Spare Tire Attachment Conversion

Spare Tire Attachment Conversion:
Converting from Bolts to Lugnuts:
If you haven't discovered how truly heavy your spare tire is, you soon shall. Flat tires are an ever present hazard. If you are, like me, one of the ones who has converted to larger than stock tire sizes, you also know how heavy the new tires are. For most people, mounting and removing the spare from the Amigo (Rodeo Sport) tire carrier is not that big of a deal. Isuzu was thoughtful enough to include a small tire holder to assist you in doing so.

However, if you ever plan on using Thule's "Spare Me (part number 943)" spare tire bike carrier, you must remove the "shelf" that Isuzu includes with the spare tire carrier.

This, of course, now presents a problem, as you must now, not only support the weight of the tire, but also attempt to line up the tire and the bike carrier's mounting plate all at once. A task that is merely hard for two people, is now down right nigh impossible for one person to accomplish.

Having had to struggle with this one too many times (I've had tire puncture issues this year), I decided to take my cue off of what KeithE did to Locomigo. Keith converted his spare tire carrier from a bolt-on to a stud and lug nut

Here's a list of what you will need and where to get it:

• 19mm socket and ratchet or wrench
• Torque wrench
• 22mm socket and ratchet or wrench
• QTY. 3 of 2 inch long bolts, size M12 (Very Fine- 1.50 thread pitch) from Pep Boys for $0.99 a piece.
• QTY. 3 of M12 (Very Fine- 1.50 tread pitch) lug nuts- Pep Boys part number 98965.1 at $1.99 a piece

Here's what you need to do:

The Amigo spare tire carrier comes with 3 bolt holes with nuts tap-welded on the inside to carry your spare tire. Take the 19mm socket and ratchet or torque wrench and undo the bolts that are holding you spare tire onto the carrier. Carefully remove the bolts and the spare tire. Then take the new bolts and thread them through from the back of the spare tire carrier. They also have 19mm heads. Run them all the way through and torque them to about 110lbs.

After these are secure, you can now remount the spare tire and fasten the tire to the spare tire "studs" using the 22mm socket and ratchet. After you've remounted the tire torque the spare tire lug nuts to 65-70 lbs. You know have a much cleaner look to your spare tire and the ease of mounting and removing the spare is greatly improved.

- Dave Chang