Tim4x4

Tim4x4

Well-Known Member
Is anyone making and supplying a swing out spare wheel carrier that after swinging out will allow the wheel to be lowered to the ground, thereby taking the heavy lifting out of the equation.

My wife is using my Defender more frequently just at this time and asked me to run through a wheel change just in case. She was unable to take the wheel off the rear door but completed all other operations to change a wheel.

I can designe and make what would be required but if it is already out in the market place why bother (unless they are hellishly expensive).
 
landowner said:
My old Isuzu had a wind down spare, drum and cable, could adapt that:)

Or call the AA
Click to expand...

Was the wind down a standard fitment?

Wife is very independent and prefers to get on with it not waiting at the roadside for someone.
 
SteNova said:
you don't take it off, you undo the nuts, shove it off and stand back
Click to expand...

But don't you have to put the punctured one back on the rear door so same problem unless you have room in back but still same problem of lifting it.
 
SteNova said:
you don't take it off, you undo the nuts, shove it off and stand back
Click to expand...

Yes thanks for the that but not much help but she did get some exercise running down the hill after spare.
I have produced a designe of a swing out carrier incorporating a pneumatic cylinder to lower/raise the wheel utilising a tyre inflator compressor. OK it is only at designe stage but I an sure it will work effectively.
 
arc said:
I'm sure I've seen one that uses gas struts to aid with the lift / drop...
Click to expand...

Possibly,
I was thinking a designe of that nature but after successfully lowering the wheel slowly utilising a gas strut it would rapidly return to the high position when the wheel is removed :screaming_bug_eye_f and you would have to force it back down to load the other wheel on. Excepting you were not injured when it shoots up.
 
Tim4x4 said:
Possibly,
I was thinking a designe of that nature but after successfully lowering the wheel slowly utilising a gas strut it would rapidly return to the high position when the wheel is removed :screaming_bug_eye_f and you would have to force it back down to load the other wheel on. Excepting you were not injured when it shoots up.
Click to expand...

Gas struts don't tend to shoot up - they're designed for slow movement assist. A simple lock mech to keep it down? I wouldn't worry about them 'springing up' taking your teeth out all of a sudden as with regular springs!
 
arc said:
Gas struts don't tend to shoot up - they're designed for slow movement assist. A simple lock mech to keep it down? I wouldn't worry about them 'springing up' taking your teeth out all of a sudden as with regular springs!
Click to expand...

The ones I have come across such as on a tailgate of a hatch they are specific to the weight of the tailgate. If you take the tailgate out of the equation so gas strut only, it moves to the extended position at a much higher speed and to return it to the compressed position takes the equivalent force exerted by the tailgate weight. This force will be dependent on the positioning of the strut to the fulcrum of the tailgate.
 
Tim4x4 said:
Was the wind down a standard fitment?

Wife is very independent and prefers to get on with it not waiting at the roadside for someone.
Click to expand...

Wind down standard fitment on Pick ups, toyota isuzu etc might find one in scrap:)
 
Personally it sounds all a bit OTT to me :confused:

All that's needed is once the punctured wheel has been removed, you can wheel it around and the rear of the landy and place it beneath the spare, you then loosen the spare and allow it to drop on to the spare before slowly running it down the side of the wheel. Alternatively before jacking the vehicle up, you can place the standard high lift jack, under the spare wheel, again loosen the wheel nuts and slowly lower it on the jack.! Jobs a good'un :)

Bloody equal pay....I mean really....What does she do when the auxiliary belt snaps or come off.?!
Land Rovers =?Improvisation!!!!

Before you say anything I'm only jesting with you.. :p :D
 
Landyfox said:
Personally it sounds all a bit OTT to me :confused:

All that's needed is once the punctured wheel has been removed, you can wheel it around and the rear of the landy and place it beneath the spare, you then loosen the spare and allow it to drop on to the spare before slowly running it down the side of the wheel. Alternatively before jacking the vehicle up, you can place the standard high lift jack, under the spare wheel, again loosen the wheel nuts and slowly lower it on the jack.! Jobs a good'un :)

Bloody equal pay....I mean really....What does she do when the auxiliary belt snaps or come off.?!
Land Rovers =?Improvisation!!!!

