Ok my question is, Has anyone relocated their spare tire to under the car?? I did a search and well the search sucks so I don't know if this question has been asked before but wanted to know if anyone has done it and if so do you have pictures?? I've been thinking about doing this myself but wanted to see if it has been done before.

I relocated mine to the garage... Having been under xBs more than a few times Im sure this could be done with some custom bracketry. I dont think it would be something easy though...

It can be done, but you need to relocate EVAP canister in addition to doing some serious bracket work. I would take bracket/winch setup from something like a Jeep and have a bodyshop weld it in. You would need to reinforce the metal where the bracket would mount also. It is a relatively easy project for a bodyshop.

Hmmm.... I like your idea! If you do, take pictures during the relocate. Thanks :)

If I end up doing this mod I will definetly take pictures. I need to take a look under the car this weekend and see what I can do. I'll probably draw things up for it if I end up doing it.

I think the biggest problem you will have is figuring out how to get the spare out when it's needed.

I think the biggest problem you will have is figuring out how to get the spare out when it's needed.

Thats what I'm thinking especially with having the box lowered...lol. I have an idea or 2 but need to see if they will work or not

I think the biggest problem you will have is figuring out how to get the spare out when it's needed.

Reactor pointed out that you could retro-fit the spare tire system from a Jeep or something. My husband's caravan minivan also has a "wench" type system that uses pullys and cable to hold the spare up next to the undercarriage. it is a piece of cake to get to the spare: You use the tire iron and rachet a couple of bolts that are INSIDE the rear of the vehicle. The cables lower the tire to the ground. Take a look at your mom's minivan to see how they work :P

Gaining access to the spare tire is MUCH easier than getting to the spare tire from... oh... say a Chevy pickup that uses a crossmember type of bar that holds the tire up.

Mind you, this is a full size spare on the minivan. I would look into some of the other undercarriage spare tire systems on smaller vehicles. I don't work on cars anymore so I would not know what to look at? Small-er pick up trucks? Small-er vans or wagons?

I think the biggest problem you will have is figuring out how to get the spare out when it's needed.

Reactor pointed out that you could retro-fit the spare tire system from a Jeep or something. My husband's caravan minivan also has a "wench" type system that uses pullys and cable to hold the spare up next to the undercarriage. it is a piece of cake to get to the spare: You use the tire iron and rachet a couple of bolts that are INSIDE the rear of the vehicle. The cables lower the tire to the ground. Take a look at your mom's minivan to see how they work :P

Gaining access to the spare tire is MUCH easier than getting to the spare tire from... oh... say a Chevy pickup that uses a crossmember type of bar that holds the tire up.

Mind you, this is a full size spare on the minivan. I would look into some of the other undercarriage spare tire systems on smaller vehicles. I don't work on cars anymore so I would not know what to look at? Small-er pick up trucks? Small-er vans or wagons?

I wasn't referring to the mechanism holding the wheel. I was referring to the amount of space from the bottom of the car to the ground. It would be a tight fit for a standard height car but Mooneyzs' is lowered so the wheel will probably not fit under the car much less him being able to reach it when it's mounted under there. It might be possible with the car jacked up but that's not always safe and if one of the front tires goes, the car has to be jacked up twice.

I wasn't referring to the mechanism holding the wheel. I was referring to the amount of space from the bottom of the car to the ground. It would be a tight fit for a standard height car but Mooneyzs' is lowered so the wheel will probably not fit under the car much less him being able to reach it when it's mounted under there. It might be possible with the car jacked up but that's not always safe and if one of the front tires goes, the car has to be jacked up twice.

OH RIGHT! sure.... I was having a blonde moment. Natch. the xBs are low to begin with!!

I wonder if it is possible to "reverse" the spare tire well?

I wonder if it is possible to "reverse" the spare tire well?

A large enough hammer can reverse almost anything. :P

TheCrAzyLady....I have thought about the "wench" type system. My s-10 had one of those and it made it pretty nice on getting the tire out.

