Rear wheel carrier

Some of you might know that i have been fiddling with the issue of what to do with the spare wheel since i bought Betty last year. I started with the wheel on a roof rack which was great except for I found it hard to park in France, Italy and Spain due to the number of height restrictions. I also had a 25% surcharge put on me by the IW ferry company due to being classed as over height.

So i looked on the net and Ian at Brazilian Campers sent me a link for a Landrover unit which could be 'fettled' to fit.

After a number of months carting the wheel around inside the camper i finally decided to take the plunge and buy a unit.

The first stage was to try to decide how to fit the wheel and to make this easier i made a template

I tried to use the existing wheel mount position the same as Landrover, but cutting the studs off and trying to position the carrier only showed that this wasnt going to work as it blocked the number plate

So out came the angle grinder and with fingers crossed i cut the Landy wheel holder off.

As the Landy unit comes with straight backing plates the next job was to try to ensure that the two fixing positions could be altered so that they were the same as  the body shape. To do this i made up two body templates

I spoke to a local fabricator who agreed to do the welding mods but suggested i make patterns where possible

I also reduced the size of the bottom bracket

This would make it easier to change its shape, i also cut a groove in readiness for it to me bent

The wooden patterns were great as i was able to bend the steel inner brackets by using a lump hammer and the twisting with mole grips once held in a vice. This gave the fabricator a pattern to follow for the important bottom bracket

The top bracket was worked on with the angle grinder and gradually took the shape of the bodywork

The fabricator returned the plate with three bolts all welded in position ready for the fit up

The fit was slightly tricky as there is a cavity where one fixing needs to be so the top bracket was modified along with the rear bracket so two fixings could be made just clear of the cavity. Eventually an m8 rivnut was fitted in the cavity area to give a firm anchor point

The carrier was supported on the wooden bottom body pattern to space it above the rear bumper and for the locking handle to clear the rear fog light.

I painted it with dulux metalshield primer and top coat, using a small sponge roller at the end to get a good finish.

As stainless bolts and captive nuts are in plentiful supply here from chandelery oulets i used these for all fixings. When fully fitted the unit locks when closed against the vehicle and when fully open so no danger of the wheel swinging back when on a slope, also no need for a gate latch fitting to keep it closed.

Downsides, it does partially obscure the offside reversing light, the locking unit has play in the mechanism so it can be moved when locked. This can be eliminated by tightening the bottom nut.
It is just out of square so i am going to mod the bottom locking slot so it sits perfectly square.

Lastly costs- £155 for the carrier inc postage, £90 for welding, rivnut fixing and two tube bungs, £15 for paint, £7 for stainless bolts, £3 for wheel bolts. Plus some sweat and tears.........

I feel it is a very good carrier and definitely a cost effective alternative to the Danbury item over £200 more.

Hope this info helps you if you decide to do the same

Looks like a good, sturdy job. Particularly like it that you can lock it in the open position, thanks for sharing the process.

Yeah, thanks for sharing - good job

Ok so the lastthing to do was to get the wheel to sit square to the back of the camper. This was acheived by cutting the bottom bracket and then fitting a new steel locking template on the top of the bracket with four shallow headed bolts and captive nuts

As you can see the wheel now sits square to the rear and the screw in rubber bump stop was cut down so that it just touches the door when the wheel is locked in place. Job done. Now what's next?