Rear spare tire thoughts

[jsbihn]

Hey all,
I was wondering if anyone has seen or done anything more then the available inside rear driver side mount (OEM), or the exterior rear bumper mount (OEM), or the GOBI roof rack/basket mount for the rear spare tire?

I was thinking about different ways to carry it where it wasnt so obstructive (internal side = limits field of view, external = limits view, and roof rack = limits clearance).

I was thinking of dropping the tire on to the floor of the back, making a bolt to hold it in place, then fabricating a full cover over it so it will never be seen. It will look like a stock floor just elevated a few inches.
I was also wondering if anyone has mounted theirs under the h2 (like how most trucks have their spares mounted, when you have to lower a chain). Of course this wouldnt be on a chain.
I also thought that maybe, I would pull out the plastics on the inside drivers side wall. slide the tire into that cavity and then create new plastics or something around it. This would allow the tire to be more toward the outter body, and down more which would open up the rear windows viewing area.

Of course any suggestions would be great
if people have done things already i would really like to see them.

Thanks

[PaHumBug]

I have AAA, don't carry a spare, and keep my fingers crossed.

[jsbihn]

brave gamble
yet i want to make sure I dont have to wait especially if i am in the 100 or so miles between when i live and where i work, which is nothing but densely wooded road.

give your your idea does work well for cargo and view though :-)

I tend to do the same with my M3
no spare, just would have to wait for a tow truck

[HummerJim]

There were lots of threads on this when Hummer moved the spare tire to the back swing out carrier. Non SUT owners were happy moving it inside, while those with gobi racks found getting into home garages and parking garages impossible with a tire on the roof, plus it hurt highway mileage and aerodynamics ....if that's even possible to consider an H2 aerodynamic. Some people got rid of it altogether and started carrying one of those offroad tire inflater pumps and kits that have that gooey stuff in a cartridge that pumps it into the tire.....I have mixed feelings on those and when I'm miles from nowhere I put that green slime in my tires the border patrol uses.

[HummerMann]

Get yourself a C5 Corvette Z06 tire inflator kit if you get rid of your spare. The Z06 come without a spare to save weight and testing at Nurburgring determined it ran better on F1s than runflats so they put a tire inflator kit on every C5 Z06. They have a huge volume of "goo" they can pump in for those big Z06 rears and I've seen one used on an H2 at an event and it worked fine. They even come in a nice case and you can pick one up reasonably on fleeBay if you decide to get rid of the swing out.

[guruerror]

When I first bought my H2 it had an internal carrier. I wasn't a big fan of how it limited the width of the cargo I could insert through the rear hatch, so switched things around a bit.

I removed the tire and the internal carrier components and laid the spare flat in the bed of the cargo area (I somehow had secured it to one of the third row mounts in the floor, but can't remember exactly what I used). I then found a roof basket/rack that had roughly the same dimensions as the cargo area and fabbed angle iron legs to it so that it set over the spare like a little table to support other cargo. It worked great...

While this opened up the width of what I could put in the cargo area, it obviously limited the height of what I could carry...and precluded the use of the third row seat (but I don't have many friends, so I don't find myself needing to haul people all that often...LOL). It also opened up my field of vision...no spare in sight.

While it met my needs at the time I've since moved the tire to a modded external carrier and am most pleased with this configuration as I'd just rather have more internal space available.

One other thing to consider is that when I did this mod I was running the stock 35s. I believe it would work with a slightly larger tire (37 or 38) but can't say for sure.

[jsbihn]

guruerror,
do you have any pics of the lay flat setup?
do you have pics of the modded external carrier?

[guruerror]

Originally Posted by jsbihn

guruerror,
do you have any pics of the lay flat setup?
do you have pics of the modded external carrier?

Unfortunately...no. I've been looking through my old photos. I can't find a single one.

Sorry.

[seventwozero]

Originally Posted by guruerror

While it met my needs at the time I've since moved the tire to a modded external carrier and am most pleased with this configuration as I'd just rather have more internal space available.

One other thing to consider is that when I did this mod I was running the stock 35s. I believe it would work with a slightly larger tire (37 or 38) but can't say for sure.

If your referring to the modded carrier working with a 37+ sized tire, it does, although the extra width of the tire causes it to bump up against the carrier and not sit flat around the bolts.

I had a local shop chop mine and add 8" to the 'A' frame of it, the also angled it back towards the truck a couple degrees. I'm at work now, when I get some free time later I'll post a couple photos.

Coming from a truck that had the internal carrier, I'm pleased with the rear carrier. Up here, in the winter, the last thing I want to do is take a salty/sandy flat tire and throw it inside my clean interior, not to mention having to wrestle it onto that carrier inside. The added space is what I was after, and have accomplished that so I'm fairly content. Although, the swing out is a PITA if you are in and out of the back much, give and take I guess.

[guruerror]

Originally Posted by seventwozero

If your referring to the modded carrier working with a 37+ sized tire, it does, although the extra width of the tire causes it to bump up against the carrier and not sit flat around the bolts.

I had a local shop chop mine and add 8" to the 'A' frame of it, the also angled it back towards the truck a couple degrees. I'm at work now, when I get some free time later I'll post a couple photos.

Coming from a truck that had the internal carrier, I'm pleased with the rear carrier. Up here, in the winter, the last thing I want to do is take a salty/sandy flat tire and throw it inside my clean interior, not to mention having to wrestle it onto that carrier inside. The added space is what I was after, and have accomplished that so I'm fairly content. Although, the swing out is a PITA if you are in and out of the back much, give and take I guess.

Actually I was referring to when I had the tire inside, lying flat in the cargo area...that worked well with my stock 35s, I was saying that I don't know if it would have worked with a larger tire 'cause I don't remember how much space I had left around it once it was in.

I eventually nixed that idea and went with an external carrier which I had modded as you described. One of my favorite mods...and cheap...

[PaHumBug]

Originally Posted by jsbihn

brave gamble
yet i want to make sure I dont have to wait especially if i am in the 100 or so miles between when i live and where i work, which is nothing but densely wooded road.

give your your idea does work well for cargo and view though :-)

I tend to do the same with my M3
no spare, just would have to wait for a tow truck

Anymore it seems like flat tires while driving on the street is pretty uncommon. I've been driving H2's for about 7 years and never had a flat (knock on wood). So when I got the lifted one I skipped the spare, aside from the space it saves, it saves me a lot of money in extra rubber and rim. Years worth of AAA service.

[slippy]

When I get around to it I'm going to go to a weld shop and have them cut two 1 inch tubes and fab some brackets for the roof rails for the tire to sit on, then just throw a chain around it. Iv had the internal and external carrier they both have pros and cons. I was rollin without a spare for the past year but I had a blow out last week. Throw it on the roof and forget about it. Just don't go in parking garages.

[jsbihn]

Thats the issue my daily parking at work is only 7'1" in clearance.

btw what constitutes a blow out to you?
I was thinking about what the other guys said, and really I have only suffered a couple of flats where the tire itself is so far destroyed that it cannot be used to travel home on if fixed (ie. my M3 had a bubble that popped in the inner side wall, the tire on ex gf's car was shredded because she drove it to the cord, my old tundra ran over a piece of iron in the middle of the road and it jammed into the tire)

normally i have found that most flats are from slow leaks