VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Trucks and Vans Tire carrier and and hardware

All you truck dudes out there. I am looking for an original nut and bolt that holds the spare tire carrier togeather on a 53 3100 truck. I am haveing one hell of a time trying to find one. It has a T at the top about 1" X 1/4 X 2" and is about 8" long.
The threads are the same as the lug nut. It has a weird nut on the end that that is kind of a funnel on one end and a lugnut ono the other end and screws on to the 8" bolt and tightens the tire carrier down. I wonder what people did with all these parts back in the 50's. Thanks in advance. :( :(

Oscar, do you have a picture of your carrier? I'm trying to put one together. The T-bolt on mine is a 7/16" rod 8" long with the 1/4" x 1" x 1 3/4" plate welded to it has a 1/2-13 thread rolled onto the first 2 1/2".
The other bolt is a washer head hex bolt, 9/16" x 8 3/4" long and has 9/16-18 thread cut on the end for 4". The nuts are not the original ones so I can't help you out there. The head is a 7/8" hex.

Is there anything bolted to the 2hole x 4hole bolt pattern in the center of your carrier?? I'm assuming it has something to do with holding the rim/tire on the carrier arm.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny, I sent you a PM and there are two carriers in the picture. My carrier is in the bottom picture. If you have a 1950 truck then the tire carrier will be different then a 1953. I hope this helps...Oscar

Can you send me the picture too? I've just located a used '54 side tire carrier and will try to install it this week or next.

As you describe it, the bolt sortof reminds me of the ones used to mount the fender to the floorboard. Sorry I can't find a picture.

The nut you're talking about sounds like a standard lug nut, but the "stock" kind they would put on a truck- it doesn't have the fancy "sealed" end (like an acorn nut).

here are some pics of my 54 side mount spare tire carrier.

Hello Lyngomes, the tire carrier I am talking about goes under the bed of the truck. I wish I had a side tire carrier. Anyway Greg sent you smoe real nice pictures that I'm sure will help you with your project. Thanks...Oscar

THANKS! THANKS! THANKS! (many times over!)

I wonder what people did with all these parts back in the 50's. Thanks in advance. :( :( [/quote]

Oscar, here's what happened to most of the parts back in the 50's! Most of our trucks (48-54) were bought to be farm trucks, which meant that they spent most of the time in a field, mired up in mud. If you had a flat, where was the spare? Under the truck, mired up in mud! Most farmers, including my grandfather, 3 uncles, many cousins, finally dug the spare out of the mud, cussed the spare tire carrier (threw it in the ditch) and carried the spare in the back of the truck after that! Chevy finally got smart in '53 and came up with with the fender mounted spare and everyone was happy again!

Not sure if it helps, but if you need an idea for something that'll work, here it is. You've probably got it under control anyway.
When cleaning off the differential this weekend, I had a good look at my tire carrier under the bed. There are two bolts that hold the bar on. one was obviously not original - it was a piece of all-thread. one end (the one closest to the bed) just had a nut, the other end (closest to the ground) had a wing nut. The other side looked very old, but I have no idea if this makes it original. It had a nut on the top and another nut on the bottom. The nuts didn't look like anything special.

Lyn Gomes

Thanks lyngomes and I finally do have it under control now that I did a bunch of research. Ken, why didn't those farmers just call Triple A when they had a flat? Thanks guys for all the help...Oscar