Spare wheel carrier for 127
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It’s never straightforward.
I had the 8cyl petrol replaced with a 300tdi. So far so good. However the weight of the spare wheel had dished the bonnet and to stop it resting on one of the injector pipes part of the bonnet frame had to be peened back. And the spare could no longer stay on the bonnet.
The spare lived in the back for a while but this was not going to be satisfactory in
the long run. The only option would seem to be mounting it on the back, but the door
was in no way strong enough to support the wheel. A spare wheel carrier, mounted
to the door pillar, appeared to be the answer. Commercial carriers did not seem to be
capable of modification to suit the 127 and there was also some doubt as to whether the
pillar on its own was strong enough (it almost certainly was though, in retrospect) so some additional support was considered necessary.
A homebrew design evolved.
After some experimentation the design shown in the accompanying .pdf file (below) was adopted.
The door pillar support comprised a length of angle iron bolted to the outside of the
pillar and the wheel carrier bearings were welded to the door pillar support and took
the whole weight of the wheel. The mounting lugs, shown on the support pillar, were found
to be necessary so that the fixing bolts would be square through the door pillar and
the rubber door seal could still close properly. It was also found that various bits
of bracing /strengthening pieces were needed to keep the structure rigid when the wheel
was fitted. The bearings and box section steel were from an old cement mixer and the
angle sections mainly from an old bed!
Details of the construction are shown in the various accompanying photos including the
main support bearings, the wheel mounting and the hinge that attaches to the
door.
After it was assembled and fitted to the 127 it was found that door was not strong enough even to support the backwards/forwards movement of the wheel; it vibrated alarmingly. A support bracket was therefore made to fit the inside of the door (from some salvaged channel). It was bolted to the edges of the door and the internal hinge of the carrier bolted through to this bracket.
Hope this all makes sense!
The finished carrier with attached wheel is as shown and works; .
Click on the images below for a bigger picture.
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Spare wheel mount.
Attachment detail to the rear door.
Reinforcing on back of door.
The bearings.