Tire Mount Trick

[audaciousduo]

I went to mock mount the swing away tire mount today before I get going on body work and ran into an issue. Like everything on my parts truck it was rusted solid. All three bolts on the top mount snapped off in the inner mounting plate. An annoyed beating with a hammer didn't free the plate. I did some head scratching and remembered another project I did a few years back when I converted a right hand drive land cruiser to left hand drive. I had to put crush sleeves in the boxed frame for the steering box. I decided I'd do the same with the Jimmy. Instead of using the inner plate I drilled 1/2 inch holes through all the panels. I slid a length of 14 gauge 1/2 inch tubing through all the panels and welded it solid on both ends. The inside diameter is 3/8 the same as the mounting bolts. The bolt through the back box pillar is a starter bolt for an automatic. At any rate 190 pound me can hang on it without the outer panel flexing. Just though I'd share this incase some one else is mounting one pre paint and bodywork. I did the same thing on the double panel on the tailgate for the latch.