Club 80-90 Forums

Having had a Bluebird Customs spare wheel carrier on the back of my Syncro for a couple of years, now find the welding is cracking and coming apart, threatening to deposit the wheel on the road. Not being able to afford a proper swing-away carrier my plan is now to obtain one of the simple brackets used to mount the spare on the front of a Bay Window van and fit it directly to the tailgate. Obviously this means the wheel will have to be removed every time the tailgate is opened (not very often) but I can live with that.

Are there any reasons why this wouldn't work, assuming it's mounted properly?

I'd probably mount it offset to one side on the upper metalwork on the tailgate, with a spreader plate on the inside.

Would it not be much easier to refurbish and repair the carrier you have at the moment?

The hinges may well be able to take the extra weight, but can the standard hinge take the shock-loads over the odd bump here and there; that's the issue. Try it, but keep a close eye on it... maybe that's a way forward?

RecoveringAcademic wrote:The hinges may well be able to take the extra weight, but can the standard hinge take the shock-loads over the odd bump here and there; that's the issue. Try it, but keep a close eye on it... maybe that's a way forward?

I wonder what the weight of a wheel, tyre and bracket is, compared to a bike rack with three or four bikes?

AdrianC wrote:

RecoveringAcademic wrote:The hinges may well be able to take the extra weight, but can the standard hinge take the shock-loads over the odd bump here and there; that's the issue. Try it, but keep a close eye on it... maybe that's a way forward?

I wonder what the weight of a wheel, tyre and bracket is, compared to a bike rack with three or four bikes?

I think three bikes would be heavier so I'm not really worried that the tailgate hinges can't take it (the tailgate is supported on the catch at the bottom as well in any case). Some people say that the bracket damages the front panel on a Bay so mounting it with a spreader plate behind will be essential.

The tailgate panel is not completely flat either so a packing piece may be required to 'fill-in' the space where the panel has a shallow channel pressed into it.

As for refurbishing the existing one, I wouldn't want to bother with it. I've never liked it since I first fitted it - it's not a good design or a well-made piece of kit. In fact, being as diplomatic as possible I'd say it's 'Norfolk and Goode'

AW

then can we have a picky of this abotion
mm

metalmick8y wrote:then can we have a picky of this abotion
mm

Think you misspelt the word you were looking for but if you've nothing helpful to say then please go and troll some other forum...

Trundler wrote:

metalmick8y wrote:then can we have a picky of this abotion
mm

Think you misspelt the word you were looking for but if you've nothing helpful to say then please go and troll some other forum...

fooooooook me I think you need to grow up there! MM is a valued member of the forum! I was gonna say post a pic up perhaps the blue bird thing could be repaired easily, especially as MM is a very high quality welder!

pray, why is requesting a picky a problem to you, I gather you havent been sharpened yet but hey
oh and for your knowledge the tailgate is not actually supported by the catch
regards mm

Mike.A troll

please go and troll some other forum

No point in spelling.grammar police on the net - on a hiding to nothing there. Mike doesn't mince his words but if the tailgate was a suitable or even sensible place to mount the spare wheel, everyone would be doing it. With panels often hard to come by and good doors/hatches in decline, mounting the wheel underneath has to be the right way to do it. If it doesn't fit, alter the carrier to make it fit. For that matter it has to be easier to adapt it than add strengtheners and drill holes in otherwise perfectly good body panels.

CovKid wrote:No point in spelling.grammar police on the net - on a hiding to nothing there. Mike doesn't mince his words but if the tailgate was a suitable or even sensible place to mount the spare wheel, everyone would be doing it. With panels often hard to come by and good doors/hatches in decline, mounting the wheel underneath has to be the right way to do it. If it doesn't fit, alter the carrier to make it fit. For that matter it has to be easier to adapt it than add strengtheners and drill holes in otherwise perfectly good body panels.

its a syncro, so the spare dont go under the front!
(its not macho if you cant see it)

Mocki wrote:its a syncro, so the spare dont go under the front!

Where did VW put it originally on a Syncro?

The spare does go under the front, but only if its a more or less standard size 14" spare. I've seen quite a few syncro drivers who use a Paulchen bike rack and attach their spare wheel there. They are far cheaper than spare wheel carriers and do the job without causing damage to the tailgate (well that is of course unless you bolt the bike rack to the tailgate) Here's one example:

metalmick8y wrote:pray, why is requesting a picky a problem to you, I gather you havent been sharpened yet but hey
oh and for your knowledge the tailgate is not actually supported by the catch
regards mm

Requesting a 'picky' is not the problem, I just don't know why it's neccessary to refer to the project as an "abotion" (I knew what you meant to say...). It's something you might get away with when talking to a mate but not an appropriate way to talk to a stranger.

Yeees, I obviously need to lighten up and start swearing at all and sundry, don't I?

I think, if the hinges were not up to the job, and the weight pulled the tailgate downwards, the catch would certainly be the next thing that would be supporting it, though that may not be a good thing.

As someone has already said, under the cab is the place for it and since my tyre is only 205/70x15 it may well fit there. I had a 195/70x15 under the cab on my previous 2WD Type 25.

So, I will now have a rethink about this "abotion" and consider other options. Thanks to those who contributed something useful to this thread.