is also longer to eliminate rocking of the spare.

Mine is a 2020. They're a similar design for several years, but I wanted one that used the same rod as my truck. If I remember right they changed a little in 2017.
There is no latch. It's held in place automatically when you crank it up. Very solid and does give you the warm and fuzzy that it's not going anywhere.
I cut a notch to allow the cable to go through straight down. See pic below.