Among those odd-n-end projects I’ve been meaning to complete is the tire carrier.  Since I don’t foresee installing a rear seat in the near future, I decided to build a carrier that would blend in with the roll cage in a way that the tire would be inside the rear area when I install a top (another odd-n-end to-be-done project).

My first decision was to utilize the same strategy for the carrier I used for the rear view mirror:  cut a piece of roll bar tubing in half and use that as a mount to tie into the roll cage. I also wanted the carrier removable in case I wanted to add a rear seat and put the spare tire on the rear bumper.

In this pic I cut a section of tubing in half and then cut one of the halves into two pieces:

After widening them slightly, I have tested all three pieces on the roll bar:

On the longer of the three pieces, I have fashioned two sections of tube that will attach to the piece:

This tire mount was in terrible shape, so I decided to cut off the top piece and work from it:

Here, I have cut the mounting plate and have prepared some rectangular tubing for attachment to the plate.

You can see here that I have welded the tubes onto the half tubing.  I also ground the square tubing pieces and welded those onto the round tubes.  In addition, I welded the carrier plate onto the tubing pieces. Finally, I have added the lower bar and cut the tubes so they will conect to the bar:

Here are some pics of the finished product.  Again, the carrier plate isn’t perfect, but I saw no need to waste it and it works perfectly fine.