spare wheel lifter

Hi, when we were out travelling only a couple of weeks ago we saw just that a guy had a small winch on the back of his off road camper with a swing out arm and a sling to put around the spare to lower it down . At the time I thought it was a good idea giving the weight of the spare
cheers Judy

JT,
A simple lifter like you suggest is relatively easy to make but be careful which boat winch you get. Most are designed with a ratchet system that works when you are winding in but free spool when not engaged. This can be quite dangerous when lowering a heavy wheel and can get away from you. There are both hand and power winches for small loads that are quite cheap and have the ability to control the out as well as in.

cheers

Have a look at this previous thread Heavy Wheel Lifter You will have to look through it for what you need because it is a combination of actually lifting the spare onto the spare carrier and lifting a wheel when changing it.
I made one for my van using galvanized water pipe and a spare wheel winch from a ute. I had to replace the chain with a longer one. My wheel and tyre is about 40kg.

I have seen a lifter on the back of a van that interested me.

It consisted of an "A" frame supporting the spare, pivoting from the lower end such that it could be swung down and the spare simply lifted or rolled off. When swinging back up you are only lifting half the weight of the spare and also do not have to fiddle to align it with the mounting studs.

It was fabricated from 25mm square tubing.

Hi JT,
saw this guy who had rigged up 3 large hooks, a couple of pulleys and some 10mm rope as a lift system. He put one hook and pulley onto the spare wheel, a hook on either side of the roof rack (one with pulley). Two minutes to set up, he had a counter weight (a 10ltr water container) and another 2 minutes had the tyre onto his roof rack with another 2 minutes to pack up.

Very simple, portable and usable anywhere. Can be used at the back or side of the vehicle as well.
regards

Thanks for all the responses.

We'll get one of the above sorted. If we go something flast I'll post it up for you to see.

Cheers

The winch is 5:1 with a clutch to stop over run when lowering. It can be driven with the wheel brace or a good battery drill and is fixed in position under the curved tube 'gantry'..
The cable runs up through the inside of the curved tube which pivots to each side so suit either wheel.
The wheels weigh 80kg each.



Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

This thread has prompted me to do something also. Spoke to a bloke yesterday who is making our steel side steps. I can pull a tyre up etc but cannot dead lift it.

The idea is to make up a removable inverted "L" system out of square steel tubing with a pulley that sits above the wheel and is mounted on the back of the wheel carrier.

The "L" consists of two parts, a one foot long piece of 1" x 1" section steel tubing that is bolted or welded to the wheel carrier and the rest of the "L" made from the "next size up" tubing that slips over the 1" section. A single pulley is hung off the top of the "L" and the tyre is lifted with a rope through the pulley. I cannot give pictures as it's not made nor even sketched as yet.

I am gong to get the actual "L" made from two pieces so that it can be taken apart and stored easily.

Put two strategically placed stirrups on the rope and you could "walk" it up by just stepping in the stirrups and pushing down and then the other one. This needs a little more thought. It may need two pulleys. Hmmmm.

Phil