Spare wheel on back door

jamesmarshall

Guest
I want to put an extra spare wheel on the rear door of my 06 Transit. Anybody got any ideas where I could get a bracket to suit?
 
I had the same thought for my van.

There is someone on fleabay that makes bespoke brackets but I thought they were a little expensive...If I remember correctly the ad was for a 4X4 vehicle but did show campervans in the pictures
 
Seen the ad on e-bay, AuldTam, but £60 is A bit too much I reckon
 
haven't seen the one for 60,sounds a good price to me,but anyone with a welder could make one.a professional would charge more than that so it'll have to be you or a mate doing it
 
If it's a five stud wheel try getting one off a dead Landrover or have a look on the landy forums.

Cheers
 
just looked at one on e-bay and it's door hung.if you use one of these then the door will need quite heavy bracing as the metal is so thin for the weight.first one i did i braced the inside with layers of 18mm ply glued to the door then metal strap and it still split.better if you can support it from the hinges or up from the towbar
 
How long will it stay there until some tea leaf steals it!!

Peter
 
Hi Peter,
I have considered that. I would be looking to have some security, A padlock perhaps or/and wheel locking nuts. I have never owned a motor with a spare attached to the rear door but I would guess that the 4x4s have some kind of system to keep the thieves at bay. thankyou for your comment
 
n brown said:
just looked at one on e-bay and it's door hung.if you use one of these then the door will need quite heavy bracing as the metal is so thin for the weight.first one i did i braced the inside with layers of 18mm ply glued to the door then metal strap and it still split.better if you can support it from the hinges or up from the towbar
Click to expand...

Thats exactly what I thought when I looked at it (after seeing the inside of the van rear doors whilst insulating). Some 4X4s use the existing vehicle hinges which I think would be much stronger.

I even wondered about something connected to a towbar frame perhaps a swivel out, or downward, so the door was only used to lock onto rather than take all the weight. Then I thought about mounting on the front of the van but I suppose they both have safety implications both to pedestrians and me, if involved in a pile up situation. I know the americans and australians do this but they are proper off roading most of the time.

So I think the best solution is under the van but my Renault Master has quite a low floor on it...more sleepless nights ahead I think!

I did come across a thing called a Bak Rak that fits onto the towball and looks a bit like a bike rack, I suppose you could chain the spare onto it.
 
you could do it on the front but that blocks the radiator. vw,s have them no problem for them if air cooled . .vw,s also mount them on the back . devon conversions did one that mounted on the bumper and tipped down to get into the engine (rear engine). its not hard to mount a box section across the back and mount something on it that turns out wards . talk to a local lad from a welding shop . must be one near you that needs a shilling on the side. mounting on hinges is possible as well . ldv vans are very easy to do the hinges stick out well. not sure about yours . but anything is possible. . how about a rear ladder hooked over the door then mount wheel to that. various ways to do it. even a bac pac system is easy to make . keep your eyes open then copy one . if you get to cornwall give a shout easy job . you buy the steel i can make you one. cheers alan.
 
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mine is on back door, i used two 3mm plates with three holes drilled that lined up with the holes on the wheel, then sandwich bolted them together. the inner plate is riveted to the inner door skin and the outer one bolted to the outer skin, then m16(i think) threaded bars are bolted through the holes and bolted to the plates, the wheel is hung on the exterior protruding bars and bolted on. hope I haven't made that sound too confusing...I'm good at that:wacko:

been on two years no movement and no probs. even use the attached wheel to stand on when i need to reach the solar panel on the roof. so can also take my thirteen stone.
 
First thing I do with any of the vans I previously converted is to get the wheel onto a back door, primarily so I can reclaim the under van space for water tanks/ gas bottles.

A local metal works used to make me a light weight bracket from a piece of "U" shaped folded steel with flat folded mounting flanges to mount to the door. The depth of the "U" is a bit more than the back off set of the wheel. Although the steel was only about 3mm thick the folded shape made it quite strong, on the back of the door a bit of ally checkerplate to sandwich the door skin.

I can't see any real advantage of a frame fixed to the van door hinges (other than to avoid holes in the van doors) as the frames mount to the door side of the hinge and not the frame side, so the weight is effectively still on the door hinge and hinge pins.

I trick I saw on another van which I thought a good idea was to mount the wheel "dish side" out. This provided storage space for tow rope and old waterproof clothes etc., handy when changing the tyre as it is always raining when I have to do it!.

John
 
i have done this on an old work van i used 2 pieces of unistrut like this piece on inside of door with bolts through and piece on the outside fitted vertical same length as the diameter of wheel this is the stuff in the link
41mm x 21mm 1.5mm Single Slotted Channel (3m) i might even be able to sort you some out
 
hi joguk.
the reason is some doors rip their outer skin off with the weight of the wheel.
vw use the same system as yours .(well not vw .the after market .vw dont like you putting wheels up front on the front panel. spoils the crumple zone.)bumper mount is their recommendation. some use the later system i use the later on my mitsy .handy for blocks of wood etc for jacking on . if possible better to use the hinges but do the later system and gain some storage space.but all is easy made .
 
jogguk said:
I trick I saw on another van which I thought a good idea was to mount the wheel "dish side" out. This provided storage space for tow rope and old waterproof clothes etc., handy when changing the tyre as it is always raining when I have to do it!.

John
Click to expand...

great idea, never thought about using the bowl like this. thanks for sharing. perfect place for the horrible yellow water proofs perfect for changing a wheel as you say in the rain and in the dark.....:dance:
 
vwalan said:
hi joguk.
the reason is some doors rip their outer skin off with the weight of the wheel.
QUOTE]

Good point:egg: Should have said the reinforcing plate on the inside should be big enough to cover the flat flange of the door frame ribs to door skin contact areas. (or weld in some extra ribs)

Thule used to make a very good bike/ski rack designed for 4 X4's that would fit to rear door mounted wheels. It fitted to the mounting studs behind the wheel so could be used with or without the wheel in place (I have a PDF file info sheet on it). Two birds with one stone so to speak:lol-053:

John
Click to expand...
 
another method is to keep the passenger side rear door permanently closed,then a metal suport could be taken down to the cross-member along the base of the doors.this could be done with bolts so you could open up the door at some time, i don't think any towbar attachments i have seen would take the weight of a wheel
 
Definitely food for thought. I will let you all know how I get on.
Cheers
 
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