Hook it up to electic motor and have the spare drop to the ground by just pushing a button. Manual is sooo last century :P

I relocated mine to the garage...
yeah me too..needed room for multiple amps

Seems like a good idea, until the mechanism gets old and rusty, and iced up in a blizzard somewhere out near the Colorado- Kansas border...

Lots of older pickups had the spare like that, and sooner or later, it ends up in the bed of the truck... and stays there...

contact LIP

he is in the process of developing a kit on this.

the evap can can be pivioted on one of its bolts and a tire retaining bracket put in place.

I wonder what it would look like with a full size spare and one of those SUV style swing arm spares mounted on the back of the hatch?

I wonder what it would look like with a full size spare and one of those SUV style swing arm spares mounted on the back of the hatch?
I think that would look great, if done by a good fabricator. I have been thinking about it also.

I wonder what it would look like with a full size spare and one of those SUV style swing arm spares mounted on the back of the hatch?
it would look like an early 90's pathfinder...

I wonder what it would look like with a full size spare and one of those SUV style swing arm spares mounted on the back of the hatch?
it would look like an early 90's pathfinder...

ouch -
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/8/web/560000-560999/560868_104.jpg

brutal.

lol i got love for the pathfinders. I used to drive one!

I'm thinking about finding a cargo rack for my yakima to mount it on the roof :rofl:

lol i got love for the pathfinders. I used to drive one!

I'm thinking about finding a cargo rack for my yakima to mount it on the roof :rofl:
me too....

never got stuck in anything. swap...deep snow...rock climbs...always get me there and back safely.

but when mine started to show the typical rust/rot spots under the rear seat, i had to get a diff car before it was a flintstones car...

I wonder what it would look like with a full size spare and one of those SUV style swing arm spares mounted on the back of the hatch?
I think that would look great, if done by a good fabricator. I have been thinking about it also.

A mini SUV. It will take alot of fabrication lol, let alone it won't be a east one. But I'll definaltey would be interested if some does it. I can image in it now :ponder:

Actually a swing away would be pretty easy but why do that? Just put a wheel mount like a Jeep YJ or TJ has on it mounted to the hatch. Up the pressure in the gas pistons and learn why every YJ and TJ has a bent tail gate.

you can always make it into a continental package style rear hatch give it that VIP look

The only draw back of mounting the tire on our hatch is, location of our door handle. By mounting it on the back, it will be hard to reach the door handle as it may paretialy block it. Also were can we find this "high pressured" gas shocks? Besides, who would mount their ugly dougnut spare on the back. I'm assuming mounting a full size tire BTW.

I still like the "Pathfinder style" mounting. The pnly problem is structure wise on our "D" Pillar. Have you press on our back panel? This thing bends easily? There must be some modification to the frame to hold the swing arm, not to mention the weight and stress it will have when swinging it open. :nails:

forget a full size spare. You got to be SWANK.

Get a SS and fiberglass continental kit and paint it to match your body

http://way.nu/images/scion-pimpin.jpg

scraight pimpin'

(I guess you'd have to have it swing DOWN off the bumper. or get some WAY bigger lift assist shocks)

here was my idea same as the others but i was gonna get the part off a 1987 toyota truck .... i was gonna use that square thing in the back of our bumper ( were the tow hook goes)as the access to the winch...just make sure that when ya get the parts to also get the stuff that comes with it to be able to use it.it would suck to have to hunt down all those bars....

How about this?

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/Guamsilverbox671/Rear.jpg

^ looks good. But there is no way that it can be attached to the cargo door. The hinges, metal thickness, strenght of the area where the door shocks are mounted etc,- everythyng is against it. I cant think of the car where the spare is mounted on the swing down door.
Good fabricator, a tow hitch shop perhaps should be able to design a frame that goes under the bumper to the body subframe. Thats where the strenght is. The tow hook hole can be utilized too if not as main mounting, but at least as an additional mounting point.
I think it is totally doable and worth the effort.

