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Need help from anyone with a rear tire carrier. I am getting ready to
install a rear tire carrier and have no problem with installing the carrier
to the car, however, having a problem with how to mount the tire on it.

How do you mount a tire on the carrier?

Here are some pictures of what I have.

http://type181registry.com/Carrier.JPG

http://type181registry.com/Wheel.JPG

Cheers,

David

David, Although I do not have a tire carrier on either of my Things, I do have one on my Bronco II It is very similar. I checked out how that tire mounts and I uspect that the Thing tire mounts the same way. I looked at all the pictures I have of carrriers on a Thing. I suspect that the wheel must mount backwards. That is the outside surface of the wheel goes toward the body of the car. The curve of the top bracket seems to be the exact shape of curved portion that is opposite of the lug bolt hole. If I am correct, the stud bolt goes through the stud mounting hole. I would bet that the hardware that secures the spare tire under the hood mounts in the exact manner to the tire carrier. The original VWOA brochure for the installation of the tire carrier is a pdf file on your RoMTOC CD. It is in the Thing brochure folder. Although I do not have a tire carrier to give confirmed information, I hope my thoughts are of some value in solving your issue. Best ot you, K-mann

If you can be patient for a while (month or so) I'll be installing a VWoA one...

T.

Dr. David,

My '73 had a carrier on it when I purchased it. I removed it for some basic reasons: 1) the durn thing reflects engine noise back into the cab. The car is louder. 2) It seemed to act like a parachute and create drag. 3) You should see the mess it made of the engine lid! One swing bracket rests on the bumper and just above the tail light, while the other station bracket mounts to the lid. The weight and vibrations actually fatigued the metal and began to tear it.

Maybe the previous owner didn't mount the carrier correctly. If I were to put it back on, I would definately reinforce the engine lid sheet metal, not with bolts and washers, but with actually welding a thicker piece of metal to the lid to reinforce the whole lid not just the mounting points. That would help distribute the weight and stress over a larger area. I would also make sure the screws and brackets for the lid latch were well secured. The bumper suffers from a hole in it. The mounting point above the tail light and to the right, showed no sign of fatigue.

don