Rear door/hatch spare tire mount

[connor_warren59]

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.

[joetiger]

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.
_________________
Joe T.

'86 NAHT Vanagon GL Syncro/ supercharged ABA 2.0 "Pigpen"
'91 Wolfsburg Carat "Barchetta"
'02 Baja-ish Beetle "Bubbles"

"get metaphysical with it. if it's simply a means to get to and from places, it will let you down. if it becomes your zen, it can't fail you." -dabaron

"Still, it's good to be afield."--VWagabond

Justice for Megan: https://linktr.ee/justiceformegantrussell

[Red Ryder]

No bueno without significant bracing inside the liftgate.
_________________
“Most everyone’s mad here. You may have noticed I am not quite all there myself.” — Cheshire Cat, Adventures of Alice in Wonderland

“Scarlett” — 1990 Vanagon Carat Wolfsburg Edition (Tornado Red)
“Nigel” — 1999 Jaguar XK8 convertible (Alpine Green Metallic)

[connor_warren59]

[joetiger]