Swing Out Spare Tire Carrier

In my restoration efforts today I removed the spare from the SOSTC in preparation for painting. I noticed a painted over sticker on the arm and in the spirit of Jeep archeology I carefully cleaned off the paint. Behold, another Whitco OEM part. I wondered about the carrier because from what I knew, the standard spare location was on the side and was my SOSTC an aftermarket item or what. Again, nothing earthshaking but some more documentation for the restorer.

 

That's one I've never seen before .
Looks similar to the '76 and newer style but wider.
I am pretty sure all the tire carriers back then were aftermarket dealer installed items
They show in the sales literature but were made by outside vendors, mainly whitco.
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My 77 Jeep Special Equipment book shows this tire carrier. It reuses the side tire carrier unlike the factory CJ7 tire carriers with have the tire carrier part welded to them.

 

Here's some pics. The Jeep in the picture looks like a 76.

 

Yeah, I noticed that the wheel mount was the same dimension as the side carrier. Looks like the PO bumped the spare while mounted on the side and then opted for the rear carry. I kind of like both spare mounting methods. I wish that cool little tailgate was exposed but the side mounted spare looks pretty vulnerable. Guess that's why they moved them.

 

That tire carrier is hard to find. I had one lined up to buy but it got stolen from the guys property before I got it. Your lucky that you still have the marker light on you tire carrier. I have been looking for one but they're like hen's teeth.

 

Atroesch

The one you show in the brochure looks the same as what I have except mine is much rustier.

 

Yes, easy to steal, just pull the cotter pins on the right side hinges and off you go. Not much good without the other hardware. If mine goes missing I know of one prime suspect.

 

I'm thinking of trying to find one of these... Whitco/Kayline/Husky...





I've never seen one in person, just pics, and I wonder how securely it latches or if it rattles excessively?

 

^I had one of those for sale in the classifieds here for a loooong time...finally sold it last week to a member in WA. I don't think it would rattle much-it has the adjustable stops (SE207 5313 in the above pic) that should prevent that, but I never actually used it to see how it worked.

 

Yes, the elusive factory side marker light. That's the first one of those I've seen in modern times.

I had one of the Whitco paper-clip style carriers on my first CJ-6, and it's not really up to carrying a larger-than-stock tire. Maybe the later model made with rectangular tubing is stronger.

The Kayline tire/can rack, made from smaller tuning but with larger mounting plates, seemed to be stronger.

 

The side marker has some crackage where the bulb socket locks in but it looks like it is still use-able. I think I've seen that type of twist lock socket around. I'm thinking of looking for a dual filament socket so I can make it a high mounted stop light. As you can see, I need some tail light work. Oh boy, another quest.