Mounting the tire on the rear, as low as the xB is, is asking for massive damage in rearend bumps that would have just nicked the rear bumper cover before.

Try to do it without covering up your license plate, a tail light, or most of your rear window.

Rally guy needs to mount his on the roof! Just like the Land Rovers on a safari. I'm sure wind effect will be no problem. :P

What about just plopping the spare in a rear passenger footwell, will it fit?

Hmm that's a cool pic... it makes me wonder what it'd be like to have more of a gate that swings open and the glass is a separate piece that just opens upward like it does now. Heavy duty hinge on the right side to hold the added wheel weight but the door itself seems light. It would swing open and hold the tire on the back. The window would be the only tricky part.

Could even do it w/ a shaved look and just have a popper to 'open' the gate. That'd be sweet.

I think the rational thing to do is carry a 12V air compressor, some fix-a-flat, and subscribe to some roadside assist plan for when you have a complete blowout. Then you can do without the spare, and be only slightly less inconvenienced than if you had it.

Not sure if this is what you meant but roadside assitance will only put on your spare. They do not bring you a new tire. I guess you can have it towed with roadside assitance, but if its the middle of the night, you'll have to wait for the tire store to open.

I did not know that.

I seem to remember something about folding temporary spares, the kind you inflate before use. Maybe one of those could fit underneath avoiding the vapor canister.

On second thought that would probably screw up the electronic driving aids.

Still, with fix a flat and a 12V compressor, you would probably be OK in most cases. I have only been in a blowout once, including riding with my folks growing up.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/Guamsilverbox671/Rear2.jpg
Relocated the door handle . Still looks kinda funky. :P

why dont you just mount it inside the hatch itself?

all you would need would be stronger lift shocks

I did some measuring on the under-car option. Even with the evaporative canister out of the way there isn't enough room between the axle crossmember and the rear center jack point. You probably have to cut the jack point off!

Does anyone make runflat tires in a size that would fit the xB? That would eliminate any need for a spare tire.

I did some measuring on the under-car option. Even with the evaporative canister out of the way there isn't enough room between the axle crossmember and the rear center jack point. You probably have to cut the jack point off!
there could be enough room if you use a compact spare.
i would loose the rear bracket...you can jack from the sides.

I did some measuring on the under-car option. Even with the evaporative canister out of the way there isn't enough room between the axle crossmember and the rear center jack point. You probably have to cut the jack point off!
there could be enough room if you use a compact spare.
i would loose the rear bracket...you can jack from the sides.

I'm not sure that a compact spare of smaller diameter would get along with the ABS.

Run-flat might be a good idea. Are Japanese bBs equipped with run-flats? They don't have spares, so unless they have a spare-wheel-on-demand service they have to have something to keep going.

I did some measuring on the under-car option. Even with the evaporative canister out of the way there isn't enough room between the axle crossmember and the rear center jack point. You probably have to cut the jack point off!
there could be enough room if you use a compact spare.
i would loose the rear bracket...you can jack from the sides.

I'm not sure that a compact spare of smaller diameter would get along with the ABS.

Run-flat might be a good idea. Are Japanese bBs equipped with run-flats? They don't have spares, so unless they have a spare-wheel-on-demand service they have to have something to keep going.

i wasn't thinking smaller diameter...
but rather smaller width... you know, like a 'compact spare'. it will still provide the same hieght, but be half the width.

I did some measuring on the under-car option. Even with the evaporative canister out of the way there isn't enough room between the axle crossmember and the rear center jack point. You probably have to cut the jack point off!
there could be enough room if you use a compact spare.
i would loose the rear bracket...you can jack from the sides.

I'm not sure that a compact spare of smaller diameter would get along with the ABS.

