Shorter rear spare tire mount available anywhere?

[Bobs29ModelA]

I have a '29 Sport Coupe, with a reproduction "early" luggage rack on the rear (not the usual more-available chrome-slatted one). I discovered yesterday that I am unable to remove the spare tire should I need it, as the rack is about 1-1/2" too close to the spare, to work it up and out.

Now, I did notice that the original rear spare tire mount is kinda long, positioning the spare tire a good 2" out farther than it really needs to be.

While I've temporarily moved the entire luggage rack outwards a bit, it looks like its sticking way too far out the back, and I'd like to get it moved back into its original mounting position. With this said, I was trying to figure-out a way to instead move the spare tire a couple of inches closer to the rear body, as an alternative way to resolve this problem.

So, my question is this... are there perhaps aftermarket mounts offered at any of the online hotrod resources, that might hold the spare tire a couple of inches closer to the body? Or, since my original mount appears to be made of cast iron, is it even possible to have that piece modified (as in having a 2" chunk removed and welded back together)?

Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

[28ACoupe]

Removing 2" and then rewelding is very possible even if it is cast iron. Though, I suspect it is actually cast steel.

Anyways, to weld it up, you need to preheat it and use a high nickle rod on a stick welder to get it done according to the books. However, I have welded cast iron with a standard Mig and mix gas in the past.

You could also braze it back together. Just be sure to use enough flux.

[Bruce,Upstate NY]

When originally available in the era, the racks were used on cars with the spare in the fender

[Dick Carne]

You might consider whether a set of rear bumper extensions would work for your application. I've used a set on both our '29 touring car and '29 town sedan, but both of these cars have fender wells and the purpose of the bumper extensions, in these instances, was to push the bumper out beyond the rear-most edge of the trunk. The ones that I am most familiar with are actually three pieces: a center "spring-shaped" piece, and a separate extension for each side. Mike's Affordable used to carry these as Part No. A17777EX (I'm not sure if they still do or not though). These extensions moved the rear bumper out another 3-4 inches on my cars. One other point to consider though is that the use of this type of extension will not work with the typical bumperettes originally used with rear-spare mounted cars, but would instead require a full rear bumper instead.

[ursus]

Why not simply try a 1930-31 coupe/roadster spare tire mount? It is shorter and looks otherwise the same.

[Mike V. Florida]

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Try Bert's in denver.

I used the luggage rack extensions.

[Bobs29ModelA]

Great ideas, all of them, and I thank you all for the input. I think the idea I will now look into more, however, is the idea that "ursus" suggested; that is, possibly using a 1930-31 coupe/roadster spare tire mount... IF that is truly shorter than the one on my '29, that might do the trick... especially if the 3 mounting holes might still perfectly line-up with the existint factory mounting points!

Thanks again, guys, for your suggestions!

[Bobs29ModelA]

As a follow-up (and closure) to my spare tire mount issue, I just wanted to share that I looked into the shorter 1930-1931 mount, and found out from a couple of sources that it was only an inch shorter than mine. This would not work for me, as I needed a total of 2 inches removed from the length of my original mount, in order to easily be able to remove my spare tire without interfering with my early-style luggage rack.

I also consulted with 4 local machine shops, all of whom were reluctant to try to cut and weld (or braze) this piece, due to their opinion that it was either cast-iron or low-grade steel, and they could not guarantee a strong weld.

With my goal being to NOT have to extend the luggage rack out any further (to allow me to easily remove the spare tire, in case of a flat), my only option was to shorten my existing mount piece by two inches, as I had originally planned, but now by also using an inner support pipe and shims, along with strong bolts), since welding or brazing did not seem to be available to me. I therefore undertook this DIY project today, and am happy to report that I am satisfied with using my own creativity to make this happen.

Basically, I made two perfectly-straight hacksaw cuts, removing exactly two inches of pipe from the piece and making it into two separate pieces. I then inserted a large pipe nipple (about 4" long) that was just slightly undersized, into the inside of the mount, along with some shims. I then drilled two holes through both the two mount pieces and through the pipe now hidden inside, and installed two high-grade stainless-steel bolts and nuts. I also intentionally bored the holes ever so slightly out of alignment, so that force was needed to insert the bolts... which then also forced the pulling of the two separate pieces of the mount unit very tightly together.

Once that was done, I then added a little bit of bondo to help blend-in the new joint that was created by all this; sanded it down and then gave the piece a few coats of glass black and clear-coat.

Once I reinstalled it all, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the rumble seat, when open, is now still safely a full inch away from even touching the spare tire (it's naughahyde cover, actually); yet the tire also now seems to be even a little more solid (since a full 2 inches of length have been removed from the mount... meaning it may now be subject to even less vibration, since the tire is now no longer sticking-out as far as it once had been).

Only time will tell how this all pans out, but other than having a couple of bolt heads visible on the top and bottom, it looks pretty much like it did before, and I don't mind the bolt heads showing, since this approach seems to have easily solved my dilemma.

My thanks again to all who took the time to offer different approaches to my situation!

[Marvin/TN]

When I got my 30 Model A one of the ears on the mount was broken. I had a garage weld it back on, Lasted for over 55 years now so I think it will be OK with no worries about it breaking.

[Bobs29ModelA]

Hi, I can appreciate that; however, since the four machine / welding shops in my area all refused to give it (welding) a try, it kind of left me in a quandry, without much choice other than to come up with some other way for me to do it on my own. They all seemed overly concerned about the "low-quality" of the steel used in the mount, and were afraid to try welding it for me. One of the shops said that, if they did even try doing it, they would have to charge me $100 for their efforts... whereas I spent about $10 on the parts I needed to effect my own solution.

I did notice, however, that it did only take me about 5 minutes to do each of the two cuts of the mount, plus another 10 minutes to drill all the holes in the mount... possibly indicating that the steel was indeed pretty "soft"... whereas I had a heck of a time drilling the additional holes into the galvanized steel pipe hidden inside (it took me about 15 - 20 minutes apiece, using a multitude of bits; the steel was that hard)!

So, there might indeed be something to their opinions about the mount being made of a softer steel; however, it still seems odd to me that the didn't feel they could adequately re-weld the two pieces back together!

[28ACoupe]

What they were telling you was that they didn't want to do the job. Steel can only get just so soft before it is just straight iron and even iron can be welded. The bottom line is they didn't want to be bothered with jigging it up to make the cuts, doing the welding, and then making it look reasonable.

[Bobs29ModelA]

Yes, you are most likely correct; I see that now, in retrospect!

[Gary Karr]

You could have also looked for an earlier 1928 Coupe rear tire mount, which is at least one inch shorter than the '29 style.

[Bobs29ModelA]

Yes, I had also looked into that as well, but I really needed the full 2-inch difference in length, to assure plenty of clearance while removing the spare tire with the luggage rack in place. Anything less and I'd possibly find myself having to "work" the tire a bit against the rack to barely squeeze it out. It therefore seemed to me to make more sense to go for the maximum by removing the full 2" that I knew I could get away with....

[CarlG]

On my side mount spare, I drove the studs out and welded nuts on the backside. Then made studs out of the acorn wheel nuts by cutting the heads off of bolts and screwing them in with red locktite. (This is all covered in an article published in one of the national club magazines). This gained me an inch when mounting the spare. That might work on the rear mount as well.