I just built my son a roof rack for his 1998 Cherokee. I made it with 3/4" EMT and it turned out pretty good. I was wondering what those out there that have a spare mounted to their roof racks used to secure the spare to the roof rack and how do you keep it locked? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Picture of your roof rack tire mount would be great. My son's will be holding a 31" tire.

 

I used the mount off a yj got it for $5

 

Might be something here from my thread that might help.
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f58/se...e-tire-107680/

 

the yj mount sould work fine and if you want to lock it just use a bike lock

 

Both good ideas. Thanks. How did you secure the YJ spare tire mount?

 

Here is mine pretty simple just an all thread welded to a plate that rubber bit and a wing nut. It's coming down though. Since I have been stuck in two parking garages now and the truck is only lifted 3.5" I have a 6.5" lift on the way from rustys and don't want to have to avoid parking garages when I head into the city.

 

I welded it to the middle and it will support up to 37s! I used regular lug nuts to keep it tied down plus you now have spares but if you are still nervous you can ratchet strap it to the side rails

 

It also has bolt locations you can line up with a cross member if you don't want to weld it

 

i just used 2 ratchet straps crossed to hold my 36 inch spare up there.
but i wonder if the conduit is strong enough if ever in a collision.

twist the straps to keep them from humming at highway speeds.

 

You learn somethin new every day, never thought of that. I hate that damn noise.

 

yup, i just twist them once.

 

Moved to Chat.

 

I use a ratchet strap. Cheap, effective, and easy to remove/relocate tire if needed.

I haul all sorts of stuff on my rack, plywood, steel, lumber, tree branches, firewood, etc. It's nice to not have a fixed spare tire mount to limit the usefulness of your rack.

 

I used about a 10" length of 1/2" thick angle iron. Drilled 6 holes for 3 u-bolts to go through it, and one larger hole in the center. In the center I ran a length of all-thread, double-nutted on each side and secured the tire to it with the factory spare tire hardware. Cost me about $8 in stainless u-bolts.

I also ran a cable lock between the holes of the wheel and the roof rack. I can shake the entire car with the setup.

Let me know if you want pictures...all of this stuff can be bought at your local hardware store and installed in less than an hour with a drill.

 

Pix?