Wayward spare tire and bracket

[HABBERDABBER]

One thing I lost going down the Hi-way

I helped a buddy move some items his girlfriend left behind when she moved off to Seattle to live with her sisters. I had a crappy Ford 150, with a bit of a rusted cargo box. Going up a steep hill, the tail gate popped open from the splayed box, and an antique walnut dresser dropped out the rear and landed on its top. Looking back in the rear view mirror, I spied woman's undergarments spewing out of the now opened drawers and a spinning dresser careening down the highway.

The dresser mostly survived, but the top looked like it was sanded with 4 Grit sandpaper. We didn't bother with the undergarments, and retrieved the dresser and got out of there.

On second recollection, there was also the time the full and complete exhaust system dropped off a 1972 Volvo 145 wagon I had, from the engine exhaust manifold to the tailpipe. I still recall a yellow Chevy Camaro, following behind me, doing some impressive evasive driving along the highway shoulder to avoid collision with that spinning mass of metal.
Like the undergarments, I never stopped to pick things up.
I hope I've matured some, since those days, and would now clean up my mess.

 

[Iowa Dave]

I had a huge dog house for my shorthair. We decided to move about a hundred miles south to a new job opportunity. With a Herculean effort I loaded it into my 14 foot aluminum boat and hit the road. It was a windy day in April and when I came out from behind a row of trees about 80 miles from home a gust of wind caught the boat and sucked that doghouse about 15 feet into the across the adjacent lane and it crashed up onto a weedy bank along the road. It exploded into 6 large pieces of plywood which immediately became garter snake habitat. I did not stop.
Nobody got hurt. But that was the last time I ever hauled a load without it being tarped and strapped down. I can still see those pieces of plywood sailing
through the air.
40 years later I stopped into a convenience store before going to work. Having a coffee was a good friend of mine who had retired from the city. It was a Friday and I asked him about weekend plans. He had a nice gold wing and said he planned on an afternoon ride. That night I turned on the news. He had been killed just north of our home town, a mattress had blown out of a pickup bed and cleaned him off the gold wing and onto the paving. Sobering for sure. Another time I’ve been very lucky in my life.

 

[CharlesinGA]

On my RAM truck, I installed a inch wide ratchet strap diagonally across the spare. I found sturdy, convenient places to hook the ends of the strap, so it ran right across the middle of the tire. I put a wire tie around the ratchet to keep it closed (even though it has a mechanical lock) and another wire tie to bundle the excess strap.

Anytime I drop the spare, I pull the cable all the way out and clean it and wipe it with oil and spray some Kroil or similar into the mechanism.

My trailer spare has a mount I have not been able to find anywhere. It sits on top of the 4x4 bumper and has square U-bolts that go under the bumper and up thru the base plate. All of this talk of losing spares makes me wonder if I should not make a 3/16 thick square plate to fit under the bumper and use 4ea 4½ or 4-3/4 grade 8 bolts and self locking nuts rather than the U bolts.

Charles

 

[Ron in BC]

I can still see those pieces of plywood sailing through the air.

I have a mental image of plywood flying through the air also. In the days of clamp on roof racks I was carrying 6 sheets of thin plywood across a busy bridge. Wind tore the whole works, roof racks and all, and the plywood sailed upwards and then came straight down like a knife edge. I watched in horror as it just missed the car behind.

Next time I'm riding my Goldwing I'll no doubt remember your comment. But I'm already watching everything around me, including loose loads in pickups.

It sits on top of the 4x4 bumper and has square U-bolts that go under the bumper and up thru the base plate. All of this talk of losing spares makes me wonder if I should not make a 3/16 thick square plate to fit under the bumper and use 4ea 4½ or 4-3/4 grade 8 bolts and self locking nuts rather than the U bolts.

Charles

You're already ahead of the game with U bolts. The major weakness in the ETI design is two bolts. Good for fore and aft strength but not side-to-side racking. Larger bolts and fender washers are an improvement.

Ron

 

[Iowa Dave]

I think about Jon Sadler every time I see a mattress in a ditch, on the shoulder or median. Jon was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, and later aviation director for the City of Cedar Rapids. I rode with him in the city’s helicopter a few times and the Navajo twin engine plane we
had on some out of town trips. How ironic to have thousands of
flight hours and to be killed by a flying mattress.
Iowa Dave