TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Jul 29, 2025 12:54 pm

Hey all,

I’m just wondering if anyone has had any luck mounting their spare tire to their rear hatch? I know the old VW bus had the tire mounted to the front sheet metal, and was just curious if anyone had used a similar mount to stick a spare on their rear hatch. I’ve got to be missing something here, but it seems like a relatively simple solution (hence why I feel like I’ve got to be missing something). I would assume if the bus nose sheet metal was fine for supporting a tire, that the rear hatch metal on the Vanagon would be fine, but I wasn’t sure if the bus nose was reinforced to handle the weight of the spare tire or not.

Tue Jul 29, 2025 2:23 pm

On my red van, the previous owner bolted a Smittybuilt jeep spare tire bracket on the rear hatch.

It bent and dented the sheet metal and ripped some of it away from the internal bracing.

You can see some of the denting here:

I would advise against it, but if you do it make sure you have some kind of internal backing plate. Although that's no guarantee against destroying the panel.

You're better off going with a swing-away from GW or RMW, or a Gary Lee rack:

https://vwrack.com/VanagonModularRack/VanagonModularLadder/VanagonModularRearLadder.htm

EDIT: Gary has a photo of my Syncro at the bottom of that page! I had no idea.

Tue Jul 29, 2025 3:17 pm

No bueno without significant bracing inside the liftgate.

Tue Jul 29, 2025 9:34 pm

joetiger wrote: On my red van, the previous owner bolted a Smittybuilt jeep spare tire bracket on the rear hatch.

It bent and dented the sheet metal and ripped some of it away from the internal bracing.

You can see some of the denting here:

I would advise against it, but if you do it make sure you have some kind of internal backing plate. Although that's no guarantee against destroying the panel.

You're better off going with a swing-away from GW or RMW, or a Gary Lee rack:

https://vwrack.com/VanagonModularRack/VanagonModularLadder/VanagonModularRearLadder.htm

EDIT: Gary has a photo of my Syncro at the bottom of that page! I had no idea.

This is exactly what I was looking for. I’m sorry about your van but I appreciate the response!

Wed Jul 30, 2025 7:58 am

connor_warren59 wrote:

This is exactly what I was looking for. I’m sorry about your van but I appreciate the response!

Glad to help!