Spare Tire Carrier Lock

[tucsonjwt]

What are you guys using for locking the standard spare tire carrier? I previously had a long shackle padlock but can't find it now. The padlocks I see at the local stores seem to be too narrow to accommodate the thickness of the carrier and still catch the hole in the wing of the nut on the bottom. I ran my old lock up vertically through the hole in the nut and into the hole in the carrier support - the key of the padlock was on top of the carrier - that was the only way I could get it to work. The few wider shackle padlocks I have seen are too short to make it past the carrier bar.

[tucsonjwt]

I used a long two piece padlock from Walmart. I ran the padlock up from the bottom and trough the hole in the nut and the carrier bracket. The nut won't turn very far because the padlock rubs against the tire.

[hatzie]

Thieves are stealing spare tires or the spare carriers off pickup trucks?

[tucsonjwt]

Yes. I had someone almost succeed in getting the spare of my 76. The nut was loosened most of the way off but not completely - must have been scared off by someone/something. I found this out when the last couple of threads worked loose and the carrier dropped while I was making a sharp left turn. The runaway spare almost crashed into a plate glass storefront window. Tucson has a lot of theft/vandalism/graffiti - unless you live in the one percenters neighborhoods - even some crime there (stealing mail/robbing expensive houses.) Big cities have crime - metro Tucson is about 500K population I think, Pima county is about 1.000.000.

[badchevy]

My 87 has the factory lock. It has a small plate followed by a nut (this is after the eyelet nut) then it's covered by a locking cover. Sorry, currently don't have a pic of the setup but can take/post if needed.

[Axle]

I ran a chain over the frame and a padlock through the eye and chain ends.

Alex.

[badchevy]

Here are pics of what I was talking about in an earlier post.

[MidwestMan]

I don't have one at all, Guess I need to find a donor from a junk yard or fab my own. I'm running 33/12.5's so I don't know if the factory one would work.

[tucsonjwt]

I like the factory lock but I don't care for the extra nut and plate to rust and possibly get stuck on the threads of the bolt, but it seems that all spare tire locks are designed that way.

[jetmech85]

They stole my '84 from the parking lot at work by cutting the threaded bolt. This was back in the late eighties but thieves are still around. Put a length of EMT over the threads.

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by tucsonjwt

Yes. I had someone almost succeed in getting the spare of my 76. The nut was loosened most of the way off but not completely - must have been scared off by someone/something. I found this out when the last couple of threads worked loose and the carrier dropped while I was making a sharp left turn. The runaway spare almost crashed into a plate glass storefront window. Tucson has a lot of theft/vandalism/graffiti - unless you live in the one percenters neighborhoods - even some crime there (stealing mail/robbing expensive houses.) Big cities have crime - metro Tucson is about 500K population I think, Pima county is about 1.000.000.

Dang. Glad I'm out in the sticks.
I have a 1000' from the gate to the house and the driveway isn't high speed friendly.
This is on the gate. I mean it. Everyone knows I do.