Before you say anything I'm only jesting with you.. :p :D
Click to expand...

Some good ideas to toy with but it is a matter of physical strength and me trying to look after her (if she gets hurt who is going to iron my shirts?).
Ann my wife is a very practical person with the abilities to think things through she knows how things on vehicles work and what can influence symptoms so road side fixes she has done in the past.

Most of the time she rides a motorcycle not drive a car, just lately having to look after her mother due to illness she is having to carry things she is unable to carry on her bike hence use the Land Rover.

OK so she could have a sidecar fitted to the bike, I made that suggestion to her some time ago but she would not hear of it. It went something like "why would I want to make my bike as aerodynamic as your Land Rover, use more fuel, stop myself from filtering through traffic and have a nickname of Wallis" when I can use your Land Rover with your permission?

Point taken, I also have to remember her chosen transport is a 2012 MV Agusta F4R, a sidecar would spoil its looks.
 
We went to Kenya on our honeymoon and during safari we got a puncture, and I helped change the wheel with our driver and boy it was heavier than I expected!!

It took quite a heave to put the punctured one back on the swing away - but I bet those rims and tyres are pretty heavy duty as the landcruisers are 4t i think, and equivalent to a female lifting a normal duty tratter one.

If not gas struts, perhaps a large spring or torsion bar could be used to take 50% (say) of the weight off.

The wheel/carrier could swing away from the door outwards (folding down like a disco 3/4/rangie tail gate) - designed in such a way it would reach and rest on the ground. The 'frame' would have to come around the wheel so the bolts were topside when it was down. This would also act a deterrence to theft.

It would allow a torsion bar (similar to one on a horse box/lorry) to run along the cross member too :)

Tom
 
LRD90tdi said:
We went to Kenya on our honeymoon and during safari we got a puncture, and I helped change the wheel with our driver and boy it was heavier than I expected!!

It took quite a heave to put the punctured one back on the swing away - but I bet those rims and tyres are pretty heavy duty as the landcruisers are 4t i think, and equivalent to a female lifting a normal duty tratter one.

If not gas struts, perhaps a large spring or torsion bar could be used to take 50% (say) of the weight off.

The wheel/carrier could swing away from the door outwards (folding down like a disco 3/4/rangie tail gate) - designed in such a way it would reach and rest on the ground. The 'frame' would have to come around the wheel so the bolts were topside when it was down. This would also act a deterrence to theft.

It would allow a torsion bar (similar to one on a horse box/lorry) to run along the cross member too :)

Tom
Click to expand...

I like the idea of a fold down carrier supported along the cross member but I am still not convinced of using stored energy like springs or gas struts. My thoughts on this is that they are both very good, efficient and effective solutions to reduce the effort required to lower or raise the spare if the weight remains constant or at least within close parameters. When the wheel is removed from the carrier, it requires the same effort as the weight you have removed (or 50% if you use less powerful springs) for it to remain in the lowered position. You can incorporate a locking mechanism but I am so safety conscious I would want it to be that the wheel could not be removed without the locking mechanism engaged, so avoiding the inevitable rapid return of the wheel carrier.
I am currently putting down on paper an outline of my designe to enable me to do some costing's. I am trying to utilise off the shelf components that would be in keeping with the looks of factory made equipment at a reasonable price. If anyone is interested I will of course share my thoughts in the first instance to come up with something that is workable.
 
Tim4x4 said:
I would want it to be that the wheel could not be removed without the locking mechanism engaged, so avoiding the inevitable rapid return of the wheel carrier.
Click to expand...

You could over come this problem with a damper mounted under the rear floor that poked out from under the cross member.

EDITED:

You'd just need a bracket on the bottom of the carrier that poked out enough, so it cleared the cross member and provided you a mounting point for the damper.

Tom
 
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