Run-flat might be a good idea. Are Japanese bBs equipped with run-flats? They don't have spares, so unless they have a spare-wheel-on-demand service they have to have something to keep going.

i wasn't thinking smaller diameter...
but rather smaller width... you know, like a 'compact spare'. it will still provide the same hieght, but be half the width.

The xB already has a narrow 60PSI compact spare like you describe. That's the tire I measured the fit of underneath my xB

The problem isn't the width, it's the diameter.

I'm appalled at the waste of space under the rear of the xB. Toyota obviously did a quickie redesign to put a spare into the xB with minimal cost. In doing so, they wasted a lot of space in a car that really can't afford to waste any.

Does anyone make runflat tires in a size that would fit the xB? That would eliminate any need for a spare tire.

Hi andyraf,

I think it is much more complicated with just trying to find a runflat tire to fit an xB.

1. Very few companies make a runflat tire, chiefly Michelin.

2. They offer on Very Few cars as an $Expensive Option. Something like $1,500-$2,000 I believe.

3. The runflat tire cannot just be Added to a xB even IF it has the right size. Because it HAS to be mated to a car with a runflat Monitor system. It tells the Driver the current tire pressure on the panel.

4. There are Limits IF you get a blowout. It is Recommended that drive only about 50 miles at 50mph to the nearest runflat repair station.

5. Also, I heard about horror stories where say far driving far from home, i.e. traveling Out of State on Vacation. You blowout the runflat, and take it to the nearest Michelin, Toyota, Honda, Corvette or whichever Dealer for your type of runflat that "they don't service that type of tire". Or "it is a Special Order Item and will take a week to get one".

Kind of make you want to stay with regular tires, until runflats become commonplace.

Just my .02 cents,

MR LUV

my idea was to buy the fabolus rear bumper put the tag in it and make the rear hatch stronger and get the bracket from a honda crv and mount it were the tag goes factory and trim a circle in the bumper kinda like a rave 4 crv look with a spare 20inch rim that matches. only thing it that rear door wil be heavy and the rear springs will have to be stronger to hold the extra weight

or cut a hole out were the rear floor is under the spare tire amake a tub deep in to the lower part and install the wheel there tucked down next to the seats lot of work .. so i just throw my spare 20 in the back when i go on long trips

runflats come out on toyotas the seinna van is one that has rum flats

I had a set of run-flats on my Z4...there was no spare...couple of things i found out while having them.

1. The tires are expensive...discount tire quoted me 176.00 a tire for 16's.

2. In my cars case the tires did not have pressure sensors in the tires themselves...rather it monitored the ride height in the suspension to tell if a tire was low. With no way of monitoring you will need to check frequently to make sure there is pressure as you will not be able to tell if there is a flat.

3. Run flats typically can travel 50 miles with no air pressure at 50 mph.

4. You can run them down...low tire tread?? pfft no problem except for traction in the rain I had my tires bald before I got a new set...no problems with air pressure.

Hope this helps a bit.

-Chris

I wonder what it would look like with a full size spare and one of those SUV style swing arm spares mounted on the back of the hatch?

I was just going to suggest that but more like the old cadilac style with mounting to the hatch and would be able to move up and down with the hatch. I have been dying to fab one of these up if you want me to we might be able to talk. Even making a cover or something!

I wonder what it would look like with a full size spare and one of those SUV style swing arm spares mounted on the back of the hatch?

I was just going to suggest that but more like the old cadilac style with mounting to the hatch and would be able to move up and down with the hatch. I have been dying to fab one of these up if you want me to we might be able to talk. Even making a cover or something!

I wonder what it would look like with a full size spare and one of those SUV style swing arm spares mounted on the back of the hatch?

I was just going to suggest that but more like the old cadilac style with mounting to the hatch and would be able to move up and down with the hatch. I have been dying to fab one of these up if you want me to we might be able to talk. Even making a cover or something!

http://www.scionapocalypse.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1598

that would be nice if the ride wasn't all deat up and the spare tire matched the other wheels!